7 Thinking Critically About Questions We Ask

Q: How do we set up classroom activities to get to know our kids without (possibly) putting them in harm’s way – unintentionally, but still…?

To think about for the above question: when we have social privilege, we often share our identities without even stopping to think about what a privilege that is. But what if a child does not have that same possibility? What if we ask a child to share something about themselves that causes them to feel that they are required to share something with the class (or even just with you as their teacher) that they would prefer to not share? For example, an innocuous question from a teacher such as “Hey small person, what work do your mom and dad do?”. Think of the assumptions in this question: 1) that there is at home both a mom and a dad, rather than one or the other of those, or two moms, or two dads; additionally, many children live with grandparents, in foster care or group homes, and there are no moms or dads at all, of any number. Assumption 2) is that whoever the adult/s in the home, they are employed; this might not be true either. Assumption 3) is that whoever the adults are, they identify within a binary-sex system such that the gendered pronouns of mom/dad/grandmother, uncle, etc apply. And those are just a few things that could come up for some children in trying to answer what seems to be a very simple question.

Whenever we ask questions of students, or ask students to participate in an activity, we need to stop and carefully think through what else could happen for students in our classrooms when we ask them this question, or ask them to do this thing? What other unintended consequences or difficult situations could our students end up with because we unintentionally put them in the path of harm?