Yes, Virginia, there are stupid questions.

Another link, this one to a political theory professor. I think what she's saying here about students asking questions is related to my previous post about class discussions:

Learning how to ask the question, figuring out what a good question would look like and to whom and under what conditions is hard. In part, it's hard because it involves risking the stupid question. It can also be hard when the circumstances are new--different contexts have different norms and expectations. When so-called educators lie about stupid questions, we undermine students' actual knowledge that figuring all this [out] is a challenge. In this way, we deny their very real knowledge of risk and context, their knowlege about the conditions of learning. [my emphasis]

I think we'll all agree that we hear stupid questions ALL THE DAMN TIME from our special snowflakes, but what ARE these questions? The last one I got was in an email, something to the effect of, "Hi can you tell me what page numbers have the works cited information?" I wrote back, "Have you considered checking the table of contents?"

I think most of the stupid questions I hear are related to the nuts-and-bolts workings of the course--and usually they're only stupid questions because the answer has been given to the student repeatedly, and in writing.

But as for the class discussions? I don't get a lot of stupid questions on the material. And a student with a question at least indicates a CERTAIN level of thought and engagement--enough engagement to show confusion. (Some days, I'm grateful just for that.) Anyone else see something different in the "stupid question" issue?

Not enjoying the silence.

I thought for a first post of content, I'd link to this blog post by a professor at Swarthmore. It struck my interest particularly because my freshman students are positively, irritatingly taciturn. After reading this, however, it occurred to me that perhaps no one ever taught them how to talk in class:

[T]he teaching of analytic writing in college should be preceded (and accompanied) by the teaching of persuasion as an art and a way of life. Waiting until you’re in the thick of writing to talk about what makes a good argument, or how an argument flows convincingly from one point to the next, is too late.

There is a whole understory of small skills that are part of being a good college student that are even less often the explicit focus of instruction. I’ve talked about the skimming of reading assignments and searching skills before. Here’s another in the same vein: looking for something that is worth discussing in a reading assignment. [my emphasis]

What follows are six specific suggestions for what students should look for in a reading assignment--things to bring up in class discussions.

I think with a bit of editing, this could become a useful handout. I may even use it as a take-home assignment in conjunction with the readings. I am so tired of pulling teeth to get someone to SAY something, anything, in response to an assigned reading.