Nurturing Questions

“How do you make sure the questions are good?” A colleague asked me this when I shared my daily Scarlet Letter reading tool of 1 drawing, 1 quote, and 1 question per chapter. (See last week’s blog [here] for more about the drawings.) I didn’t have an answer at the time because it didn’t seem to be an issue--they just were good, but I’ve been thinking about it ever since. I suspect it has something to do with modeling, a bit of competition, acceptance that there are a variety of types of questions, and a lot of practice.

Here are all the questions juniors put on chapter posters for the 24 chapters of The Scarlet Letter:

• What do evanescent, physiognomy, and heterodox mean? 
• Who is the stranger asking about Hester? (Husband)
• Who is the baby’s father?
• Why did she stay in Boston? Craftsmanship? or fear?
• Is the servant not informed of the scarlet letter?
• What does the sunshine represent?
• Why did Pearl like Dimmesdale when she didn’t like Wilson (or anyone else)?
• Is Dimmesdale the father?
• What are Chillingworth’s motives?
• What is a sexton anyways!?!?
• What is on Dimmesdale’s bosom?
• Does Chillingworth know Dimmesdale’s secret?
• When is the “another time”?
• Will Dimmesdale reveal his identity as Pearl’s father, or will another person reveal it?
• What are Hester’s motives behind her service?
• What is Chillingworth’s real name—Prynne?
• Why would Hester’s first lie (about the A) be to her own child?
• What is the significance of the sun? 
• Do Hester and Dimmesdale love each other?
• Will they end up like Romeo and Juliet?
• Will Dimmesdale get healthier in his new life?
• What caused Hester to change her mind and throw the scarlet letter away?
• Will Pearl accept Dimmesdale?
• Why does Pearl keep pushing the A?
• What change in Dimmesdale did Pearl dislike?
• Is running away the right choice?
• What IS Dimmesdale’s true face, and what does HE think is his true face?
• How did Chillingworth know Hester, Pearl, and Dimmesdale had passage on the ship? What is his motive in following them to Europe? What is his plan?
• What is “Increase Mather”?
• Why was Dimmesdale treated differently than Hester?
• When did Dimmesdale make up his mind?
• Where did Pearl go? Did they repent enough to be able to go to heaven?

I love that these questions show the range of possibilities, from literal missed facts, background information, and vocabulary words to standard Scarlet Letter plot and character questions to some deep, sad, and intriguing ones. I love that the group who asked about the stranger didn’t cross out their question when they got the answer from another group—they recorded it! And the discussion about Increase Mather (it’s a name—a historical figure—a male name equivalent to the virtue names given to females like Charity and Prudence) lead to a student comment: “Why would Christians name their child Increase when the Bible says, ‘He must increase and I must decrease’?” 

Modeling is always an important place to start. I modeled my own drawing, quote, and questions on the first chapter. 

Next, I think, is a modicum of healthy competition with the other group members (each of the 3 or 4 came with their own question, and they chose one—or sometimes came up with a new one—for the group poster) as well as with the other groups. After all, no one wants to be the one with the stupid question—stupid meaning showing, requiring, or instigating little thinking. 

This has to be balanced with the understanding that there are many different types of questions. The worst ones are the ones not asked—and sometimes literal questions about information missed or misunderstood or found confusing are important questions. Some questions can be answered within the text—looking back or waiting. Some questions can be answered outside the text by consulting another resource or authority. Some questions are just meant to be mulled over, to prompt deeper thinking and more questions, or a personal answer. 

Finally, practice, practice, practice. I think the questions got better over time. And then the students were ready for the big show: our Socratic roundtable discussion at the end of this past week. To prepare, each student was to bring 2 big questions focusing on anything in the novel that they still wanted to work on, and 2 big questions about how the novel might help us address our quarter question “What is the relationship of the individual and the community?”

I listed all the big questions the students brought to the final discussion on the whiteboard (see top of the page), told them I was available to answer questions addressed directly to me, but other than that, the time was theirs to work on the questions they wanted to address. 

When the bell rang, one student burst out, “Can we keep talking about these things after Service Week?” (We don't have regular class all next week.) What a great problem to have—not enough time to talk about everything in The Scarlet Letter that we wanted to. I’ll have to see what I can do about that…