{"id":3053,"date":"2021-12-04T15:37:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-04T15:37:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/computerscienced.co.uk\/site\/?p=3053"},"modified":"2022-01-12T15:58:22","modified_gmt":"2022-01-12T15:58:22","slug":"does-anyone-have-any-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/computerscienced.co.uk\/site\/does-anyone-have-any-questions\/","title":{"rendered":"Does anyone have any questions?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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You’ve just finished explaining the task you want your students to do, you went into every detail and modelled what you want them to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As you finish up you ask, “Does everyone understand what I want you to do?” or “Does anyone have any questions?”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This ‘finish up’ is even seen at the end of meetings and reviews. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It seems perfectly valid, you are asking for understanding and for students to confirm this to you, and if there are any questions, but the semantics of both of these are that they are closed questions. The default response is either yes or no (perhaps you’ll occasionally receive a nod, a shake of the head or on the rare occasion, a question). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What’s a better way to gauge understanding? You could ask students to repeat it back to you, “Billy, What’s the first thing I asked you to do?”, “Huzaifa, what’s the second thing I asked you to do?”. This repeats the tasks for those who weren’t listening first time round and ensures that certain students understand the work, though it doesn’t mean everyone else in the class does! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another method, which you could use technology for (like Plickers<\/strong><\/a>) or just a simple white board, ask, “On a scale of 1 to 5, how well do you understand the task I’ve just explained? Write it down, 3, 2, 1 show me”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This question asks for total class participation, and gives you a quick idea of how well you explained it or how well the class were listening. This is a hinge or pivot question, which determines what happens next in your lesson. If you’re staring at mainly 1s and 2s, you need to go back and perhaps explain in more simple terms, or rephrase what you are asking your students to do, or break it down more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have a pocket of 1s and 2s and the rest are 3s, 4s and 5s? You could do 1 of 2 things, “Billy, Huzaifa, you both put 5s, go and explain the task to Usman and Freddy.” or if there are a few more you could say, “3s, 4s and 5s crack on with the task, 1s and 2s come over to the whiteboard and let me explain this again.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a great way to ensure that everyone understands a task in an open way, but it requires teachers to change what is usually our modus operandi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Take away<\/strong> – Don’t ask closed questions like “Does anyone have any questions?” or “Does everyone understand what I want you to do?” , instead ask a more open question “On a scale of 1 to 5, how well do you understand the task I have asked you to do?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This pedagogy was derived from the book Leadership is Language by David Marquet<\/a>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please note that this is a promotional link that will take you to Amazon. <\/strong> <\/p>\n

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