Mormon Share > Feed Items
Feed Items
Scott Knecht
September 11, 2014
The question I am asked most frequently about teaching is this one: “How do I come up with good questions to use in the classroom?” This is a critical skill for a teacher to have because, “To ask and answer questions is at the heart of all learning and all teaching” (President Henry B. Eyring). It would seem a simple thing to ask a question in class, and it is if you aren’t too particular about what follows. If, however, you want to stir up thinking and created a lively learning atmosphere in your classroom, you will need to learn how to craft excellent questions.
When a person tells me about their inability to come up with great questions, my first response is always the same: “You can’t come up with good classroom questions because you don’t ask good questions as you read the material in preparation for the class. You simply read the material.” Most people read a text just to read it. A teacher needs to read it and think about how to use it in class. I find that the most effective way to do that is to ask questions of the text as I read it. Here are 3 examples:
1. I remember the first time I read the Iliadas an adult (this did not happen as I read it in high school because I just sort of faked my way through it). I was struck with the opening line: “Sing O Goddess, the anger of Achilles…” Why was he so angry? How did his anger reach a point where it caused multiple deaths (which the line goes on to say)? Why is this the very opening line of the story? I was full of questions from just those seven words and I read awaiting the answers from the text. Those are questions that could launch a discussion.
2. This summer I read a book entitled “Empire of the Summer Moon” about the Comanche nation in North America. For 150-200 years, up to about 1880, they were the undisputed rulers of the great middle section of the continent, from Texas, and New Mexico on the south up through Kansas and Nebraska. They were fierce warriors, incredible horsemen, and ruled their territory. Their power kept the Spaniards from moving further north from Mexico and the French from moving west out of the New Orleans area. Both groups wanted to keep colonizing but were bottled up by the Comanche protecting their lands. As I discovered that insight in the text, I started asking questions: how did that help or hinder further migrations by different people? What caused the demise of their power and did that hasten migration? How different would America be today if the French had colonized much further west, or the Spaniards farther to the north? Can you see how questions like that could really enable discussion?
3. When I read the scriptures I am full of questions. Recently I was reading in Luke 17 and found this in verse 5: “Lord, increase our faith” and immediately I wondered what is the way to increase faith? So I read the subsequent verses slowly and found that in 6-10 He uses a story to outline one way and in verses 11-19 He shares a second way to do it. I would have never seen that if I had not asked a question of the text.
If you struggle to come up with good questions try doing this – have a conversation
with the text as you read through it. The three examples above all could have just been an ‘ooh and ah’ moment in the reading but I asked questions and was stirred up. Be full of wonder. Think deeply. Probe and push and pull. The questions that bubble up as you read can be turned into good questions that you can ask your students in class.
I’m going to devote the next couple of posts to the art of asking questions, both how to do it and how not to do it.
Jennifer Smith
September 11, 2014
Downloaded from: http://seminaryatsixam.blogspot.com/2014/09/president-gordon-b-hinkley.html This was shared by a Seminary teacher on our LDS Seminary Teachers Facebook page. Oh how I love and miss President Hinkley. This is a tender sweet message he delivered at BYU-Idaho in 2002 at the dedication of the new Gordon B Hinkley Center (which is an amazing facility we had the pleasure of visiting this past summer) Oh, how I miss and love President Gordon B…
Read more
Shauna
September 11, 2014
This was shared by a Seminary teacher on our LDS Seminary Teachers Facebook page. Oh how I love and miss President Hinkley. This is a tender sweet message he delivered at BYU-Idaho in 2002 at the dedication of the new Gordon B Hinkley Center (which is …
Jennifer Smith
September 10, 2014
By [email protected] (Sheena Perron) Today I am sharing 2 printables that would be great for the ‘Why Do We Fast’ lesson that is part of this month’s ‘Come Follow Me’ for the Youth. Just keep on reading to see what printables I’m sharing. First…Is a two-sided handout with the scripture references from the lesson outline. The YW can look up each of the scriptures to learn more of why we…
Read more
Jennifer Smith
September 10, 2014
Downloaded from: http://seminaryatsixam.blogspot.com/2014/09/forgiveness.html ForgivenessWhen I first read this, I was not certain which lesson to use it with.Tomorrow is 9/11 and this is a wonderful message.So much forgiveness had to take place as we healed as a nation and as families and individuals.God Bless America
Jennifer Smith
September 10, 2014
Downloaded from: http://seminaryatsixam.blogspot.com/2014/09/19-questions.html “19 Power Packed Questions to Help you Know For Yourself”Thank you, Becky Edwards at Purpose Driven Motherhood for taking time to shareTHIS
Shauna
September 10, 2014
ForgivenessWhen I first read this, I was not certain which lesson to use it with.Tomorrow is 9/11 and this is a wonderful message.So much forgiveness had to take place as we healed as a nation and as families and individuals.God Bless America
Shauna
September 10, 2014
“19 Power Packed Questions to Help you Know For Yourself”Thank you, Becky Edwards at Purpose Driven Motherhood for taking time to shareTHIS
Jennifer Smith
September 9, 2014
By [email protected] (Sheena Perron) Today I am sharing my printable for this month’s Visiting Teaching message. I decided to create a bookmark, what do you think? As I read the quotes and scriptures form this month’s message I thought that this is something we should remind ourselves often. We need to remember that we are never alone, that we are loved, and that we are here to help our sisters….
Read more
Jennifer Smith
September 8, 2014
Downloaded from: http://littleldsideas.blogspot.com/2014/09/sharing-time-by-giving-service-to.html Sharing Time Ideas from the 2014 OutlineIDENTIFY THE DOCTRINE (reading a scripture): Write the following phrase on the board: By giving _________ to others, I give _________ to God. Read Mosiah 2:17together, and ask the children what word goes in the blanks (service). Invite the children to repeat the phrase together. ENCOURAGE UNDERSTANDING (listening to a story): Share the following story: “President Heber J. Grant’s father died when he was just…
Read more
Scott Knecht
September 7, 2014
What do you think of this sentence: “The teacher is the architect of the learning experience”? I like it a lot. It’s been with me so long that I can’t recall if I thought of it (maybe) or I read or heard it somewhere (more likely). Either way, it expresses a truth about the classroom and the teaching/learning dynamic.
An architect has a vision, then commits that vision into detail on paper, and finally directs the execution of the vision. What he doesn’t do is all of the work. There are lots of people down the line that labor in realization of the vision, but the vision and the details begin with him.
A great teacher begins with a vision of student learning (not teacher performance) over the course of the term and for each daily lesson. The vision is “what will my students learn” and the details are “how will they learn it.” Start with a plan, fill in the details, and then be prepared to modify along the way, if the occasion calls for it. You’re the architect; you get to pick the materials to use and the quantity. For example, student participation is one of the materials to aid in the learning process. It is not the final product. Don’t get fooled into thinking that just because students are participating that they are learning. They may or may not be, but if you’re not careful, you’ll perceive participation as an end, not as a means to an end. The end we want is learning, and participation is useful because it opens up thinking and thinking causes learning. So we love to see hands go up to respond, but here is a truth that is hard to grasp: not everyone that raises a hand needs to be called on. If I ask a question and five hands go up I won’t necessarily call on all of them and I generally won’t do it in the order they raised their hands. If the last hand up is a student who doesn’t talk much, that’s the first person I call on. She needs to be heard and a variety of voices generally makes for a better class. And if I think that after 1-2 comments we have stirred the pot successfully and people are thinking, then I move on because as the architect of the learning experience, I get to select the materials (in this case, participation) and the quantity (how many students I call on).
You might assume that students will be offended if they are not called on, but here is another truth: when you raise your hand it is a sign that you have had some thoughts, that you have been stirred up sufficiently so that you want to participate. Whether you vocalize it or not you still have had the experience of thinking and that enhances learning. And if a student really has something to say that needs resolution, she will let me know by her persistence and she will get her say.
Great teaching is not delivering a boatload of new facts. It is the ability to stir things up in the minds of students so that they think and begin to see things in ways that maybe they hadn’t before and thus learn. When the Savior taught the two men on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) He expounded all things unto them, spent time with them, and then left, leaving them to ponder and wonder and grow in learning. He may not have answered all of their questions but He stirred them by leaving some things unsaid.
It takes a classroom architect with vision and skill to make that happen in a great teaching way that leads to great learning.
Shauna
September 6, 2014
Three weeks in to teaching and these Scripture Mastery posters have proven to be money well-spent:Click HERE for link.The past 2 years, I have printed the posters myself and they were not as effective or durable.The first day of the week, I post the Sc…