teaching tip
several years ago
I retired the question “do you have any questions?”
and replaced it with the phrase “ask me at least two questions”
it assumes students have questions
and it normalizes questions in the math classroom
now a benefit of this change is longer wait time
when we say “ask me at least two questions”
we’re more likely to wait until this is fulfilled versus asking
“do you have any questions?”
a lot of us would just wait like
a second
for example
“do you have any questions?
okay let’s move on”
kind of like that
and I tell students
that their questions don’t have to be just me re-explaining something
they could be extension questions as well
for example “what if we had a fraction right here?
would this work for three numbers instead of two numbers?
would we ever get a negative number as our answer?”
questions like those
let’s practice being curious in the math
and speaking of curiosity
I say this phrase a lot in my class
“Questions just mean you’re curious.
That’s it. There’s nothing to be ashamed of when asking a question.”
now no single teaching tip will work in 100% of classes
including this one
a couple years ago
I had a student say “you’re doing everything right
I’m just really shy so I’d rather ask my questions after class”
and that is great
as long as a student feels comfortable asking me questions
whether it’s in class or outside of class
that is a win
so overall the big picture of this is “how are we normalizing questions?”
because a lot of students may feel embarrassed asking questions
whether it’s in front of the class or between them and the teacher
for me I say
“ask me at least two questions”
and I also say “questions just mean you’re curious, that’s it”