I am wishy-washy on my feelings about the Do's and Don'ts presented in the book. Mostly because I feel it goes against all of the years I spent in the education system and how I was trained. Remember, all of these are taken from the book Teach for Excellence by Spence Rogers. There are NOT my own words (thoughts...yes).
Do:
1. Start having students develop answers in groups.
2. Include everyone by asking deflected questions.
3. Ask open-ended questions.
4. Have students Share, Compare, and Repair answers using groups/support systems (I need to read more on the Share, Compare, and Repair...will blog about it later).
5. "I heard someone say...."
6. Ask questions after every important point.
7. Require Complete Sentence Answers!
Don't:
1. Ask a question, pause, then call on one student.
2. Call on a student then as a question.
3. Ask for volunteers to answer a question.
4. Ask another student to ADD to an answer.
5. Ask if anyone has another or a better answer.
6. Draw a name or throw an object to determine who answers the question (THIS one threw me for a loop!)
7. Ask a question of a student that you KNOW is not paying attention (DARN! I'm totally guilty of this).
8. OVERALL, stop making students feel uncomfortable, potentially setting them up to fail, and maybe publicly announcing they are wrong.
My thoughts? HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO QUICKLY SEE IF A STUDENT KNOWS THEIR STUFF?!?! Or has been paying attention? You can't call on people? WHAT!?!!?!? Does this make anyone else uncomfortable? Definitely makes me feel uncomfortable. Change is good though, right?
ANOTHER thought. Did we all not grow up for decades with this kind of questioning? We turned out alright...Is this kind of questioning creating a society of pansies where everyone is the winner and nobody is wrong? Just food for thought. I truly like the DOs section, the DON'Ts is what got me a little fired up! Your thoughts? It's Hump Day!!!!
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