- The Art of Questioning
Sometimes our daily discussion “Saying of the day” was not a conversation but exposure of one’s perspective with the silence of others. Despite the teacher's effort to foster “there are many interpretations” mentality, there were debates that caused distance between us.
The question “Do you agree or disagree with this saying?” promotes the idea of dichotomy, perpetuating the reductive and narrow approach of right/wrong answer, the agree/disagree formula.
The question “What does it bring to your mind and to your feelings?” brings the idea of separation of mind and feeling. It might cause separation between those who are more analytical and objective from those who are more intuitive and subjective. However, this question was helpful to let students know the teacher was interested in their experiences as a whole person, not only about what they learned by reading the text book.
Questions that worked very well were “What are the pros and cons about it” or “Compare with a life event, movie or Tv show” or simply “What does it bring to you? What is your experience?” These questions fostered effective discussions by helping students move out of the narrow agree/disagree or right/wrong traditional discourse. These questions require more than simple affirmation or negation.
No comments:
Post a Comment