First off, grammar Nazis and editors, please read and inform me in the morning. I do appreciate it :). Secondly, I was feeling uninspired and then I read some of the posts out there and I continue to be blown away by the creativity and thoughtfulness of the people that surround me every day. Thank you all for that. I have not found that in such abundance beyond the classroom.
So... today's thoughts. Listening to the rest of the questioning podcast I mentioned yesterday, several points were brought up that I was intrigued by. The dialogue I will share today talked about the decline in curiosity and questioning as we get older. The speaker shares, "We will do whatever we get rewarded for doing, and we do not get rewarded for questioning... The message we send to children at a very young age is that the reward goes to the person who has the answer, not to the person who asks the question." He goes on to talk about questioning being perceived as inefficient and reflecting ignorance. While this is only one of the messages, it strikes me as true.
As a teacher, I see inquiry and wonder as the stimulus for creativity and learning. I have no doubt that I have shut down questioning in my role as a teacher, but I hope I have also opened doors with questions (my own and others) and encouraged my students to ask me questions. I find that there is an expectation that teachers have all the answers. I have long known that I am in a shortage of answers. I can make up some good stories, but the more I learn, the more aware I am of the many answers I don't have.
Personally, I am a question asker because I get so much more out of dialogue when I ask questions. I have gotten a variety of different responses to my question asking, not all of them pleasant. I am careful about timing and audience for my questions to avoid the judgment or save time. Yet... I still ask questions. I am a seeker of information and perspectives to ponder in developing my own ideas and understandings.
So, to any and all of you who read this, I encourage you: ask your questions! They are courageous and important. They build a broader perspective and encourage thinking. They encourage and result in innovation. They won't always have answers...
That sounds like a really interesting podcast. Will you share the link with me? I know exactly what you mean about shutting down questioning in the classroom and I cringe to think about when and why I've done the same thing. Questions are inefficient to "teaching" but vital to learning.
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