Too often when we ask our children or students about school, we ask “How are things?” And almost invariably we get predictable responses like “OK” or “Boring” or even “Lousy“. The response has become so predictable because they know that we are not very serious about asking them what has happened to them in school. Guy Claxton suggests that we ask them:

• What was hard for you today?
• Which learning muscles have you been stretching?
• Did you ask a good question?
• Did you risk tackling something new?
• What did you manage to improve?
• Did you make any interesting mistakes?
• Did you learn anything useful by watching someone else?
• How could you have helped your teacher get that tricky stuff across better?
• How would you have organized the lesson differently?

Source: Guy Claxton’s “What’s the Point of School?”

If you look at these questions, they suggest a “learner reflective mode”. It suggest to them that they should constantly be thinking about how they learn and what they are learning. It is a reflective practice that they can share with their peers, and not only with adults in authority.

If such questioning becomes habitual, it becomes part of the useful and effective repertoire of an independent learner. He learns to assess the manner he learns. His own questioning will power his own learning as opposed to answering questions from adults like parents and teachers, or worse from examination papers!

If you would like to read more about Claxton’s practical advice about how to create enthusiastic learners and more effective teaching, click on the book cover above.