Guess what I'm thinking? It starts with a 'Q'...

I've been doing some thinking lately, and then unexpectedly given the gift of time. Now I'm going to attempt to put some of this thinking into the larger conversation.

I've been thinking about how we teach through our questions.

When I was doing my practicum placements I was given some great advice. It had to do with the questions I asked. I was challenged: was I leading the students to one right answer, or to a wide open conversation?

In my attempt to visualize this thinking, I keep coming up with the same image - the prism of light. I see the potential of questioning to come through two different possibilities. If the prism is the teacher, I can either break open the conversation into a million points of light - or I can take all the millions of points of light (as the amazing ideas of the students) and force it into one response - the one I was looking for.

I created my title with a purpose - because I have heard this in classes. I've heard teachers ask their students questions, very thin and narrow questions, and up goes all the hands. Then as the first few are chosen, the teacher dismisses these with the "clue" - it starts with a (any given letter).  Then the hands go down, as the students start to run through all the possibilities of this magical word. Starts with an a? Apple? Aardvark? Antelope?? The thinking shifts so suddenly and fundamentally from the rich (well, maybe not so rich) conversation to an almost comedic run through of the alphabet!

There is so much possibility, and indeed, so much great research into questioning. But I also think this points to the teacher's position within the class. Back to the tired, but ever important: Sage on the Stage, or Guide on the Side?  If we can't truly engage WITH our students, especially with our questions and prompts, then really, aren't we wasting this potential?

M.