"Any other questions?" {Weekly Writing}

In my blog title it asks, "Any other questions?" and this is because I learned this is a non-effective question to ask and I am guilty of saying it. After teaching a few lessons in labs and reflecting on each of them, the teaching tactic of effective questioning has been surfaced several times. Like many college students, I can be a culprit of word vomit, meaning I say something to quickly that I did not mean or that made no sense. With the fast pace that I tend to talk, the combination can be deadly for effective questioning.

One of the documents of our weekly writing addresses the why and how of effective questioning, something I know is important to add to my teacher toolbox. The article boils down to the reoccurring practice of... PLANNING! When writing my lesson plans I need to think:

"What level of thinking am I trying to draw from my students?" 

"What is the type of question that will cause this level of thinking?" 

"When do I ask these questions during my lesson?" 

The chart below is a reference for Bloom's Taxonomy with application of critical thinking skills on each level that has help guide me in developing purposeful and effective questions:

                

Let's talk about my concerns with effective questioning...

Not only do I need to think about the questions I will ask, but the also about the facilitation of answers that maybe given...which is something teachers can not always plan for. In reflecting on facilitating answers, I know this is a mastery skill I will learn through practice and repetition. The creativity and sass high school students can supply sometimes makes this a skill one I am patiently awaiting to practice and master. In addition, students not responding correctly to an answer or with something that I was not quite looking for is also another skill I am uneasy to approach, but am looking forward to practicing. I do not want to have a student not answer again if they are wrong or continually reinforce the same students positively or negatively all the time for their answers. 

Another topic that was explored this week was Differentiated Instruction (DI), and with no surprise, success with DI is a result of planning. I am not going to go into detail but the graphic I found depicts the "Yays" and "Nays" of what Differentiation really is and is not.