Asking
Friday, April 25th, 2008(1 of 50)
I am still learning how to ask. It’s a very simple lesson. Perhaps such a nuanced one that it requires teaching over a long period of time.
After years of teaching English to first and second-year college students, I still found it amazing that none of them really knew how to ask a question. We spent at least two weeks on Inquiry, which is learning how to ask a question so that the answer will elicit a response that is likely to be useful, helpful, detailed. I had students who not only didn’t know how to ask, but they did not really feel comfortable with the Yellow Pages, the dictionary or a directory of any kind. Little did I realize in early 1990s that the Yellow Pages would soon be replaced by Google, and the method of inquiry was not how good you are with subject headings, but your ability to string together search terms in a little box. (Not knocking that at all, and this soon became part of the curriculum.)
Are we all TALK TALK TALK and very little ask? not enough inquiry? (more…)