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Lessons Learnt from questioning a toddler

This morning I came downstairs to my Husband and toddler getting increasingly frustrated with each other over breakfast. 

Husband: 'Do you want something else?'

Toddler: 'Yeah'

Husband: 'So you want a croissant?'

Toddler: 'No, no, no'

Husband: 'But you want something else?'

Toddler: 'Yeah, yeah'

Husband: 'Well do you want some toast?'

Toddler: 'No, NO, NO', eeeelse'

Me: 'He wants 'else' because you are asking a 20 month old toddler an open question when he thinks it is a closed question and that 'else' is something for him to have. So he wants 'else'.'

Communicating with a toddler has taught me things about the use of language in a way that I have never considered before and has made me think about the my use of questioning in all aspects of life. 

I recently attended a webinar with Tom Sherrington about Questioning (I know I feel like his number one fan girl right now!) and whilst it focused on the WalkThru's related to questioning, the one thing that stuck with me was how he stressed we must ensure that our use of questioning allows ALL students to think. By thinking, Tom means not just asking for an answer but also to ask students to explain their thinking; 'What was your method?' 'Why do you think that is correct?' 'Can you explain how you reached that answer?' Just reflecting on my use of questioning this week, I know I am only confident in asking these types of questions to my more able and highly engaged students. I am just grateful when any student gives me an answer in my Year 10 class and I know I don't question them further for a fear of others losing concentration (see my earlier post on Lessons learnt from Year 10).

In a timely coincidence my schools T&L bulletin this month is also focusing on questioning and it reminded me of this video from Dylan William 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8bHMd3PosM

In this video I find the table tennis vs basketball analogy particularly useful and has helped me to reflect on my use of questioning. My Year 13's and I are great at playing basketball but I fear that my Year 10's and I are barely playing table tennis.

So my lessons learnt from questioning my toddler are: 

Does the way you are asking a question allow all of your students to think?

Are you playing table tennis or basketball?



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