It’s the start of PE class. The students are all sitting down and you finally have them quiet enough to give instructions. You go through the rules of the game, give some examples, so far so good. Then, like a firework, you see one hand shoot up. Then another. And another. What have I done? It looks like the grand finale of a 4th of July show. You have no choice. It’s time for:
“Does anyone have any questions?”
If you teach lower elementary (or younger), you know what is coming next. A sea of hands in the air, and as you answer one question, like a hydra, more pop up after you give an answer.
My question to you is,“How many questions do you take before the lesson?”
There seem to be two very different viewpoints when it comes to questions before the game. Like most things, I bet you fall somewhere within the spectrum of the two. Which side do you tend to agree with more?
No More Delays, it is Time to Play
-Many questions can be answered by just playing the game
-Maximize playing time and efficiency (which is vital for shorter gym periods)
-PE is physical education, and if we are talking too much, they are not doing. There is a point where you have to stop talking about it and do it.
-Not answering every question helps the student’s problem solve in real time
We Must Answer Every Question before the Game Session!
-It’s best to do the job right the first time. If you rush the explanation, the students will be confused, which will grind the game to a halt, and you will have to re-explain everything again.
-We want to accommodate different learning styles
-Promotes fair play because students will have better clarity of the rules and know what they can or can’t do
-A better understanding of the rules promotes better strategy and more nuanced and critical thinking
-Can lead to refinement of the game (the students bring up possibilities that you have not considered)
What Camp Do I Fall into?
If had not already noticed, my curriculum is Montessori Physical Education. If you are familiar at all with Montessori students, they do not hesitate to ask questions. Knowing that ahead of time, they made the decision for me that I need to answer more questions than I sometimes deem necessary. However, for selfish reasons I also entertain lots of questions. Their questions are an excellent form of quality assurance! The questions they ask help expand the way I think about the game I created, and they are testing my rule set to see if it has any holes that need to be addressed. Sometimes they ask something I had not considered before, and I have to come up with a rule on the spot. If it works, I keep it. If it doesn’t work, I fix it for the next class. Some of my best ideas have been spawned by a great question.
At some point, I say, “I will take X amount of questions.” This is usually when I see there are only one or two hands up, and the questions are starting to slow down. I do this to stem the onslaught of hands that pop up as soon as the talking seems to be over. By limiting the amount of questions at a certain point, this also answers the question of “when will the questions be over?” Another thing I do is I typically only take one question per student. This is not always the case, especially if the first question was a really good one. However, if a student seems to be only wasting time, a quick way of shutting down obnoxious behavior is saying, “you already asked a question.”
One question that I hate is, “Can we start the game now.” The reason why I hate this question so much is because my students have come to understand that I take time to answer questions. I also let the students know that the more questions they ask, the less playing time the have. When someone asks, “can we start,” it is only wasting time and does not accomplish the task of getting to the playing time faster. They can easily see if there are still hands in the air. If there are, then we are going to answer them. If not, then we are going to star the game. While I understand (and even appreciate) that the students want to play, there is also grace and courtesy that needs to be extended to their classmates who still have questions. “Can we start yet” is someone being impatient. Conversely, someone asking obnoxious questions is also being inconsiderate, and I let that student know that as well. I also will not entertain the “what if” questions that have zero probability of happening in the game.
Sometimes I want to see if another student knows the answer to a question from another student. One reason I do this is to encourage critical thinking (a=b, b=c, therefore b=c). Sometimes I do this if I know that the student who is asking the question was talking during the Q and A portion and they didn’t hear that the question was already asked, and therefore they asked a redundant question. Again, this is also a time waster.
I am also very clear in that Q and A time is not a time to give tips or tricks, talk strategy, or talk about life. If someone likes to listen to the sound of their own voice and is not actually asking a question, I don’t hesitate to cut them off. If it’s something truly worthwhile I may make an exception, but most times I tell them to share that bit of information at the end of the lesson. If they actually remember what they wanted to say at the end of the lesson, then I will let them share. Nine times out ten, they forget.
I appreciate both sides of the argument, but it’s probably clear that I fall more on the answer every question side.
Where do you fall?