Why is the sky blue? Why is fire hot? Why is ice cold? Why are there so many languages in the world? Why do we have to sleep? Why do people get sick? Why? Why? Why? When we were young, most of us have experience of bombarding our parents or any adults around with too many questions that they eventually got annoyed. This week, I was given a chance to participate in an activity that required me to generate questions related to my practice and not answer them (just like what I did when I was young). Unlike my childhood experience, for this Question Quickfire activity, I used a technology tool, Padlet, and a timer. I set the timer for 5 minutes and sat in front of my laptop to write down questions. At first, I did not know which questions to ask and had a hard time getting started, as the activity was unusual for me. But as soon as I wrote my first question, "What are the challenges my EBS (Emergent Bilingual Students) face in their mainstream class? Why?" other questions followed, and the 5 minutes flew by so fast that I spent a few more minutes writing some more questions after turning the timer off. Here's a screenshot of my Question Quickfire activity: [Figure 1] Question Quickfire. (Kim, 2020) Berger (2014), the author of A More Beautiful Question, defines a beautiful question as "an ambitious yet actionable question that can begin to shift the way we perceive or think about something and that might serve as a catalyst to bring about change" (p. 8). [Figure 2] Entrepreneurship as an instructional model. (Imittler, 2019) Some of my questions fall under Berger's (2014) definition of a beautiful question, ambitious yet actionable. I felt inspired and overwhelmed at the same time. But I held myself back and reminded myself not to worry about answers or actions, and just focus on the questions. Then, I noticed one interesting thing. I had more What and How questions compared to Why. I began thinking about the reason behind it, and I realized that as someone who has been in the field of education for about a decade, I assumed I knew the answers to the whys, and so I jumped and started asking what and how questions thinking that I was saving time and being more efficient. However, Berger (2014) suggests that to be a good questioner, you should step back and look at the situation with fresh eyes. He adds that if we do not ask thinking that we already "know" the answer, then we are relying on "expert" knowledge that is limited and may be outdated and even wrong (Berger, 2014, p. 13). Asking questions not only encourages us to observe the situation with fresh eyes and be innovators but also leads us to organize our thinking (Berger, 2014). Some of the questions I wrote during the five-minute Question Quickfire activity are not new to me. They have been at the back of my mind since I started teaching Emergent Bilingual Students. Through the activity, I was able to organize, and clarify the questions that were floating in my mind. Next question, how does questioning look like in classrooms? Today, we live in a world where change is normal. "In this current environment, questions are rising in value while answers are declining" (Berger, 2014, p. 23). Hence, it is critical to teach students how to be good questioners that also lead them to be lifelong learners and engaged citizens. When reflecting upon the opportunities I give my students to be good questioners; I realized that while I try to encourage my students to ask questions during class time and through activities such as Genius Hours, I do not give students enough chances to generate their own questions and work on them. To name a few reasons (or excuses), which are also mentioned in Berger's A More Beautiful Question (2014), overloaded curriculum and accountability system make it challenging for teachers to give students time to question. Again, I am not here to give answers, but this post is all about asking questions. So, I will leave you with one: being aware of the value of questions, as educators, how can we guide our students to be great questioners who can make a difference? Reference: Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: the power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas. New York: Bloomsbury. Imittler. (2019). Entrepreneurship as an instructional model [figure 2]. Retrieved from https://www.slideshare.net/lmittler/entrepreneurship-as-an-instructional-model Unless otherwise noted, the image presented on this blog is the property of the blog owner.
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