In class
Everybody has started the task. You are not sure what you are meant to do. Nobody else looks confused.
What do you do?
Step 1: What Would You Do?
There is often more than one good answer. Pick one and see what happens.
At home
You are making something and the instructions have a word you do not know.
What is the best question?
Step 2: What That Was
The name for what you just worked out.
Nobody knows everything. Not knowing is normal.
A question is a tool
When you do not know, you can ask. That is what questions are for.
Say which bit
"I do not get it" is hard to help with. "Which number goes first?" is easy to help with.
Step 3: Quick Check
Two questions, then you are done.
Question 1 of 2
Which question is easier for a grown-up to help with?
Question 2 of 2
You did not hear the instructions. What is the best thing to do?
Step 4: Your Life Mission
Something to do away from the screen. Nobody is checking.
Ask one real question
- Find one thing today you do not understand.
- Work out which bit exactly is the stuck bit.
- Ask about that bit.
Why: Finding the stuck bit is most of the work. The asking is the easy part.
For a grown-up: Answer it without adding "you already know this". The goal this week is volume of questions, not quality.
Step 5: What You Learned
- Not knowing is normal. Asking is how you find out.
- Say which bit you are stuck on.
For the grown-up
Children stop asking questions when questions have cost them something — a sigh, a "you should know this", or a classroom where asking marked them out. Most reluctance to ask is learned, and it is learned fast.
The specific skill here is locating the stuck point, which is genuinely hard and worth practicing out loud: "show me the last bit that made sense" does most of the work.
If your child asks a question you have answered before, answering it again plainly is cheaper than the alternative, which is a child who decides asking is risky.