My essential take-away from this chapter was that the essence of effective learning is the ability to think. Teachers must be observant of intelligent behavior if they are to be certain that their efforts having the desired effect. Any given subject matter is but a means to this end. Regardless of the content area we are teaching, it is the role of the teacher to advance the thinking of their charges such that they can carry forth in their learning after the bell rings. I noticed that the book mentions the divergent-thinking questions, but not the inductive variety. How curious.
The reading assignment is showing me how, without adequate preparation, a teacher might wallow in the lowest level of questioning. They are simple to formulate, almost guaranteed to generate a quick response, and have a right or wrong answer, avoiding any unpleasant debate.
As for my own questioning skills, I know that I need to improve upon giving adequate think time. I have a bad habit of filling silences which, according to the text, could have unintended consequence of inducing confusion. I bet I even answer my own questions, though I can't recall a specific incident at the moment. I find the idea of a question-driven curriculum exciting.
Finally, I have trouble imagining it, however. If the curriculum is driven by the students, how does a teacher ensure that all required curriculum content is covered?
Melissa S- Your 'bad habit' of filling silences is something I do all the time. If I don't get an answer quickly I start to think that my question wasn't heard or that it wasn't understood. I also reword my question which also adds to inducing confusion like you mentioned. I'm glad to hear I am not the only one that does this. Hopefully recognizing this problem will give us both a chance to fix it.
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