“A turtle makes progress when it sticks its neck out.” – Anonymous
ILLUSTRATION BY DAVID FOSTER
Many teachers encourage their students to ask questions. They say: “If you have a question, there are likely to be other students who also have the same question.” This is a policy in my classroom, in which I try and cultivate an open environment in which the students know they’ll never be judged for asking a question. I think it’s a way to prepare them for life, when they’re in college, and so on. Asking questions is a crucial step in getting answers and so if I am working with a new batch of students, I tend to emphasize this until I start hearing my students ask questions. You can tell when questions are hanging there about to be asked, though not always, and so when students start to ask them, I start thinking that I’m finally getting somewhere.
It’s with this in mind that I’ve made my own policy as a new teacher for myself: I ask lots of questions. There are four reasons why I think asking questions is important for new teachers. I am no expert. Not by any means. But because I am a new teacher, I find asking questions useful and of course I am also interested in hearing your thoughts, too. I ask questions because:
- I am responsible for my students’ education and that means that if I have questions, I should find the answers to them.
As a new teacher at my school, and with the job market being what it is in the field, I can honestly say that I had an initial and very, very short lived knee-jerk inclination to feign some sort of superhuman knowledge when I first started. Of course I know what I’m doing all of the time, right? Right??? Yet, my role as a teacher who is responsible for the educational development of 48 students has the better of me and creates an unending and healthy dose of humility, humility, humility. If I don’t know or am unsure about something, of course, I do my due diligence and try and find answers online and in books, but if I have a question that requires another teacher’s opinion, my principal’s thoughts, or my school’s admissions counselor’s feedback, I ask them when I can. I don’t want to be functioning wrongly and it’s amazing how quickly a week goes by. The students need me to know that answer now!
- Asking questions helps me to build rapport with other teachers.
Maybe it’s just my personal experience, but I’ve found I’m much more likely to ask someone questions when he or she has already asked me a question before. I think it has something to do with saving face – but showing that you value another person’s opinion helps you because then if her or she ever has a question, it is more likely that that person will be willing and comfortable asking you a question if her or she need to do so. With co-teachers this is important because a school functions better when teachers work together as a team. This is also from experience. I am so grateful for the teachers who have in the past gone to me with their questions because it helps to develop a collegial, friendly atmosphere. There is so much to learn from each other as teachers.
- Asking questions helps me to build rapport with my students.
Sometimes when I first meet students, I find that they are surprised to hear that I am interested in his or her feedback about a lesson. Yet, from my experience I’ve found that students show a lot more classroom engagement after they know I care to hear their insights. It’s a balance to get away from teacher-led instruction, but I can’t bear to have a group of faces staring at me while I putter along with some sort of lecture. The most rewarding experiences are when you can get a group of students who initially just stared at you a few weeks later creating something of their own and then asking you if they can do it again. Sometimes you have to teach and have students take notes, but it’s so important to ask them what they like to do because if there’s a way to bring that into the classroom it can make learning more meaningful, which as Cognitive and Sociocultural theorists have shown, creates better learning results.
- It sets a good model for your students.
It surprises me how much students notice about me. You can never know what small thing you might say or do might impact them or how it will. But if you are telling your students that you want them to ask questions in class and then they witness you asking another teacher, student, or staff member a question, what message does that send them? Questions are okay and they’re a part of the learning process.
So, in light of these thoughts and my reflection on a need to ask questions as a new teacher, the co-teachers, principal, admissions counselor, and students at my school have become coaches to me. Mind you, I don’t catch them in a “deer-in-headlights” fashion in the hallway and interrupt their classes or meetings, but if I have a question, I make a mental note and do so after I notice that I can’t answer the question by myself and when it’s appropriate. If you have felt similarly but hesitate sometimes to ask a question, I recommend looking at the person’s facial expression and considering what time of the day it is before you ask one. Sending an e-mail can be another, less intrusive way to ask for advice. And finally, it helps to mention your awareness of his or her business and to ask whether they have the time for you to ask them a question before you ask one, too.
