Educators must find new and exciting ways to engage students. There’s nothing more disheartening than a group of students who seem uninterested and aloof during a lesson. As parents, you want your students to be upbeat and excited about what’s being taught. If students are asking questions in class, they’ll be able to stay excited and encouraged to learn. Let’s discuss the benefits of teachers asking evocative questions during class.
It Helps Students Understand the Lesson
Sometimes, students lose focus because they’re confused about what’s being taught. Whether long lectures aren’t conducive to their learning style or teachers are teaching something that they simply don’t understand, teaching doesn’t necessarily mean every student has learned.
So, if teachers are asking questions throughout class, students will be more likely to understand the lesson they’re being taught. This is because teachers can get a better gauge of who is picking up on what they’re teaching. This depends on the responses that the students give to each question that is asked.
If teachers don’t intervene and ask questions while teaching, students won’t have a chance to prove what they know. This leaves teachers unaware of who’s comprehended their lesson. Let’s say a teacher is teaching math principles. While they’re solving a problem in front of the class, they should ask their students to explain what step comes next. This way, teachers will know if their students are comprehending what is being taught.
It Engages the Class
It is oftentimes too much for students to listen to lessons for hours at a time. They need to be engaged in ways other than passive listening. When teachers ask questions, they’ll be able to naturally engage their students in class, because students be excited to answer the teacher’s questions. More often than not, students are eager to report what they’ve learned to their teacher. So, if teachers ask questions along the way, students will be less likely to be uninterested in the classroom.
It Improves Students’ Rate of Retainment
Ensuring that students remember information is incredibly important. Sure, students might comprehend what a teacher has taught at the end of class, but will they remember what the teacher has taught the next week or month? The true end goal of teaching a lesson is having students commit the information to memory for the long haul.
When the time comes for a student to take an assessment or give a presentation, they’re going to be more likely to understand what they’ve learned, if a teacher asked questions during the lesson. This is because students can remember their comments and their classmates’ comments, which helps with recall. Research shows that memory retrieval increases when you ask questions in class.
It Cultivates Critical Thinking Skills
Students often find the correct answer so that they can get the best possible score on an assessment. However, many questions don’t have entirely ‘correct’ answers. It’s the job of teachers to help students come to their conclusions and think critically.
When teachers ask questions during class, our students are going to become more comfortable formulating their perspectives on the world, which is a crucial skill. Teachers should get students ready for the workforce, higher education, and more, and preparing them to think critically, by asking questions in class, is a great way to do this.
At The Tenney School, we’re committed to fostering a community of engaged students. Therefore, we encourage our educators to ask students tough questions. Our teachers promote evocative conversations so that your students can get more out of their education. For more information about what makes TenneyTutors different, contact us.