As teachers, we ask a lot of questions, but do we question effectively? Do we often direct questions to the entire group with responses coming from everywhere? Do we solicit answers from all of our students randomly or do we select students we think are likely to know the answers? Are our questions carefully selected to match the standards we are teaching and do our questions lead to deeper thought processes from our students? Most importantly, do we wait, really wait, for students to answer? The way we do questioning as well as how we handle students’ answers are an essential part of our daily classroom instruction and assessment.
In most of our classrooms, we ask lots of questions, but often the questions are directed to all students and responses come from the loudest student or the quickest student or even the one who raises his or her hand most aggressively. This does not allow all students to formulate an answer and may well lead some students to quit trying because they begin to believe that they “just don’t think fast enough.” Even if, as teachers, we are careful to randomly call on students to answer our questions, we must still give all students time to formulate answers before calling on someone. We must wait!
Wait time can be uncomfortable. As teachers we are used to sound and activity and often equate that to success and progress. We are uncomfortable with silence, even for a few seconds, so we tend to begin to “fill in the gaps.” We start to talk, to give hints, to give partial answers or even answer the question ourselves. When we ask a question, we should wait before randomly calling on someone to answer. There is nothing wrong with saying, following a question, “Take 30 seconds to think about your answer and then I will call on one of you.” This gives students using varying thinking processes time to collect their thoughts and formulate answers for themselves.
In his book, High-Impact Instruction, Jim Knight concludes that asking five or six really good questions during a class period is best [Knight, 2013]. This gives time for students to compile their thoughts and create answers in their own way. Giving fewer, but deeper questions actually helps us with wait time by leading to other classroom techniques that allow students time to think. Deeper questions are a great way to implement partner or group learning which will allow students to formulate their own responses as others are verbalizing theirs. Teachers act to moderate discussions without giving partial answers to students. By the time discussion returns to a whole class setting, all students have had a chance to mold an answer from their own perspective.
What do we do when we give “wait time” and students still don’t respond to questions? First, we must train our students that “wait time” is not “idle” time. “I don’t know” is not an answer to our question. A student is never “off the hook” by answering, “I don’t know.” Instead, try restating the question or relating it to something else for which they have prior knowledge. Try simplifying the questions or breaking it into parts. Allow the student to ask a partner or friend but always return to the original student questioned for the answer. Making sure that students work their way toward answers is important in making sure “wait time” does not become “wasted time.”
The next time you are asking questions of your students in class, make sure to give them time to come up with an answer before calling on someone. Everyone is held accountable for answers and for using the “thinking time” for thinking about responses. Ask a good question of your students expecting a good answer and then, wait for it!