Effective Questions and Languaging in Instruction

What I found interesting about the Groseta reading was the different aspects that effect group work. Such as: Labels and signs; Colors; Moving classroom furniture; and Displaying group work. I never really though deeply into this before but I think that they all serve an important part in the students success. The one most important to me is moving classroom furniture. For different activities it would be nice to have the room set up differently for example having a classroom discussion on animal welfare vs. animal rights would be a circle of desks and a project would be pods. However this will be a challenge for me because 1. I'm limited on space which is most likely why the classroom is the way it is, and 2. the desks are the old clunky ones that have the seat attached. It's definitely a challenge I'll take on but i'm not sure how it will play out.

 My question about field trips is how does one make it interactive for the students? I know its important to prep the students and make sure that they have questions to ask. But for me that was always a challenge and seemed silly; however as an educator I see the importance. 1. For the host of the trip, it makes them feel more successful when they are able to answer questions and 2. For the student, it keeps them engaged. But as a teacher how does one determine if the questions the students ask are deep enough for that learning piece. Is it acceptable to write the questions and give the students a list and tell them every question should be asked? Or, is it better to have the students write the questions they ask? I know from previous experience I would always write generic questions and when the time came to ask them I felt that they were to mediocre and refused to ask my questions.

"Research shows that teachers ask between 300-400 questions a day" my mind is blown! That seems like an incredible amount of questions, but if I start to think about all the little questions I ask back to back in any presentation i'm doing they would add up fast. One thing I struggle with and most teachers probably do is wait time. In the reading it says that typically wait time should be 5-7 seconds. To me this number doesn't seem proficient. That seems like very fast turn around time. If the students get accustomed to the teacher giving the answer after 5-7 seconds I feel like they would take advantage of that. But at the same time I think that gauging the energy in a classroom would determine the amount of wait time necessary. If its a high level of energy the students are engaged they may be ready to answer questions promptly. I suppose I'll have to wait until i'm in the classroom to find out.