It's all in the Question

What I learned on Tuesday is essential. We had the mindtool and standards presentations on Tuesday. I learned for myself in my presentation not to get nervous and blow the entire presentation with something that I happened to know pretty well before hand. That was a big mistake...
Anyway, the real learned topic here was what Geoff brought to our attention at the end of class; we should not ask,"Are there any questions?" What we learned was that by asking such a simple one-sided question, especially to junior high students, we would not get any responses. To help us understand through a peer example, Geoff reminded us of Scott's presentation. In it, Scott performed a series of questions throughout that were directed to particular individuals in the class. He called on students by their names, which got their attention, and he asked questions that had to be answered in other ways than a simple "yes" or "no." Scott did a really good job at this, I think. I also think that every one else who presented was awesome. But what I need to do to become a better teacher is learn how to invent and spontaneously apply direct and thought-invoking questions. If I can stimulate learning and a learning desire by the questions that I ask, then my students will have a better understanding, will want to learn more, and hopefully remember the content to be able to teach another the same stuff.