{"id":32610,"date":"2017-11-02T14:25:58","date_gmt":"2017-11-02T18:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=32610"},"modified":"2018-03-19T17:30:41","modified_gmt":"2018-03-19T21:30:41","slug":"the-good-enough-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2017\/11\/02\/the-good-enough-question\/","title":{"rendered":"The “good enough” question"},"content":{"rendered":"\"uni102<\/a>We have established that classroom interaction is important. But most of us are faced with the same problem -- what makes a question a good<\/i> question? Any question is great because it clarifies something<\/em>, but it\u2019s even better when it\u2019s a question that moves the discussion forward. Sometimes the pressure of asking a good question backfires and we find ourselves ruminating on what a \u201cgood enough\u201d question would be, rather than actually ever asking one! I\u2019m pretty sure all of us have gone through this at some point. The problem with constantly thinking about how to ask a \u201cgood enough\" question is it takes away from the present moment in class. That is, instead of your cognitive resources being used to actively listen to the professor, you\u2019re focused on using what the professor is saying to ask an \u201cinteresting enough\u201d question. And with this at the back of your head, you\u2019re likely to miss the point.\r\n\r\nIn my experience, and I\u2019m sure most of you would agree -- the most valuable questions are a result of careful listening. Instead of thinking about what to ask and how to frame it, start by being completely present in the moment.\r\n\r\nThe most basic questions are usually the most resourceful and insightful ones. They also show that you\u2019ve been engaged with what the professor has been saying -- as opposed to trying to prove a point to the class. Moreover, if you are truly paying attention during lecture, most of the times, the questions will come to you. And by that I mean as soon as you don\u2019t quite get something, or want to know more<\/em> about something you\u2019ll have an almost reflexive \u201cbut..why<\/em>?\u201d or \u201cwhat<\/em>?\u201d in your head. As soon as you become aware of this, your job is to articulate that moment of confusion or curiosity. If you do that, your question is a reflection of real and active cognitive engagement with the material. Not only does this clarify your doubt, but it does so for other students and moreover, helps the professor understand how his or her students are engaging with the material. This way, the professor gets cues from you and other students as to what method of teaching is working and what isn\u2019t. This of course will only improve how the professor engages you and other students with the material, which will enhance your classroom experience.\r\n\r\nSo to sum things up --\r\n
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  1. Make sure you\u2019re attentive and carefully listening to what the professor is saying. Doing your readings will aid this experience because it provides a framework within which you can encode the material.<\/li>\r\n \t
  2. Identify your moment of confusion. This can be as simple as a \u201cwait..what?\u201d in your head.<\/li>\r\n \t
  3. Articulate it. If I can\u2019t find the words immediately I just scribble down the concept I didn\u2019t get and articulate the question in the break or after class.<\/li>\r\n \t
  4. Ask away! By doing so you\u2019re helping yourself, your peers and the professor.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\nMoreover, it doesn't even have to be question!\u00a0 Sometimes we just have a comment to make. Sometimes it's a personal experience. If you're too shy to ask a question in class, try sending an email.\u00a0 It's relevant and important because it helps you and in many cases everyone else to understand how the material is applied. Questions and comments are extremely powerful tools we need to use to uniquely engage ourselves with the material. You'd be surprised at how a simple \"This theory actually reminded me of...\" can go.\u00a0 It's pretty amazing the amount of interesting connections one simple comment or question can lead to -- give it a shot.\r\n\r\n ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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    \nWe have established that classroom interaction is important. But most of us are faced with the same problem -- what makes a question a good question? Any question is great because it clarifies something, but it\u2019s even better when it\u2019s…\n<\/div>
    Continue reading “The “good enough” question”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
    Continue reading “The “good enough” question”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":334,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6669,1,58,6480,67,68],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32610"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/334"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32610"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34159,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32610\/revisions\/34159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}