Solving Problems/Asking Questions

Essays on the Teaching of English
Raymond Stopper
Based on His Book, Teaching English, How To….

Solving Problems/Asking Questions

I think asking questions is one of the best methods for solving problems. I teach students how to ask questions in two ways: The first is in reading literature. The second is in doing research papers that begin with questions, real questions, to which the students really want the answers.

I have to give the Great Books Foundation a lot of credit. Their methods for discussing a piece of literature begins with questions to which the group leader does not have any certain answer. Therefore, teacher and students are truly involved in “shared inquiry” as they try to answer the questions. However, I took the Great Books method one step farther. Instead of the teacher’s originating the questions, I have the students ask the questions about what they do not understand.

It is very important in this approach that the teacher let the students try to struggle with what they do not understand and not to impose a “correct” answer.

I remember vividly an experience in which I stopped discussion cold because, unintentionally, I tried to impose on the students my answer to a question. The poem was by Sylvia Plath, and the night before the class I had struggled mightily in my own mind with a particular phrase she had used that was crucial to the poem’s meaning. After about an hour’s thought, I suddenly had the answer. I knew what the poet meant.

The next day, the students after reading the poem raised many good questions about difficulties with the meaning of the poem, including the question that I had resolved in my own mind the night before. The students sensed that I was not there to give them the answers and they came up with some answers that differed from mine but were equally valid. However, when we reached the question that I had wrestled with the previous night, I couldn’t help myself. I knew the answer. They stopped discussing, expecting that I would give them the answer.

Students become more comfortable in reading when they are relieved of the feeling that they are dumb if they encounter phrases or ideas that puzzle them. Knowing that they can formulate their puzzlement into a question that others will discuss gives them a sense of anticipation about working toward a resolution of the problem with the literary work’s meaning.

By extension, what I am trying to show students is that an effective way to deal with a problem is to ask questions. Asking questions helps to clarify the problem and leads to possible solutions.