Blog Post 4 (late but done for the sake of doing it)

I somehow convinced myself that my tasks for last week were accomplished last week. Today, I find that I missed several deadlines and now it's catch up time. *sigh*

"What do we need to know about asking questions to be an effective teacher?"
hmm... I'm not very clear on the parameters of this post are, but here goes.

Dr. Chesley, in her video discusses open and closed ended questions. Questions that can be answered with "yes/no" are closed, while questions that require an in depth response are open.
My take on her video would be yes, those are correctly defined terms. I would add that it is often difficult to entice most students to speak up, leading to the all to familiar awkward silence or only a few voices speaking out.

I feel the best way to encourage the exchange of ideas is to first culture an environment of discourse. Do away with the heavy handed approach of "raising their hands" and instilling a sense of mutual respect and awareness. From that point keep the questions out of the realm of boring. I had an English professor who asked the most juvenile and basic leading questions and a Biology professor who only knew how to ask questions that would "finish her sentence". These were also Open Ended questions, but they where not conductive to thinking or learning.
Proper questions, would be tricky and must be situation-ally appropriate. They should be based on the subject matter, mental maturity of the overall classroom and use a format that will inspire thought. I think inspiring thought both inside and outside of the classroom is the ultimate goal. I don't think that every question should lead every person to a life changing discovery, but they should certainly shape the individual as the course progresses.