The Power of Questions

If you Google search “quotes about the importance of asking questions”, you get a multitude of inspirational ideas. Einstein says, “The important thing is not to stop questioning; curiosity has its own reason for existing.” Other quotes include: “Asking the right questions takes as much skill as giving the right answer”, and “The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” I stumbled upon a great book several years ago titled, Make Just One Change: Teach Students to Ask Their Own Questions by Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana. In the book, Rothstein and Santana make a case for the importance of questions to empower and engage students. Their work began in Lawrence, MA where they encountered parents who wanted to advocate for their children in the public school system but didn’t know what questions to ask. In order to build knowledge and confidence, the two authors joined forces and developed the “Question Formation Technique”. They taught parents how to form questions that got at the heart of their issues. Finding the system very successful, Rothstein and Santana expanded their work to educators and later to health professionals. I had the privilege to attend their summer workshop in 2013. I found the concept simple and yet so powerful. It became a teaching technique for my classroom at the time and inspired a conference presentation on “Teaching Students to Ask Questions” at a John’s Hopkins Center for Talented Youth gathering in San Francisco. I have included below the link to Dan Rothstein’s TED talk and a journal article in case you would like to know more about the process. In addition, these authors have recently released a book for parents. It addresses the need to ask critical questions about your child’s learning experience. I highly recommend the resources these talented individuals have created.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JdczdsYBNA

http://rightquestion.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2015-Making-Questions-Flow.pdf

Our faculty realizes the value of student questions. And yet, we often find ourselves formulating “Essential Questions” to drive our instruction and meet the needs of curriculum standards. Often, we give the questions and teach students how to find the answers. Students, wanting to please the teacher and see success in the class, focus on teacher questions and feel less secure asking their own. As Dan Rothstein points out in his TED talk, students make progress with reading and writing as they age in school, however the number of questions children ask significantly diminishes. Graduates from our high schools and colleges will be better served if educators place “Question Formation” as an essential part of the curriculum. We need to continually create classrooms that encourage inquiry and make asking questions the norm. These “safe spaces” will encourage more student directed learning as the “need to know” comes from the learner. This week I will lead a professional development for our faculty that deals with this very topic. They will contrast current practices with best practices and learn the Question Formation Technique as developed by Santana and Rothstein in the book mentioned above. I will also encourage a faculty read of the wonderful work, A More Beautiful Question, by Warren Berger. This text, and his subsequent website, further explains the beauty and power of a question. He illustrates the direction companies, individuals, and the country take when theright question is posed. I think everyone would enjoy the insights. Enjoy the link below and encourage your daughters to ASK, ASK, ASK questions each and every day!

A More Beautiful Question Website

I hope that my communication with you encourages “talking points” to inspire weekend conversation with your children. Here are some “talking points” for this weekend.

If you are in Kindergarten- What have you learned about the letter O this week? Who did you read books with during the MLK assembly?
If you are in First Grade- What books did you pick up at the Book Swap last week? Was it hard to choose? Why did Mrs. Teeling give out robot rings and Starbursts on Friday?
If you are in Second Grade- What books did you pick up at the Book Swap last week? What is a microbusiness? What are you learning about money- earnings and budgets?
If you are in Third Grade- Have you finished your unit on Roald Dahl? Which book would you recommend to a second grade student as a must read? Did you participate in the ribbon-cutting of the new Junior Innovation Lab?
If you are in Fourth Grade- Did you enjoy hearing about the work of Margaret Hamilton during Friday’s Morning Meeting? What are you looking forward to doing doing STEAM week?