I've been thinking a lot about questions this week. The questions students ask. The questions I ask. Questions related to jobs and those we are just curious about. One of the reasons I have spent so much time thinking about these things is that I've been to two job interviews this week. They were both jobs with the YMCA, but the positions were different; so the questions I was asked about myself were quite different. As a department chair, I've also been a part of conducting job interviews. It occurs to me that the questions we ask reveal something about us as askers.
The questions we ask in job interviews reveal what we value in a colleague and the way they will do their job. In the interview I had this week for a substitute cycle instructor position, I got a lot of questions about how to anticipate and meet diverse needs or what I would do if something didn't go according to plan (does this sound like teaching or what?). She asked these questions because when there are 25 people in a cycle class, some of them will be having their first ride and others will be athletes. Some will have physical considerations, like injury or disability that affect range of motion. It is likely that technology will fail, and I will need to adapt my instruction to accomplish the same goal in a different way. Since I am likely to encounter these things, the interviewer wants to know that I won't fall apart when they happen. The second interview was for a welcome desk position, so the questions were about welcoming people warmly, holding the line on rules, and comfort level with computers. Since the person at the desk sets the tone for a person's experience, she wants to make sure I'm not going to be a grouch or a person who's afraid of technology. Her questions reveal that she values people who can enforce rules while being respectful and empathetic to the person in front of her.
When we ask questions in a job interview, we may have an ideal answer in mind, or we may be observing how the prospect reacts to the question. One of the questions I ask, for example, is "Can you tell us about a time when a lesson went wrong and how you reacted to that?" While I am interested in the answer, what I really want to find out is whether this person tries new things, takes risks, admits when things don't work, and what they do to clean it up. Because a person who does that is the kind of person I want in my department.
One thing I have noticed since the pandemic is that students ask fewer questions than they used to. They have an ever-growing view of their education as a box to check off as they progress toward a college or a career, but they are less curious than they were before. This makes me sad because I value curiosity so much and know that it can be the most joyful part of school, but it makes me really respond to the questions that are asked. It now takes more courage to ask a question during a lesson because fewer of their classmates are doing it, so when they do, you know it is something they really care about. Much like job interview questions, student questions reveal what they value. If they ask a lot of medical-related questions, it may be because they have a loved one who is ill. If they ask a lot of questions about how things work, they may be future engineers or tinkerers. Don't just answer the question and jump back to your planned lesson. Take a moment to recognize that the student has just told you something about themselves and what they value. Keep it in mind as you develop relationships with them.
No comments:
Post a Comment