Any Questions

Grade School Smithfield, Illinois

You’ve just finished one of your best presentations yet and you triumphantly close with, “Are there any questions?” What’s the usual response? That’s what I thought — nothing. You’re looking at blank faces and vacant stares!

Questions are your best teaching tool. Timely questions from your audience can “turn the light on” for a struggling student.

So you say, “No questions? OK, let’s move on to the next subject.” You know this question is a sure way to silence a group, is this your intention? If not, try the following:

Say to the group, “You have 30 seconds to turn to your neighbor and tell that person one question you still have about what you just learned.” Wait 30 seconds then say, “Would one or two of you share with the whole group the question your partner asked?”

Or give it a twist: Instead of having your students come up with questions, write a question for all to see about what you just presented and have them pair up and answer it. Now give them 30 seconds to discuss their answer.

Go ahead — try it! You have nothing to loose and everything to gain. The fun in teaching is watching the “light bulb” go on in the students’ mind when they “get it!”

Summarized from: How to Give It so they Get It: A Flight Plan for Teaching Anyone Anything and Making it Stick, by Sharon L. Bowman, M.A. — Bowperson Publishing, third printing January 2003.

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