Questions from Students

I don't know if you agree with me or not, but I think that our American society really doesn't like questions.  I find that during class when there are too many questions being asked, I start getting antsy and want the questions to just stop NOW!

However, we, as teachers, need to be open to questions and love them.  Because when a student asks a question, they are putting themselves out there to look foolish that they do not know the answer.  We cannot let them to feel foolish once they have asked the question, or else they will not want to ask questions.

So what can we do to help foster questions inside of students?  Well, I think in the early grades, we should teach how to ask a question.  They will begin to understand the way to ask a question, which is an important piece.  It is an important piece because they will just ask questions that are not that deep, they ask surface questions.  But as they understand more about themes in literature (which they are supposed to start covering in about 3rd grade according to the Minnesota Board of Education literature standards), they will begin to ask deeper questions.  Now, for a side story that will bring me to my next point

A few weeks ago, I was hanging out with a friend who has a developmental disability, and I noticed how she would ask questions.  Unfortunately, though, I was the only person who answered her questions.  I was shocked at how the other friends we were hanging out with just looked at each other for a second after she asked the question and moved on.  I would always praise my friend for asking the question, because asking questions is the most important thing that we can do in our world.  It helps us better understand our world, so if we don't ask questions, we may be very limited of our knowledge of why we do certain things.

We can also help foster questions inside of students, and this is the best way, by praising them for asking question.  Praising them and answering them.  Granted, a behaviorist would say that by just answering their questions, we are praising them, but I think we need to go the extra centimeter by praising them AND answering their question.  That way, we are praising them twice and they are much more likely to ask a question again.