Have you ever asked your school-age kids, “So, what did you learn in school today?” The answer you got was tied to, well, an answer, because that’s what we often think school is for -- to provide answers.
But what if we flipped this question to something like this: “So, did you ask any good questions today?”
The differences between these two approaches could be profound: One could indicate that a kid is simply a receiver of information; the second could indicate that a kid might be generating something new.
The other difference here is a measure of engagement -- whether the child is being a passive receiver, rather than being the actor and creating something new.
We often mistakenly perceive as engaging a classroom where the teacher does most of the work and the kids are compliant while they receive the answers. Then we ask kids to regurgitate those answers on a test. It’s all politely boring and comfortable -- as long as the kids stay compliant.
An engaging classroom often is not quiet, because kids are asking questions, discussing, writing, experimenting and debating. The teacher’s role here is not primarily to provide answers but to provoke kids with deep questions in the necessary struggle to learn something of true value.
Here’s how American writer Wendell Berry describes that situation:
“It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.”
I’m Andrew Nelson, and this is my perspective.
