In an effort to recharge my teacher battery, I picked up a new book this week called A More Beautiful Question by Warren Berger (2014). Although I love to read, I am normally more interested in novels. So when I started reading this book and was flipping through the pages just as quick as I do when I read the next book in a gripping series, I was shocked. Berger speaks about questioning in a way that makes you question. Reading the introduction and first two chapters on a day off from school, I found myself wishing to get back to my classroom and try even one thing I learned from my readings. At times, I felt like Berger was reading my mind, yet taking it one step further. For example, he described how many adults feel when kids ask “why” questions again, and again, and again: annoyed. Although he acknowledges we all have felt this way, he also challenges you to see it through a different lens. He explains that children are “making…mental connections, they’re seeking more information and clarification by way of questioning,” (p. 41). He goes on to explain that this is a skill that we are starting to lose as we grow up, even as early as elementary school. This really made me think about, and even question, my role as a teacher – which led me to a question quickfire. I took five minutes to sit down and write down any question I had about my practice as a teacher. Take a look at the photo below to see! When I first started, it was hard to get going – but once I let my thoughts drift I found myself asking questions about my previous question. I even had more questions after the five minutes was up! Being that this was right after reading from Berger’s book, many of my questions turned out to be questions about questions. Is the word question starting to sound weird yet? I did find that I took a good portion of the time thinking about a question I didn’t feel I should write down. It was a question I felt could get me in trouble, but I wrote it down anyway. Then, at the end, I deleted it. I wish so badly that I could ask that question, but just as Berger explains that sometimes children feel they shouldn’t ask a certain question because it might challenge authority, I feel like I can’t. This made me wonder if I ever make my students feel that way. I imagine I definitely do! This is one of the reasons why I can’t wait to get back to my classroom tomorrow. Photo by: Hayley Justin. At school tomorrow, I plan to assume the role of a listener and see how far my students can question things. Specifically, I don’t just want to value their questions about the content I am teaching but about all things they question. For example, in Science, I regularly praise their questions and add them to our KLEWS (Know, Learn, Evidence, Wonderings, Science Terms) chart. Tomorrow, I want to value their questions they bring up on our walk to the cafeteria, or while they’re eating snack – times of our day when I usually either expect them to walk quietly or chat with their friends. One of my questions in my quickfire was, “How can I make time to value each kid's question throughout my entire day?” Another question was, “Can one teacher listen to the questions of 25 kids all day?” Being new at this, I’d like to try using times such as snack time, transitions, and recess to encourage questioning.
I am intrigued by Berger’s first two chapters and look forward to reading what’s next. Will it inspire me to change the way I do things in my classroom? What if I didn’t wear a microphone so my students could hear my voice, but I let my students pass it around so we could all hear theirs? Would that make a difference in the tone of my classroom when considering whose voice is important? Would my first graders be able to handle something a little less structured? Is that something I can teach them? See? Questions building from other questions – oops I did it again. Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York, NY: Bloomsbury. Padlet (2008). Retrieved from https://padlet.com/
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