What makes a good question?

This week's workshop (week of 31st January) is about asking questions that make you think.

Let's give it a go... What would it benefit you most to think about?

I remember last year when I was working at Feltham Community College with the Year 10s (14 year olds). A little unsure - I'd never worked in a school before, I decided that the most important thing I could do right at the start of the lesson was to make them realise that Life Clubs was not going to be like anything they'd known before. I started the first lesson by going round the room asking each of them in turn what they really enjoyed doing and why. Needless to say, there were a few that thought it amusing to say they 'didn't know' in answer to my questions, but the rest said that no-one had taken an interest in them like that before.

They were right. We often don't take an interest like that in ourselves and others either. We tend to ask each other the same questions: 'When's supper?'... 'What's on telly?'... 'What are you doing tomorrow?' We don't ask 'Do you feel like cooking supper tonight?' or 'What could we do instead of telly?' or 'What would make tomorrow special for you?' Instead we settle for the familiar.

Life Clubs questions are inspirational and thought-provoking. They help you work out what it is you already know, but might not be focusing on. And, like with most subjects, there are the standard questions and the fun ones.

What I really enjoyed today, is that walking round the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford there was a question (only one) that could have been written by Life Clubs...

If you were to decorate your own coat of arms, what animals would you choose?

I don't know about you, but I'd have an eagle.

See you this week at Life Clubs. Is there anything that could stop you coming?
Nina
Author of How To Get What You Want

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I'm definitely not deep enough

This week's Life Club was all about the kind of questions we ask. I wish I could say that we debated whether god exists and the meaning of religion in 21st century society, but we didn't.

Instead we thought about the difference between open and closed questions.

The first questions we came up with were those 'How are you?' and 'What's up?' questions that we ask all the time without often meaning anything and usually expecting a grunt for an answer. Then a clubber came up with the question: 'What could you do to get better?'.

Now, 'What could you do to get better?' is a pretty good example of an open question. It immediately has me thinking of wonderfully self-improving things, like 'I could go to sleep earlier'... 'I could floss more often'... 'I could go for an hour walk every morning...' and on and on. It feels forward moving and exciting and challenging.

But, as another clubber pointed out, it feels negative. It implies criticism. It implies that you need to get better.

Isn't it interesting how we all look at questions differently?

So, after all that, let's get a bit more intellectual with our questions.

Does god exist? And, if he does, as my son once asked me, why did he create stinging nettles?

Keep me posted with your thoughts.
See you next week at Life Clubs.
All best wishes,
Nina
Founder Life Clubs and author The Life Book (Prentice Hall Life)

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