My Developmental Stages In LearningTheories Stage Three - 1966 - Prelude to My Life as a College Professor

Questioning - a final look.

Socratic Questioning - A definition

Socratic questioning is a form of inquiry-based dialogue that encourages critical thinking and self-reflection by asking probing questions to explore the assumptions, evidence, and implications of an idea. In education, Socratic questioning can be used to help students analyze concepts, differentiate between systematic and fragmented thinking, and in  becoming independent learners.

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This questioning strategy; named for Socrates, had been reserved for high-level iterative learning levels. In the 1960s, we asked why not for all levels and came up with “critical thinking”, “creative thinking”, “thinking out of the box,” and we raised our expectations of our learners. Teachers and coaches will find learning to use questions can be helpful in their work, e.g.:

Coach Talk -- Asking The Right Question

Coaches do a lot of "Telling" and not a lot of "Asking." And often the question they ask doesn't do what they intended it to do. Let's start out with the wrong question: "Ted, why did you leave your bat over there on the ground?" Ted: (after thinking it over to see if he's about to get into trouble) "I don't know." Not a bad answer and very common. "Why did ..." questions are confrontational and invite a defensive response.

How about this question: "Ted, what's the right thing to do with your bat after you take your swings?" "I should put it into the bat rack, coach." "O.K., so will you do that now? Thanks." The neat thing about this is that you are not telling him what to do -- he is telling you what he is supposed to do  -- and then you are having him act on the statement that he made.

The year 1966 

1966 was a very significant and busy period in my educational life. 

Early in the year I completed the two-year research on my doctoral dissertation - a comparison of people who read well and spell poorly and those who read well and spell well.

I took and passed the final two day  - all-day written exam which is required of all doctoral candidates.  At a meeting of my Doctoral Committee, I presented the manuscript for approval. It had a few, small errors that I corrected and my committee chairman then approved it.

The last step was the presentation of my dissertation at an open session. Any and all members of the faculty could attend and ask questions and make comments. I survived.

On August 4th, 1966 I walked across the stage in the auditorium at Northern Illinois University and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Education.

I had made several applications for a college teaching position and in September of 1966 I began a 12 year experience as a professor at Elmhurst College, Elmhurst, Illinois and a lifetime career as a college professor.

“Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” 

                                                  Emile Coué