If you did know the answer to the question…

Have you ever been asked a question and you felt like you knew the answer but did not want to say it, just in case you were wrong… And then you find out you were right and you kick yourself?

I think our students, trainees and colleagues can feel like this and at times so do I!

What happens if we remove the danger of being wrong? Generate a culture in our classrooms, development sessions and staff rooms where people can feel bold enough to answer the question even if they are not sure of the answer!

Questions used by a teacher, manager or colleague can be so powerful. Open questions are far more effective than closed questions. A typical example of a closed question used to talk about an activity would be “Do you know what to do?” This elicits no real thinking, borders on easy “yes” and requires bravery to say “no” and again not everyone feels like they are in a environment to do this.How about using these open questions with your students or colleagues?

What if…Why do you think…How many ways … Why not…Have you got any ideas about..

I once was given advice, to ask my students a question, and offer them a risk free way to answer. If after, I asked the question they looked blank, confused or hesitant, I was to say ‘If you did know the answer what would it be?’ When I heard this, I scoffed, thinking it will never work. A few days later I tried in class and was amazed, once the risk was taken away from the student and they tried to answer the question and they nailed it!

What about asking questions that people could feel free to answer, or attempt, even if they did not know the answer. So they could grow, develop in a risk free environment.

What question will you ask, what question will you answer?

This was a blog originally posted on my previous blogging platform