Question Everything...

I ask my students from Day 1 to question everything.  This is a new concept for most 6th graders, and when they hear me say that includes my opinions also, I usually get a few double takes.  It's easy to say to students that you want them to ask questions of each other, of things they read, and of ideas they come across, but it's another thing for them to actually do it.  I soon realized that students were so used to being given questions to answer that they had spent little time learning about questioning.  At about this time, I was introduced to the book Make Just One Change by co-authors Dan Rothstein and Luz Santana and the idea of the question formulation technique by a progressive colleague, Jane Martellino (@JaneMartellino).  It changed the way my classroom worked.  Students took ownership of creating questions: discussion questions, project focuses, and unit guiding questions. And with that ownership, engagement in discussions, interest in projects, and learning in units increased. Students were excited to answer the questions they created; the questions that they wondered about a topic.

The question formulation technique really is a simple process that pays huge dividends in any subject area.  The first step is for students to brainstorm questions from a QFocus.  This QFocus can be an unbiased statement, a quote, a piece of artwork, a group of pictures, or a multitude of other things that get students asking questions about a topic.  From this QFocus, students are given seven to ten minutes to brainstorm questions.  The rules during this time are:

1. Ask as many questions as you can.
2. Do not stop to answer, judge or discuss.
3. Write down every question exactly how it was stated.
4. Change any statement into a question.

The next step deals with categorizing the questions into open or closed.  Initially, the question was asked, "What is the difference between an open and a closed question?" My sixth graders had no idea what I was talking about at first.  Then the ideas started to trickle out until realization dawned on students.  My favorite answer was when a student stated that closed questions closed the door on any possible discussion while open questions invited opinions and conversation.  Pretty deep for a 6th grader.  Students discussed their brainstormed questions and decided which questions were open and which were closed.  During this step, when students get good at the process, it is also a time when students can discuss and revise questions to change them from open to closed.

The last step is for students to decide on their best questions.  The amount you narrow it down to is dependent on the assignment and the expected outcomes.  I usually end up in the three to five question range.  Three if the questions are leading to class discussions and up to five when the questions are driving research like in our Core 21 project-based class right now.

Below is the QFocus that I used for my first unit.  Each of my four language arts classes went through the process, and each of the classes has different guiding questions that they will try to answer throughout the unit.

Our QFocus for Unit 1

What is considered good fiction? How can good fiction create its own reality if fiction is not real? What do all books have in common to make them good fiction stories? Why do good books get turned into movies? How can a good fiction book create its own reality?  This is a sampling of a the questions that my sixth graders came up with to help drive their learning based on their QFocus.

Questioning is a skill that needs to be embraced.  Students need to be encouraged to ask their own questions, question what may be commonplace, and think outside the box in how they look at things.  When students create their own questions, they take hold of their learning and their thinking about a topic.  Students need to question the status quo and the opinions of others (even their teachers).  When we question, we put learning into motion. 

Here's to questioning everything this year.