Ask Me a Question

The next time you open your class for questions, do not use the phrase "Do you have any questions?" Change it to "Ask me a question."  It has been a really fun ride for me this year.  Let me explain where I got this idea and how I've used it so far.

This was My Daughters Idea

I have been seeing the statistics going around twitter regarding the amount of questions that a teacher asks compared to the amount of question a student asks.  It concerned me.  Soon after this I told my daughter and my wife about the statistic that I was seeing:  Teachers ask 200 questions per week and the average student asks 2 questions per week.  I continued to tell them that my students had not asked very many questions that very day.   My daughter listened and then suggested I should require my students to ask a question.  I thought that was brilliant.  I decided to use it the next day when a colleague Rachel Fruin @rachelfruin suggested I use the phrase ASK ME A QUESTION.  So there it began.

My First Experience 

I immediately used this technique in class the next day.
My students were working independently on a few problems when I set the Ground Rules.  I told my students that I was going to require them to "Ask a Question" when I was walking around to each person.  I also said that if they did not have a math question, that they could ask any other (appropriate)  question that they liked.  One way or another, they would have to ask me a question.  
It was amazing.  I had really good questions for the most part.  Most of the questions were math related.

• I gained a whole new appreciation for some of my students who usually are silent.  
• I could tell that this was freeing to some students who were embarrassed to ask a question previously.
• It was really fun to dialog with the students. 
• I actually had a conversation with most of my students that day.  Which was unusual. 
• Some questions were related to math but not necessarily about a concept.  IE Why does the slope formula start with the second point?  That was a cool question.  
• Many of the non-math questions were superficial.  Some were complex and not easy to answer.  One of my students asked if I would take 3 trillion lions or the Sun in a fight?  Where do they think up this stuff?  

My Second Experience

The next time I used this technique was within a whole class experience.  I presented a topic that was complicated.  I asked for questions and no one had any.  (They probably had some but were a little nervous to ask)   Then I told them that they had to talk to their partner about a possible question they would like to ask.  Then I said "Ask me a Question."  Then I called on students at random. Here is what I found.

• The questions were vague at first
• Other peoples questions helped refine the new questions.
• I didn't answer all of the questions.
• When I didn't know the answer, I told them so.  
• Some students said they didn't have any questions.  I just came back to them after someone else asked a question. 
• The same questions were being asked in different ways.  This told me that A) They weren't listening when someone else was asking a question or B) They really don't understand what is going on.  This helps me to know where the class stands on their understanding level.
• The class really did have a lot of questions but needed the structure to ask questions freely.

Overall, I would really encourage you to try "Ask me a Question" sometime soon.  What do you think?  What have your experiences been with this?  

8 Things I'll Take Away from the GafeSummit 2015

GAFE SUMMIT June 11 and 12, 2015 in Homer Glen IL

Here is the link to all of the sessions

1.  FAILURE IS A PART OF LEARNING.  We need to incorporate this idea into all we do as teachers.  We need to create activities that students don't feel like they have to get it perfect the first time.  We need to be honest and show our own mistakes and failures.
INSPIRED TO TRY:  Give my math students a chance to fail (try and try again) every day by these types of warm ups.    Estimation  Questions  Would you Rather... Thanks  @jamestsanders  presentation
MY FAVORITE:  Scroll down and see a few sites that students love.  http://www.classroominthefuture.com/that-exists/

The Dung Beetle helps us remember that out of the bad comes the good.

2.  GOOGLE FORMS   This is a must in my classroom.  It is easy.  It is fast.  All the responses are nested into a spreadsheet.  Here a  couple of new things I have taken away.  You can put conditional formatting into your response spreadsheet.  For instance:  when you have a survey of how students are doing and you ask them to rank it 0 to 5.  Then you can conditional format any cells color to be lets say RED.  That would alert you to students who have a hard time with the material.  TUTORIAL 
INSPIRED TO TRY:  Exit slips and consistent communication through Google Forms.  Also, I want to look into Move Note.  Thanks @JasonMMarkey

3.  GOOGLE DOC and GOOGLE SLIDE   If you are trying to give a document to someone else so they can use it on their own, in the url at the top of the document just change the /edit to /copy.   Tutorial   I also learned how to make a pictorial table of contents in Google.  Here is an example. Slides Thanks @jheil65

4.  PADLET.COM  Padlet is my all time favorite student interactive site.  This session confirmed that Padlet is the BEST.  Padlet is simply a public posting board that the technology doesn't get in the way.  Go to http://padlet.com and sign up today.  I have my students all have accounts too.  Thanks @HollyClarkEdu

5.  QUESTIONS.  We don't allow students to ask enough questions.  I learned a structure that will help my students to ask questions without fear.  I'm really excited to use this.  In essence, as a group of four have our students ask a lot of questions and just write them down without judgement.  Then we ranked the questions for relevance and importance independently (however, it was digitally collaborated through google docs)  Then have them rank them as a group of four.   It was an excellent process.
INSPIRED TO TRY:  I would like to begin a unit with this structure.  This will help my students to ask questions before we know anything, thus give more freedom in asking any that are coming to mind.  Presentation   Thanks @HollyClarkEdu 

6.  GOOGLE +    I signed up for google plus professionally.  It has a lot of features that are really nice.  I have more to learn.  Thanks for helping me get started @cchausis

7.  GOOGLE HANGOUTS    I learned a lot of hangout etiquette .  Most importantly, I learned how to mute when some else is talking.  I learned that Hangouts are not longer tied to Google +.  You can screen capture something for all to see for the hangout.  You can give a link from your hangout for others to join you.  Use this link to go straight to a hangout.  http://g.co/hangouts  And tons more.  More Info here. Thanks @AmplifiedIT 

8.  CHROMEBOOK SHORTCUTS:  I love shortcuts.  This one was fun.  I'm just learning my way around my new Chromebook so this was perfect timing.  Here are a few of my favorite Short-Cuts.

Screen Capture

Turn the screen 90 degrees.  This one is most helpful for teachers for when students are playing tricks on their friends.  

This opens up all the Short-Cuts.  

I took all of these shortcut images from the presentation from Adad Ocampo which was great!

Reverse Your Questions: Energizing Teaching Tools

 

Pick a question that you asked today in class.  Try to reverse the question.  Make the answer the question and the question the answer.  You might notice the question might be a lot more open ended?  Is it a higher level question than your original?    So next time you are making a worksheet, reverse a few of your questions and mix them in along side some of your original type questions.  Then see if your worksheet has a better mix of conceptual and procedural questions.  

Examples
Geometry:  Original Question:  What is the area of this parallelogram given the height is 4 cm and the base is 10 cm?  Reversed Question:  Find the base and height of a parallelogram given the area is 40 square cm.

Algebra:  Original Question:  Solve this equation   5x + 10 = 30  Reversed Question:  Find a two step equation that has a solution of  x = 4.

Precalculus:  Original Question:  What is sin (30 degrees)?  Reversed Question:  Sin of what degree value(s)  give an answer of .5?

PLEASE COMMENT WITH YOUR OWN IDEAS.

The page above is out of the book called "Engaging Teaching Tools"  More information is located at the  the blog post How to Measure Student Engagement?