Chapter # 3

After chapter two dealt with some of the details of the school year, chapter three focused in more on the day to day interactions with students.  The key part of the chapter for me was the different types of questions a teacher should and should not ask.  Many teachers I have been in class with asked the "embarrassing" type of questions the book discussed not using.  I also found the question levels part to be very interesting.  It seemed similar to Bloom's Taxonomy except it dealt specifically with asking questions instead of overall level of thinking.  I found it interesting that no matter what level of question teachers are asking, there needs to be significant thinking time.  Just like when giving a speech a person thinks they are talking much slower than they are, the pause time seems to long to a teacher, but it really is not.  I also remember many teachers letting the first person raising their hand answer, when that does not allow all students to think and learn on their own.  As a teacher, I really enjoyed that lesson more than anything.  It will stick in my mind and help me remember to let everything think and process what is going on, so every students has the opportunity to improve their own thinking skills.  In my opinion, that is the most important piece of material in the chapter.  The methods of going about asking questions are important too, but if adequate thinking time is not given, the question will not matter anyway.