In a couple of weeks, both Tess and Tucker will be starting their first day at brand new schools. They’ll know no one, have all new teachers, new surroundings, and, hopefully, new opportunities. I’m not sure they’re totally at peace with these changes, but as I keep telling them, it’s the kind of stuff that builds character. (I keep regaling them with school switching stories of my own, the most challenging being when my mom moved us out to New Jersey from Chicago when I was beginning 6th grade and three days before school started I was wading barefoot in a creek, stepped on a broken bottle, and ended up with 10 stitches in the bottom of my foot and a pair of crutches for the first week of classes. Talk about character building.) Wendy and I have been trying to prepare them for this shift as best we can, and while I know it’s a bit scary for them, I’m really hopeful the change will be good for them on a lot of different levels.
What I’m most hopeful for, however, is that their stories about school will change. Last year, far too much of the reporting about their days started with “I got a ___ on my ___ test!” or “Yes, I’ve got homework” (said in the same voice as one might say “Yes, I’ve got ringworm.”) School was something that rarely sparked a conversation about learning. Usually, it was a topic to be avoided or ignored. I hope to hear more excitement this year, more passion about learning, more thinking and doing. To that end, I’ve been coming up with a mental list of the types of questions I’m hoping they might answer:
What did you make today that was meaningful?
What did you learn about the world?
Who are you working with?
What surprised you?
What did your teachers make with you?
What did you teach others?
What unanswered questions are you struggling with?
How did you change the world in some small (or big) way?
What’s something your teachers learned today?
What did you share with the world?
What do you want to know more about?
What did you love about today?
What made you laugh?
I think their answers to those questions (and others that I’m hoping you might add below) would tell me more about what they learned than any test or quiz or worksheet that they brought home for me to sign. And here’s the deal; I expect them to be talking answers to these types of questions every day. As a parent, I think I have every right to expect that my kids are immersed in spaces where learning is loved and enjoyed and shared every single day. Classrooms where they are engaged in meaningful work that makes them think, a majority of time doing stuff that can’t be measured by some impersoanl state test. (I can give them software to do much of that.) Where the adults that surround them are models for that learning work themselves. Is that too much to ask?
New schools, new opportunities, renewed expectations. We’ll see how it goes…
With my first child entering Kindergarten in just a few weeks, a question that I will add to that list is:
How did you help someone today?
In my sixth grade classroom, we will be doing a lot with civic responsibility and the notion of helping, and I hope that my daughter and her school are also looking for those opportunities each day.
With the passing of Senator Ted Kennedy, I think we all need to talk about civic duty and how we can help others. Kennedy was an inspiration and shows us all that we are in this together.
Hey Will,
What about: What did you learn about fairness today?
Most kids can talk for hours about that one—and it connects to so many themes that run through the world: Carbon trading, health care, poverty, droughts, access to resources.
Bill
Will,
My dad was a teacher, and the question I had to answer every day at the dinner table was simply “so, what did you discover today?” That covered just about everything, and helped me realize that “discovery” is a wonderful way to look at the world!
Alice
Will,
These are great questions. I will be anxious to hear about the conversations that surround them.
I might add:
What did someone else help you learn today?
Every day, I ask myself the question, “How did you make today count?” and if the answer turns out to be anything of merit, I enter it on my calendar for that day.
great list of questions. wish every parent could see it somehow.
you have this on your list – what unanswered questions are you struggling with.
i like this small tweak – what’s the coolest unanswered question that you (or someone else) asked today? shall we tackle it?
a lot of (especially older) kids don’t feel like they can embrace questions and curiosity. (all our fault by the way.)
how sweet if kids knew their parent(s) were sincerely waiting – interested in the directions their individual thinking went that day. and – that they were willing to invest time to help them carry that drive/passion through. what great modeling of always stretching – always learning. oh the places we could go.
love the post. thank you.
The first thing that popped to mind was “What did you ask, today?” Or maybe something like “What was the best question that *you* asked today?”
Then I thought about how classrooms works, and thought of “What is the best question that someone else asked today?” Of course, for many, the would come down to factual questions. So, I shifted to, “What was the coolest/most interesting question someone else asked today?” (It’s never too early to encourage students to think about how great divergent questions are.)
How about
What will you now do tomorrow because of what you did today?
Nice post —
thanks for sharing.
I was thinking along the lines of your excellent “tommorow” question, Jen. I would add a couple more:
What can we do tonight to build on what you learned today?
What did you find out today that makes you excited when you think about the future/tomorrow/next week/next month?
Will, thanks for getting this discussion started!
I was planning on having “how did you expand the world’s knowledge today” and “what have you created today” on my classroom wall. I think I will add all your questions around my room. Thanks for the additional questions.
Great idea, Ann. I was reading this post, wondering how I was going to remember to be sure that each of my students can answer these questions each day. Now I know.
Great list of questions! I plan to share this blog with my staff.
As a mother/vice-principal I like to ask my kids:
What did you learn about yourself today?
Here’s a tweak to your “What unanswered questions are you struggling with?”
What questions did you ask today?
http://blogs.nlb.gov.sg/invent/2008/12/22/what-questions-did-you-ask-today/
This made me think about some questions I would hope every teacher would ask themselves at the end of the day:
What did you learn about your students today?
What did you learn with your students today?
What did you inspire your students to create today?
What did you learn from your students today?
What do you need to learn to be a better teacher tomorrow?
Who will help you do that learning?
How did you share with the world today?
I was thinking similar thoughts, Lesley. It would be great for teachers to think about these questions as well.
Lesley,
I am hoping to inspire our faculty to see technology as an instrument of change…not a tool for doing the same old things in their classrooms.
Thanks for in inspirational list of teacher questions. I plan to use them in my tech workshops in hopes of inspiring a new look at teaching and learning.
Wish me luck!
Great list –
Would like to add –
What are you reading?
The power of what I learned from reading your work was the whole idea behind blogging – to write to respond. So “what are you reading?â€
Beyond independent reading, hoping for class examples that step outside the textbook. Examples like:
-Government classes checking out Toobin’s “The Nineâ€
-Science classes reading excerpts from Bodanis’ “E=MC2”
– High school teachers are using ideas from Harvey Daniels
â€Subjects Matterâ€
What did teacher X think about your new Kindle?
How’s book club going?
What’s going on in your library?
Hoping they will say – podcasting, making a movie, creating a book trailer with VoiceThread…..
What are you working on with the library media specialist and your teacher?
This is building on your question “who are you working with?â€
Asking now which teachers are sharing projects –
focus on what is happening between classes and not just inside single classes!
And goes without saying, we are also sharing –
What we discovered today? What surprised us? What we are reading?…..
Thanks!
Great post! Two of our children were in school for a couple of years before we began homeschooling. So, I completely understand and appreciate your interest in what happens in your child’s day at school. I believe it would be great if more parents actually talked to their kids instead of feeling the best way to “do” for them is by giving them more things or shuffling them around to more places. Anyway, what about these questions:
– How were you a friend to someone today?
– Tell me one thing you really enjoyed about school today.
– Was their anything you struggled with at school today either with your work or with friends?
I think the most important thing would be to keep it conversational and real.
Good luck!
Hi Will,
First, having worked in middle school for more than a decade, I found that middle-level students are much more receptive to change than adults. I think it is because they have less to unlearn in order to transition to their new surroundings.
Second, as an administrator, I have asked my teachers this question:
What did you kids learn today?
Turns out, this is a very difficult question for many to answer. Often, I hear about what they taught and when I stop them and ask the question again, they struggle for an answer. Until student and teachers focus on learning instead of teaching, I’m afraid your questions may go unanswered for some time.
Here’s another thought:
How many parents/teachers/administrators would be able to answer those questions if their children/students asked them? As you have written and spoke about, adults need to be transparent in their learning and need share with others how they learn as much as what they learn!
Best of luck to Tess and Tucker.
Tony
As a parent and a teacher going back to teaching after some years doing other things, this list will be invaluable. I will use it for personal reflection and hopefully it will make me improve on my teaching. I will also use it to connect properly with my kids, something in the busy-ness of daily life I can neglect from time to time.
I wonder what responses would be like to the questions:
Who was the most important person you spent time with today?
How did things today make you feel?
What is the most important thing that happened to you today?
Had one more thing to add to the mix – a few years ago read a good piece about parent teacher conferences and it had a list of questions to ask.
As a teacher and a parent, I don’t think looking at the grade book with little marks is really a good use of the conference, so found these questions helpful.
Ask the teacher – “What are my child’s strengths in your class?”
“What does she/he seem to be most curious about?”
It started some interesting conversations.
I love this:
oh, stymied by poor html skills! Sorry ’bout that!
What issue or problem did you decide to research today with your teacher’s encouragement?
How did your mind mapping help you to define that issue and its parts?
What further research will you need to do tomorrow?
How are your peers and teacher helping you with the quest?
What form do you see your report taking?
Thank you for this post! As a teacher, I am inspired to remember your words as I plan lessons for my own classes.
Will, thank you for this great thought provoking post! I read it yesterday afternoon and have been rolling it around in my head since then. As I return today to post my thoughts on questions I would ask my children, I am thrilled by the comments that have been added since yesterday!
I especially liked how Lesley turned your question around and challenged us to think about what questions teachers should ask themselves at the end of each day. To add to Lesley’s list I would like to see teachers ask themselves these questions:
– Did I engage and excite my students today?
– What did I do today to encourage my students to become part of the global community?
– Did I encourage my students to add to, and participate in, relevant knowledge networks?
– Did I encourage my students to collaborate & communicate with their peers in order to make meaning?
I believe that if Tucker and Tess had a teacher that asked herself these reflective questions (along with questions posed by Lesley), then their school experience would be a lot different!
Thanks for the addition to Lesley’s post!
Even if it builds character, the times that are hard are still hard. The character gets built later as you reflect and are able to turn something hard into something good. I wish them the best in making this change and transformation.
With my own students, I know that each day I try to make what we learn relevant and sparking their intellectual fire. To teach the love of learning is really what it’s all about because no matter what you teach if they learn to be curious and to want to know more…that transfers throughout all the curriculum.
As quoted in Wikiquote (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Isidor_Isaac_Rabi) Nobel laureate Isidor Isaac Rabi credited his mother, and the question she asked him, with his becoming a scientist:
My mother made me a scientist without ever intending to. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: So? Did you learn anything today? But not my mother. “Izzy,†she would say, “did you ask a good question today?†That difference—asking good questions—made me become a scientist.
Many years later, it’s still a great question.
Love the questions.
I’d like to share your posts with the parents of my students. May I have permission put a few copies in my “waiting room” during parent conference day? I’d reference you and your blog, of course.
As many above have said- applicable for home and for school- many could be twisted to use after reading a book together- home or school again. Parents should also know when not to ask about school- some kids want time with you to play and have conversation- but not about school. I’m wondering if some questions could be developed to pose before the school day…
I enjoyed reading this post, Will. It has made me think again about the lessons I am planning for the start of the new school year here in the UK.
Best wishes
Paul
At the end of the day I ask myself and my kids “What did you do today that you are proud of?”
Thanks for this thoughtful post, Will. As a teacher educator, I will encourage my students to take a look at your story of family engagement in education.
Best wishes to Tess and Tucker!
Sounds like a great idea! I teach the staff in an aged care organisation.The workplace has changed drammatical over the last few years what better way to foster a learning environment and encourage our staff to take a greater responsibility for their learning. I intend to adapt these questions so that I can encourage staff to think about learning and recognise the informal learning they undertake daily.
Timely stuff. I teach middle school gifted students and tonight is our “Meet the Teacher” night with parents. I plan to share these questions with them and encourage them to be proactive in their child’s learning at school and at home. I’ve posted the questions in my room, too, as a reminder to me and to my students of the wonderful opportunities we have in coming together each day to seek new knowledge, construct new understandings and create new meaning. Thanks!
I am a technology teacher that listen to you speak today. Just wanted to say that I totally agree, and THANK YOU for coming to our district. You got many more people excited than I have been able to. I hope we get more people o board and moving in the right direction.
What did you accomplish today and how does that accomplishment reflect your life?
There are lots of questions here, some of which are great and some of which are great.
But here’s my question for the questioners: What are you going to do with them?
How do you differentiate between them? What makes some of them jump out at you, or seem more useful or appropriate to you?
Would you use the same small selection from them every day? Would want to vary your questions all the time?
What is you goal is using such questions? Is your goal to find out about your child’s day? Is your goal to engage in a conversation with your about his/her day, with the questions you select as an opening? Is your goal to continue your child’s lessons a little bit at home? Is your goal to get you child to a little reflection? Is your goal to engage your child in meta-cognition? Is you goal to have your child look forward? Is you goal to….
I could go on and on with questions about your goals.
I think that goal are often quite muddled in education. I think that most people would answer that last set of questions with “Yes. Those are all good. I want to do all of that.” But that does not help. You cannot accomplish all of those goals every night. Each of the possible questions posed above have assumed goals behind them, and the question(s) you choose to ask reflect your (usually) implicit goals for your conversation, often unconscious goals.
If you think that you can do it all every night, you’re mistaken. If you think that you can give every one of them the attention and scaffolding they need to be met without careful thought and planning, you are mistaken. And if you keep bouncing around without giving the necessary scaffolding and attention, your child will only answer the questions on the most reductive level.
Which is exactly what we already see in our classroom.
I work for an aged care organisation and I was thinking of adapting these questions to stimulate staff to think about what they have learnt and how they learnt it in order to generate the realization that learning is accomplished in many varied and often informal ways. I am hoping to change the perception of education in our workplace to one that fosters lifelong learning. The workplace environment is constantly changing and adapting to these changes requires an ever increasing skill set therefore lifelong learning becomes an essential element of work.
We are moving toward creating a learning culture and hoping to encourage our staff to further develop their skills and areas of interest at work and also within the wider context of their lives.
Our daughter starts Kindergarten this fall and I’m hoping she lands a teacher who involves her students in meaningful engagement and understand the interconnectedness of just about everything. Anyway, my wife and I were talking about your questions and one we will try to ask our daughter periodically is, “How are you different from when you went to school this morning?”
As a teacher, I want the same things from my students. I don’t think that I would ask them “What did you make today?” because it is ambiguous. I do think it is important NOT to ask them, “What is your favorite subject?” because you will always get P.E. or recess. It is important to probe more deeply. If a child is passionate about something it will come up in conversation if you speak about a variety of topics at the dinner table, for instance. Some of the most valuable feedback for me has come from parents who will tell me that the music I teach comes home in the form of singing or teaching a younger sibling a song or game from my classroom. For me, that is the real litmus test of how my curriculum is valued. If it goes home voluntarily then it is valued.
What made you laugh?
One thing that made me laugh again and again is that the memopries of those follish things i made way back my childhood days. Funny but those memories have thought me a lot. Now im learning and keep reading some articles.
This site also helps me and give me a lot more information. http://www.sabutsu.com
I once had a professor that said if you (as a teacher) were more tired than your students at the end of a lesson, you didn’t do your job. Students should be working, engaging, collaborating, thinking, challenging during the class period.
After working with you today at FRHSD’s in-service, I want to amend that statement. I think that both we the teachers and they the students need to be exhausted by the end of the lesson. I always tell my students I have much to learn still. Although I feel exhausted at the end of most school days, I think I need to show my students this more.
Most teachers will think I’m crazy for saying this, but I would love to have parents like you in my classroom. I’m not a technology explorer – I don’t break new ground. I’m a pioneer – I follow those explorers before anyone else does (the settlers). You are the needed “push” most of us need.
As a sixth grade teacher in an independent school, reading those questions made me think about how my students would answer about me. I’ve copied the questions into my planner so that when I am planning for my lessons, I can proactively work toward lessons that will naturally elicit positive responses from my students. Thank you.
great questions, Will and additions from everyone else! I started a wallwisher with a few questions of my own. Feel free to contribute & keep the conversation (& questions) going! http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/whodidyouhelptoday
Thanks for these thought-provoking questions. As a parent of a fourth-grader, I’m looking forward to these conversation starters. I’m hoping to get this list (with some of the added suggestions from folks) into our school newsletter. My daughter also came home from her first week of school with a good question from the teacher for us “What is teamwork?”
Which one of your childrens responses did you find most interesting?
I was one of the teachers/tech facilitators at Freehold Regional in NJ that you spoke with. Just have to tell you – this post has really stuck with me. While writing my lesson plans, I ask myself this question: what will my students produce today? It may not be something where they use technology, but it has really shaped the way I revise my lessons. Thank you. 🙂
This piece was very well written…Something else I would include to a new student in new surroundings would be
What were two highlights about two things that you learned today? Asking them two things that really stood out to see how much information they retained during class
This would be a good way to see what subjects they have the most interest in or what the teacher did to help them remember certain material
Another good question might be: What did the teacher do to help you remember what you were taught? (Asking again for 2 examples)
Does anyone think this a good idea?
Wow! I really enjoyed this blog. It is great to see how involved a parent can be in their child’s lives. Most parents, today, are so concerned with themselves that they don’t even ask their children how school was, nevermind such intrinsic questions as you did above. I am interested in seeing, hopefully some kind of a thread that involves the answers that your children gave you. Hopefully they are adjusted at this point. Great job!!!!