Questions that Empower
The soul of an Acton Guide is to ask questions but every who, what, where, when, or why isn’t created equal. Some questions are better than others because of their magical power to empower learners to take action. By definition the word empower means to “make someone stronger and more confident, especially in controlling their life and claiming their rights.” This week our Guide team and I tinkered with finding magical questions that empower learners to claim who they want to be.
All session I’ve been observing a returning learner. Last year I remember she evolved from a young follower copying others to a born leader of accountability. This year however I’ve observed her claim her newest role of leader goof ball. Yesterday it was time for a chit chat check-in and so we took a leisurely walk to discuss how things were going. I asked her “Now that you’ve been back at Acton, what role have you been choosing: 1. captain (steering your ship towards treasure for yourself and others) or 2. pirate (stealing attention and more from others).” With great honesty she said “I’ve been mostly a pirate because I like being funny and how it makes friends look at me.” Next I asked “Do you want to be known for being a pirate or a captain?” She quickly and assertively answered “CAPTAIN!” With her assertion I felt the push to guide her to action and thus asked her “Do you think you can change your course to be a Captain right now?” She was unsure and so we returned to the studio to observe opportunities. I asked her “Who do you observe working well and who needs help?” She clearly articulated learners who were focused and quickly pointed out two young learners who were off-task balancing books on their feet. I asked her “Is this an opportunity? What would a Captain do to help her crew?”. Immediately she leapt up and asked them to treat materials with respect, proceeded to guide both learners to make choices with materials, and then found herself a material and got to work.
Sometimes empowering questions are a series of questions, other times it may be one gem that inspires immediate action such as “When someone needs help what would a true friend do?” Crafting great questions may seem hard but honestly it’s a muscle that takes practice and a lot of failure. I invite you to set a challenge at home and ask only questions, bonus challenge is not to repeat!
“The important thing is not to stop questioning”—Albert Einstein