Using didactic questioning techniques and rhetoric is a great way to establish yourself as an authority in the classroom. Prior to stepping into a classroom for the first time I worried about how I would present myself to students. Would I be able to convey the material? Would I be able to command respect in the classroom? How would I handle unruly students? A fellow instructor advised me that I should ask questions that I know the answer to - this in turn almost completely sets up a lecture. In one well worded question you can a) gauge student knowledge,… >>>

I had a situation once in my class where my grading rubric prevented a serious argument. A student came to me after a midterm exam to contest his grade. He was not satisfied with the points he had earned and believed that his answers deserved a better grade. I had structured the questions for the exam very carefully and as a result creating a rubric was easy. Each essay question had 7 components, and each component required an accompanying example. Because I had such a specification, I was able to demonstrate to the student that he had ignored certain components… >>>