Questions, questions, questions! In our everyday lives as educators, we are constantly inundated with a barrage of questions: “When is this due?” “Where do I sit?” “What time is lunch?”
But often, in particular with older kids, authentic, curiosity-driven questions about assignments, reading lists, and the cosmos in general are pushed under the rug. After all, we have a barrage of curriculums, grades, administrative tasks, and more to contend with on a daily basis.
However, we must learn to thrive on student curiosity and, whenever possible, use classroom management to welcome a questioning spirit into our class.
Today on TeachHUB.com, we learn how to use classroom management to bring about a healthy spirit of questioning. Jordan Catapano, who is a seasoned high school English teacher based in the Chicago suburbs, penned today’s centerpiece article, which takes a look at inviting a questioning atmosphere into your class.
Jordan’s ideas include:
Make Asking Questions a Priority
Make Asking Questions a Skill
Make Asking Questions Necessary
And More!
In one memorable section, Jordan explains how to welcome questions with a few questions of his own: “How can you challenge your students to include their own personal questions as an indispensable component of their learning? What questions will guide student learning and growth? What questions will help students reflect? What questions lead to metacognitive processing? What questions spur internal motivation for learning? What questions will students challenge one another with? What questions will lead to interdisciplinary pursuits?”
Jordan sums up his article like this: “Questions serve as our guides, yet so often we relegate them to the end of learning or exclude them altogether. But now’s the time to ask yourself, “How can I better include question-asking as part of student learning?””
How do you use classroom management to help to make student questions an essential part of your class? What do you like from above and what would you add? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section!
