Engaging Students Through Effective Questions Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers. - Josef Albers (1888-1976) My youngest son Robbie, aged 12, often asks thought-provoking questions. Every few days he surprises me with a topic that seems to come out of the blue. Responding appropriately and respectfully can be a real challenge for me. Here are some examples of questions he has posed recently: Who invented the alphabet? and many, many more, often beginning with “What would happen if …?” There are no easy answers to any of the above questions, and they are great conversation-starters. One of the reasons I am so intrigued by Robbie’s questions is that, somewhere along the way to adulthood, I began to forget how to ask wide-open questions. In what ways might questioning techniques improve student learning? Student Engagement Like many teachers, I have seen my students begin to doodle or show signs of boredom as I explained a point or waxed eloquent about the subject under discussion. Conclusion
Read Aloud Tips and Strategies Do you read aloud to your students every day? If not, you may be missing out on a wonderful opportunity to connect with your students and sneak in a little instruction at the same time! I always love reading aloud to my students and I know they enjoy that time as well. Reading aloud is not just for little ones. As you can tell from the picture of me reading to my 5th graders, even older kids like to gather around for a good story! I hope you'll find the resources on this page helpful! ~ Laura Candler Why Read Aloud? Reading aloud is more than fun - it's an effective teaching strategy. Tips for Reading Aloud Preview books to decide if they are suitable for the lesson and for your students. Favorite Read Aloud Books What makes a great read aloud for the upper elementary grades? More Great Read Aloud Books Thank You, Mr. Read Aloud Activities and Strategies Create a Character Word Cloud - Have students create a Character Word Cloud based on an important character in the read aloud.
A Quick Guide to Selecting Great Informational Books for Young Children In recent years, the world of children's literature has exploded, flooding the market with a plethora of choices. Almost a billion U.S. dollars in sales were reported in 2004 (Blough, 2004). With such an abundance of children's books on any topic and in every genre, making good choices can be a dilemma for teachers and students. Realizing young children are naturally curious, primary-level teachers spend much of the school day answering their questions and reading books aloud in daily lessons as they connect to students' background knowledge and enrich their vocabularies. As students have more experience with informational texts, teachers may also need to explain the text structures commonly found in these books. In their discussion of informational (nonfiction) trade books, Palmer and Stewart (2003) found that for students to successfully interact with these texts the classroom teacher must play a critical role. Cover Topic or Content Illustrations Organization Font Size and Type