This week I started reading, Warren Berger’s (2014) A More Beautiful Question. I thought I might have a hard time getting into a book that was about questioning. I mean how much could be said about questions, right? I was so wrong! I read the first two chapters fervently, constantly highlighting or making connections to my own practice. Berger explains throughout the first two chapters how curious children are when they are young and how they begin to lose this inquisitiveness as they grow older. Berger (2014) shares research showing “a child asks about 42,000 questions between the ages of two and five” (p. 40). He tells us how as children grow older they lose the need to ask questions as they develop their own mental understandings of their world creating labels or categories.
I have noticed this trend in my own high school resource classroom. It appears as though the curiosity, engagement, and motivation of my students is low and so is their confidence. Berger discusses how a stereotype can create difficult battles for students and I immediately thought of my students. I teach in a high school special education resource class, to students who have also experienced trauma. I see every day the struggles my students fight within themselves and with others. The stereotype of having an IEP or going to a specific classroom can produce fear of looking a certain way. Asking questions, in front of others, would definitely ignite that fear. After reading and reflecting, I want them to feel that they don’t have to self-censor their questions or feel fear of speaking up.
Today I participated in a question quickfire challenge to type out as many teaching or education-related questions I could in 5 minutes. I found I had a difficult time knowing where to start. Once I got started, the questions popping up in my head began to flow out. I felt engaged, connected and even relieved because I realized all of the questions I typed had been sitting in my head. It felt good to get them out as a part of this activity. This activity reminded me of a professional development activity I participated in with other teachers at my school on our school-wide policies. We were asked to write down as many questions as we could about our policies within a given time frame. Once I started with one thought, more and more questions built on one another. I observed this of my colleagues as well! I felt myself become more engaged with the activity and motivated to participate in the professional development entirely. In the picture below you can see the wall of questions after 5 minutes was up. I noticed many of my questions were about how to use more creativity, inquiry, support, and technology in the classroom.
I do not feel that my students ask this many questions, but I am not sure I give them the opportunity to do so. Sometimes, as a teacher, I feel bogged down and overwhelmed with meeting the necessary standards that I forget about truly important skills, such as questioning. I want to do a better job of utilizing the tools I have to incorporate the art of questioning. Berger outlines how this is the best time to be a questioner. He describes how it is now so easy to start an inquiry with the many platforms we can use to gather information, ask for help or find other like-minded people! My school is lucky to be one to one with technology and I want to learn how to use our technology with inquiry in mind.
Resources:
Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York: Bloomsbury
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