Saturday, November 01, 2014

Two Dynamite Questions

Dave Denman, an expert educational consultant and long-time colleague, gave me a tip many years ago that was one of the best study nuggets I’d ever heard.

During or after completing your homework in a given class (say, history), think of two "dynamite questions" to ask your teacher the following day, about the general topic you’re currently discussing in class. Make these questions interesting, not run of the mill, but as thought provoking as possible. Jot these questions down in your notes.

Then, at an appropriate time during class the next day, be sure to ask your teacher these two questions!

Asking thoughtful questions is one of the best ways to make the class more relevant and interesting to other students, and doing so will certainly get you noticed by your instructor. In addition, coming up with these questions in the first place gets you thinking more deeply about the material you’re learning in class and therefore tends to make it more interesting and memorable to you. Teachers always greatly appreciate and respect students who ask great questions, especially those who make a habit of doing so on a regular basis. These students are obviously taking a special interest in the class, and nothing makes a teacher’s day like students who consistently put forth the effort to ask insightful, probing questions.

Although it only takes a couple of extra minutes to do so, recording and then asking dynamite questions really livens up class time, makes your teacher’s job a whole lot easier and more enjoyable, and goes a long way to making any class more fun and interesting for you and your fellow classmates.

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