Helping Students Ask Questions – 5 Quick Tips

Helping students ask questions is a valuable skill teachers can use to create an interactive and engaging classroom. It’s perfect for breaking up periods of direct instruction and a great way to find out what students understand, their misconceptions, and where they need more help.

In my last blog post (HERE), I laid out 5 strategies for improving your questioning skills to build classroom conversations. The focus of this post is on the flip side of that strategy because if you think getting answers from students is challenging, just try getting questions from them!

So, here we go with 5 quick tips you can implement in your classroom right away.

Tip 1: Ask

Sometimes we forget to ask. It’s easy for secondary teachers to just keep talking and explaining. And, when do remember to ask, we resort to the basic, “Does anyone have a question?” Try these instead:

• I need questions.
• Raise your hand to ask a question.
• Ask me about __.
• If you’d like another example or clarification on anything, let me know now.
• I’m ready for questions.

Tip 2: Conduct a Brainstorming Session

I LOVE brainstorming with my students! But, this time, I’m looking for questions. Other than that, regular brainstorming rules apply:

• Write EVERY question on the board or use a document camera to project them.
• No comments or answers until the brainstorming session is over.

Then, answer them. All of them. Here’s a list of ways to simplify this:

• Group similar questions together and answer them at once. Mark them out or check them off as you go.
• Ask students to select the ones they would like to have answered.
• If time is limited, take a picture or write down the ones that don’t get answered. Either answer them tomorrow, assign them for homework or have small groups work on them in the next class.

Tip 3: Take Questions from Groups

Every classroom is different and you may have a group of students that is REALLY reluctant to speak out. If so, let the students collaborate with their peers to form questions.

You can try this in a Think-Pair-Share kind of way. Ask each student to jot down a question on their own and then share it with another student. The pair can then decide which question to ask. Or, make the group bigger by putting two pairs together and letting them select one really good question to ask.

Tip 4: Take Written Questions

For this strategy, Post-It Notes or extra scraps of paper are your friend. Try these strategies to encourage written questions:

• Exit Pass: Write a question on this sticky note about the most confusing part of today’s lesson. Stick it on the board on your way out of class. (Answer the questions in the next class.)
• Write one question about __ on this slip of paper. (Then, mix up the slips and have students draw one. Let them answer if they want or they can pass it on to you or another student.)
• On this scratch paper, I want you to complete these statements: “Today, I learned __. Now, I wonder __?”

Tip 5: Provide Question Stems

Sometimes, students simply do not want to speak out in class. But, sometimes, they’re just not sure what to ask. Question stems can help and they can be used for oral or written questions. Write these on the board or hang them on the wall:

• How are __ & __ related (alike, different)?
• Can you give another example of __?
• What causes __?
• How do we know __?

Answering Student Questions

You wouldn’t be reading this post if you didn’t care about your students. Everything you do in the classroom, whether it’s asking questions, answering questions, or anything else, hinges on you caring about the young people you work with every day and their academic achievement.

Theodore Roosevelt is often credited with the quote:

“Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”

So, with that understanding, just consider these friendly reminders to keep your classroom interactive, engaging, and effective.

• Treat every question with respect.
• Be sincere in wanting them to ask questions.
• Don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.” Then, go find out.
• Present your answers with enthusiasm. One of the best things a student ever said to me was, “I love you how you love science.” Big smile!

You got this! I’d love to hear how these strategies work for you or other strategies you’ve used to build classroom discourse.

Happy Teaching!

Carla