One of the teaching strategies that I used to apply in class was to give students the power to conduct the class through questions. Normally, teachers are the ones who ask questions regarding to the topics of the class. But there are ways more interesting to work on questions.
And as I said, my favorite one was to interchange the roles.
Why?
Because it offers the possibility to make the class more interesting. And at the same time, it pushes students to participate in a way where they can break down the topics as they like.
Many topics in class can be interesting, but some students might not like the angle how they are approached to.
So, by letting students make questions in class, we are allowing them to lead the learning process. I personally like it because it offers many benefits. Some of the them are:
100% engagement.
It gives students the command to manage their own learning.
It promotes investigative attitude.
It can integrate reluctant students into the group.
What types of questions?
The purpose of the questions is to make students discover knowledge by themselves. As a language teacher, I structured this strategy so that students could grasp expressions I used in the target language. They analyzed the emphasis and specific jargon in relation to the different situations.
So, the questions need to look for additional information. Simply put, no yes/no questions because they don't provide much insights. Additional information opens a window to extend the conversation further.
Other subjects
Teachers in other fields can use this method to engage students. Actually, students are the ones who engage. They become something else because the line between the teacher and students vanish. The teacher is seen as a source of information when students get information from.
And when I say "the line," I refer about the usual barrier that rises up. This creates distance between teachers and students which highly compromises the learning process because the figure of the teacher becomes some sort of a cold individual who doesn't allow freedom.
So, teachers in any field can leverage on the freedom to reinforce the class. There is no better way to motivate when you give students the power of leading their own learning.
Responsibility
Eventually, students learn to be responsible. They realize what they are doing really counts for them. And it's not something that you have to comply as regular assignments. They see value and feel delighted for the efforts they make.
When you use this strategy, you will notice a change in the students' behavior. They can have a hard time at the beginning or feel reluctant to participate. But with the appropriate preparation, they can willingly integrate.
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