Someone asked me earlier today “if you were a principal of a new school and you were hiring teachers, what would you look for?” Once I got past my “What would Chris Lehmann answer?” moment, I connected back to a post I read yesterday titled “Never Read Another Resume” by Jason Fried, whose book “Rework” is sitting in my Kindle waiting for me. Aside from paying much more attention to cover letters than resumes (as in “can this candidate write?”) I loved this snip about the questions that get asked in interviews.
During interviews, we love when potential hires ask questions. But all questions aren’t equal. A red flag goes up when someone asks how. “How do I do that?” “How can I find out this or that?” You want people who ask why, not how. Why is good — it’s a sign of deep interest in a subject. It signals a healthy dose of curiosity. How is a sign that someone isn’t used to figuring things out for him- or herself. How is a sign that this person is going to be a drain on others. Avoid hows.
I think that’s one of the first things I’d look for, people who are asking why. Why are we using blogs in the classroom? Why is this in the curriculum? Why are we making this decision? So much of the “how” stuff is figure-outable on our own that I wonder why we spend time on it.
Why don’t we take the millions of hours that teachers sit in workshops asking “how” and instead let them learn that stuff on their own and spend those hours asking “why”?
Just asking.
There is so much truth in just this simple switch. I find myself far more interested in and excited about helping folks figure out the “why” of the potential within these new shifts… as opposed to the “how.” While I am often looked to as a go-to person on the how (of setting up blogs, etc.) I just cannot sit down side by side with someone without trying to engage them in a why we might do this or that as opposed to merely just “here’s what I do- click here.”
I realize that this is sort of the opposite side of the issue. It sounds like is more aimed at what this language tells us about others. However, I think it works when analyzing what it is that WE do as well. One of my personal struggles is working with people who aren’t really interested in the why of a particular venture as opposed to the operations of said thing. I have figured out that I need to be able to have more patience with this mindset initially as I try to help them to the next baby step toward a deep look at why.
Know your weaknesses and preferences… then relentlessly pursue improvement, eh?
Anyway- sounds like a good book as well. Thanks for the pointyfinger.
Amen. I’m privileged to be working with folks here at our BOCES that ask the why question early and often. The latest is, obviously, the iPad. This is just the latest of technologies that we have to be asking the why question about.
I agree with Sean that this seems opposite of what our admins, teachers and students seek from us (instructional tech specialists).
I think one of the barriers to this is the compartmentalization of departments, content areas, etc. Sometimes the people asking “the why” are not the ones we expect or think to seek out. Sometimes “the why” seems cynical in the light of sparkling new technology and the hype that precede them.
“The Why” must be the very first thing we ask before acquiring new technologies or shifting in strategies, policies, and practices.
Thanks for posting this.
An interesting take on Why and How: http://www.fno.org/oct97/question.html#anchor128766
My question: WHY doesn’t this guy blog? I love his stuff.
Just to throw a fly in the ointment, sometimes the “how” questions are ones of efficiency, not lack of interest. “How do I set up a blog?” is a valid question if you already know the answer to the why part and want to get to doing that more meaningful work as quickly as possible…i.e. by asking an expert. Teachers don’t have a lot of free time…getting to the part of the work that matters often entails asking “how”. Will, you talk about how proud you are of your kids for asking “how” questions of the entire world and getting answers from everywhere…do they ask “why” questions as well?
Now, there is a difference between an interview situation, which should well be a tire kicking exercise on both sides. In fact, I think that’s the best reason to want good questions from an interviewee…it suggest that she or he has enough confidence in his or her own abilties to not take your job if your answers aren’t the right ones for her or him. And, confidence is pretty important in teaching, or so it seems to me.
“How” questions are a legitimate part of the tire kicking. For example, “How well do faculty get along?” is a much more salient question about an organization I might work for than “Why do faculty get along?”.
All this being said, the “how”/”why” difference in an interview session is an interesting way to consider candidates.
Twitter is full of people asking “how” types of questions. I ask them when I’m stumped. I don’t see anything wrong with that. And, as Josh writes, sometimes it can be about efficiency. I think the key difference is when people ask the “how” questions that are quite knowable with the slightest bit of digging, searching, reading,…. Whenever my students ask me those types of questions, my first response is, “Did you Google it?” Most of the time, they look at me like a deer in headlights and answer, “Well, no.” This is the type of mentality that I think you are referring to and are so right. When folks don’t even understand the power of the tools that they hold in their pockets to solve their own problems or answer their own questions – or worse, fail to recognize what needs to be learned and go ahead and learn it, then we have a significant deficit to think about.
Another possible problem here is that often folks don’t want “why” askers. They are perceived as trouble makers or are labeled “difficult”. They don’t embrace the program. It takes excellent leadership to allow people to ask the whys and not see those questions as threats to authority or systems. The culture of K12 education has really been one of compliance.
I think that must stop.
Hi Will,
I struggle with this why/how prioritization in my workshops and I’ve decided you must have both. People need to discover the why before they pay attention to the how. The why is meaningless unless some how’s are suggested as well.
Neither why or how does much good on its own.
All the best,
Doug
Hey Doug,
I guess I’m wondering why we can’t focus on the why and simply have the expectation that they will figure out the how on their own. I mean, isn’t that the learning disposition that we want our kids to take? And I do think that captures the shift here; when I was growing up (back in the old days) if I wanted to learn “how to” do something, in most cases I needed to interact with a “teacher” in my space. Today, assuming I have access, I can learn that stuff from dozens (maybe thousands) of “teachers on demand” and figure much of it out on my own time. (That’s a sticking point, I know.) I suppose I could even do the “why” part on my own as well (which I do), but there is value of discussing “why” in physical space with others who share the same circumstances and challenges in order to arrive at answers that make sense for that local community. (Or, maybe we can now do that in a “local, virtual” space as well.)
So I wonder, why “must” we do the how when we have such limited time to understand the why together?
I agree. As a teacher I think that we need to incorporate the whys and the hows but first we need to start with the whys. We need to have the background knowledge before we can try and teach it. For example, if the curriculum says that we need to teach magnetism and electricity in fourth grade then we need to ask why are we doing this? Why is this important? And from there we can ask how will I teach my students? How will I record data? They are both important and especially on interviews we need to understand the why’s first.
I agree 100% that teachers need to know the whys in workshops. I have had some workshops that have answered the how questions but I don’t see the relevance in my teaching. I didn’t see why the workshops would help my students. The workshops that were most beneficial were the ones that explained why we were there before explaining how to help our students learn.
Hi Will,
If we only focus on the why, then why bother trying to pass down and share knowledge at all? Let each doctor discover every remedy. Let every driver find the route. Let each teacher discover what works. Just terribly inefficient to have every person write his or her own manual.
Education still has to be about sharing and practicing what works so time can be spent applying rather than just experimenting.
Balance, as always, is the key.
Doug
This is silly buzz-wordiness. “How?” and “Why?” work hand in hand. “How?” is discovering methods and means, “Why?” is motivation and understanding.
I agree with Matt about this “buzz wordiness”, however, I don’t mean to complicate things but isn’t there a question that should be considered before you get to hows and whys–the question I am referring to is a “What”.
In short, as an educator, I want to know What a potential candidate thinks his/her role is as a teacher in the classroom. Is there a correct answer to this “what” question?
Simply put, to teach students how to “learn to learn”…
In interviewing potential candidates, if I don’t hear something like that in regards to the “What” question, the “why” and “how” doesn’t matter.
Thanks for allowing me to express my opinion
Mort
I must admit, as a potential candidate in your interview, I would be slightly concerned if I were discouraged from asking “how” questions? Though I understand and respect your point, if the district interviewing me were using the “how” vs. “why” questions as the distinguishing factor in my hiring, I may not want to interview there at all? There are so many qualities to consider in your candidates that are essential, that this would be a red flag for me that the district wouldn’t want me to ask the “how” questions. I can think of 100 quality questions that I would think very valuable and necessary for a potential employee to ask their employer.
1.) How does your school work to gain AYP successfully? (Not why do you work towards AYP?)
2.) How can I help your school in the extra-curricular areas? (I can’t even think how this would be a better “why” question?)
I understand your point and know that I am taking a literal assessment of your idea, but I would be scared to think we would judge actual people on their classroom abilities by the how’s vs. why’s they choose to ask in the interview.
Having said this, your philosophy made me think and I may consider a well placed “why” just to be safe.
Steph
My mom said that “Why?” was my favorite question at an early age. When I became a teacher, I continued to “why”, the meaning, the purpose, the rhyme or reason, of teaching and learning, working with students, and working within a faculty.
I must report that for most of my teaching career, asking “why”, even thinking about the “why” of things was rejected both openly and in less overt ways. “Why” disturbed well-established patterns of how things “are done here”. “Why” was viewed as questioning of the current authority, such as the principal or superintendent or school system policy. There were prices to be paid for simply asking questions aloud.
This is the antithesis of teaching students to consider all facets of an issue, to weigh the pros and cons and what lies between, at least in the ways that some of the best teaching and learning I was exposed to as I was being educated was modeled.
Technology and its inherent questioning of the ways we teach has opened one of the most widespread discussions about teaching and learning I have seen in my profession. Now we can question the “whys” and ways of using technology and consider the most innovative and effective ways to integrate its processes into our field.
I just ran across your blog. I am working on my teacher license in elementary education. Your philosophy WHY? vs. How? is exactly the way I want to run my classroom. I want to do more than just pour facts into the brains of my students. I want to cultivate an attitude of discovery and critical thought in them, so they will continue to learn even after their school days are through. As you pointed out, employers are looking for employees who ask “why” not “how”.
I will close with a “What” question. With all the technology available and limited funds available to many schools, what is the one tool you would encourage teachers to integrate into the classroom that can have the greatest return in developing creative thought in students?
Thanks for your insight.