Monday, March 06, 2006

Whose Questions Are More Important?

From I Read It, But I Don't Get It by Cris Tovani (available in the AHS Library):
It shouldn't have been surprising that students lost interest when my questions were the only ones getting answered. At the time, I didn't want to promote inquiry because unplanned questions from students caused me to stray from my lesson plans. I didn't know that if students generated their own questions not only would they remember the information better, they would be more interested in the reading. It became apparent that as long as my questions were the only ones that counted, I was going to be the only one interested in answering them. (p. 80)

I think she nails it, and not just for reading. If all our students are doing is answering our questions, what happens when we aren't there anymore to ask the questions?

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