Questioning and Tension
Questioning a group of students inevitably leads to tension, a moment where a pause falls that can feel uncomfortable. What could we do in those situations? What do we tend to do? What is helpful? And what might we do differently?
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts I’m keen to emphasise that I’m not trying to write a guide or a how-to. If anything the more I write and think about these aspects of my practice the less certain I feel:
Self-esteem and personal confidence grow, while certainty evaporates and
questions become more common than answers. (Mason, J. 2002, p220)
This is probably a good thing if it means I am reflecting more on what I do, when I do it and how I do it.
The first paragraph above summons up a range of experiences from my teaching career from the last few weeks and many years ago. I am sure that I have felt uncomfortable in those moments and willed the student to offer anything to give me an excuse to move on from them. I’m not sure that this response was instructive or useful for anyone and perhaps may have reinforced a student’s lack of confidence to participate in discussion.
I have already written about trying to establish a culture where students are able to explain an idea or are asking a question about it. Whilst this does not always mean students are necessarily ready to engage when called upon, it establishes a way of working whereby students are expected to at least interrogate a new idea if not confidently explain it.
I am still learning and experimenting with pauses, question forms and follow ups but I am confident that I am having more meaningful exchanges with more students more often with these expectations than I was before. I will continue to test these ideas and see how they develop.
Mason J. 2002, Researching Your Own Practice — The Discipline of Noticing, Routledge, Oxford
