Again, our ultimate goal is to help out students
become independent learners. Chapter 5 explores how integrating effective questioning
strategies in the classroom helps teachers accomplish this goal. Unfortunately,
our students frequently fail to understand the relevance of what they are learning.
I can remember asking myself several times, “I am never going to use this. Why
do I need to learn it?” Students today are still asking themselves these same
questions. If we do not ensure our students understand the purpose behind
everything in the classroom, they are very unlikely to retain the information for
future use. So many times, I hear students leaving classrooms saying, “That was
a waste of my time. I should have just stayed home today or skipped that class.
S/he didn’t teach me anything I needed to learn.” As educators, I feel we must
change this mentality. Our students should be leaving the classroom saying, “I
am so glad I came to school today. I cannot wait for class tomorrow.”
For our students to be successful inside and outside
of the classroom, we must arm them with the necessary strategies to become independent
learners. Whether our students go to college, choose to be stay-at-home moms,
or work at McDonald’s, they need to possess higher-order thinking (HOT) skills.
For example, when choosing which presidential candidate to vote for in the
upcoming election, we must use our knowledge of the individuals and their
platforms to analyze how each one would represent our country. If necessary, we
should be able to convince others of why our choice is the best candidate.
Therefore, it is imperative we engage our students in activities that allow
them to practice and develop these critical HOT skills.
In addition to helping them become effective readers,
writers, listeners, and speakers, we must also help them become aware of their
own metacognition by self-reflecting on their own experiences. Building on the
theory of constructivism, I strongly prefer to create my own knowledge versus
having the teacher explicitly tell me the information. I do not want my
students constantly feeling like they are struggling to come up with the answer
the teacher wants, particularly when there are multiple approaches to answering
a question. For example, I tend to learn more when teachers require me to “unpack”
a question they have posed. I also think it is more effective when teachers do
not immediately acknowledge a correct response. Taking a more facilitating
role, teachers can ask other students whether they agree or disagree with the
response, further contributing to the development of HOT skills within the
classroom. For example, I tend to be an active participant in class, but I know
I am not always right. I can remember several of my teachers posing questions
to the class and I being the first one to respond. Most of my teachers have
simply acknowledged my answer was correct and moved on. By promoting an environment
where students can agree and disagree, students are learning to evaluate their peers’
responses and provide a rationale for doing so. I also know all minds do not process
information as the same pace, making wait time a critical component of every
classroom. Unfortunately, teachers already feel like they do not have enough
time in the day to cover all of the required objectives. Allowing students the time
to “unpack” questions is not always viewed as a necessity. However, teachers
should recognize the long-term benefits of helping them develop their critical
thinking skills. Not allowing our students time to process questions also
discourages them from even attempting in future situations.
In the end, students must realize there is not
always going to be a teacher around to give them the correct answer. They must
learn to ask themselves questions and seek out resources for the answers. These
resources may include using the text, their own prior knowledge, their peers,
or various others sources. For these reasons, the various strategies mentioned
in the book can help students practice using the difference sources of
information. Again, it is critical students understand the purpose of the task,
and it should be more than doing well on the upcoming test.
Questions:
1) What
is an effective way to engage all students in the question-asking process in a
classroom? I mean, we all have questions, but sometimes we are too shy or too
scared to ask because we think others will think our question is irrelevant.
2) To
what extent are these strategies really being taught to students today? My
daughter, Jade, a third grader, struggles to comprehend what she reads. After
learning about these strategies in Dr. Boyce’s class last semester, I started
modeling them for her when I read to her each night. When visiting her
classroom and school, I asked the teacher what strategies were taught in the
classroom. She explained that the students were merely taught to look back in
the text and use their prior knowledge. In all of my clinical and volunteer
experiences over the last three years, I have never witnessed any of the
strategies explicitly being taught or used in the classroom. I have seen
different components such as previewing the text or looking back for the
answers to literal questions.
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