What Do I Do With Puzzlements?

Many students go entire days without asking even one curious question.

In my own classroom, I made questions scary by saying things like:

  • We don’t have time for questions, Denise.
  • Oh, that’s a silly question, Ralph.
  • That question is off-topic, Milly.
  • I’m not there yet. Hold onto your questions, Juan.
  • I already answered that! Weren’t you listening, Liz?

And it didn’t matter if I said it nicely!

“Oh honey bunny, we just don’t have time for those silly, off-topic questions you sweet potato pie!”

That still sends a very clear message: we don’t have time for curiosity!

Susan Engle

I’d highly recommend you read Susan Engle’s book on this topic.

Or just watch this video clip!

Practice Four Things

The Puzzlements videos allow you to practice four things that Engles recommends:

  1. Safety Students know they can ask a question without being hushed or sidelined or mocked by the teacher. Set the expectations early: “Class I will not say things like ‘we don’t have time’ or ‘that’s a silly question’.”
  2. Opportunity Use the mailer at the same time every week. Establish a curiosity routine. If you skip it, kids should call you out. They should come to expect this opportunity.
  3. Encouragement This is a chance for you to praise your students for being curious. “Wow what an interesting question!” is so much more fun to say than “No no, that’s off-topic!”
  4. Modeling Most importantly, YOU must wonder along with your class. You MUST show what it’s like to be curious and excited and willing to wonder. Kids need to see curious adults in action.

So, What Do I Do With This?

All you need to do is:

  1. Decide which video to use
  2. Show it to your students
  3. Periodically stop and ask: “What did/do you notice?”

Don’t skip the noticing. In fact, spend a long time here. Silence is to be expected. That means they’re thinking. So let your students sit and spot things, make connections, and simply think.

Once your students have noticed, they’re ready for: “What do you wonder?” Note the wording. “Wonder” is important. It’s not “What questions do you have?”

And you’d better be ready to wonder yourself! Modeling curiosity is key.

No Writing Necessary

That’s it! Don’t turn it into a school task.

No homework. No writing assignment. No prep. Just allow 5 minutes of safe curiosity.

You’ll find that, over time, students will bring in their own ideas. They’ll create their own versions of videos. They’ll spend their weekend investigating a video.

All because you changed the culture of your classroom.

This will take time. Students are not used to being curious at school.

So give them three or four weeks to build trust in you. They’ll slowly learn that it really is ok to wonder.

A Few Tips

Try to leave the puzzlements as mysterious as possible. Hide the title. Don’t let kids know what they’re seeing. Give room for curiosity to build. Try to say as little as possible.

Often it’s best to watch a video out of order. Sometimes the middle is the best place to start. Sometimes you’ll want to hide parts of an image and reveal it later.

Beware

Try to avoid turning this into a guessing game, where students prematurely shout out hypothesis because they want to be “first to get it.”

Make them notice details. Make them wonder. Don’t allow them to yell, “I think it’s a…!” as soon as the video starts.

And, of course, do not assign homework or create classwork out of these questions or you’ll quench the fire.