The following “Questions” and “Filling in the gaps” statements can be used for the first day of class, the first day of a module, the first moment of any class, anytime during any class, and maybe, anytime, any day.

Solid questions for the first day of a module or first day of a class.

• What was a surprise for you?
• Where did you see or read or hear that surprise?
• What challenged your beliefs?
• Where did you see or read or hear that challenging thought?
• What old thoughts did you read, see, and/or hear?
• Where did you see, read, and/or hear them
• What new did you read, see, hear, think?
• Where did you see, read, and/or hear them, and when did you think them?

These questions toggle back and forth between react and respond, and you can open up the possibility for someone to share something from his/her/their journal or reflection paper. Opening up a place where students feel safe to share reactions and responses creates a place where communities can address fears and concerns as a whole. Remember, there is no thought shared that does not open the possibility of conversation. Your primary job is mediation, which requires a balanced presence and a set of knowable questions they can form their contributions around. Early on, you may have to coach how to turn comments into contributions, and that is where your skills of communication will come into play. If the discussion becomes heated or hard, asking the students to turn comments into questions is a great option. Once some key questions are created, go around the circle and have each student ask a question about the question to tease it out.

If things remain heated, have the students return to the basic questions of the course. What, How, When, Who, Where, and Why. Answers from that place create solid ground for them to stand on, and your job is to get them there so they can look around and see they are not in it alone. They might differ in their experiences, but they are not in it alone and they have formed a community defined by specific agreements. If they can’t find their way inside the questions above, ask them to ask each other the question THEY have about an article, talk, or conversation. No answers, just questions. What you want is a class actively asking questions. And if this is how they end the day, ask them to return to the next class with 3 questions for their peers about whatever was or wasn’t discussed. Start the next class there. You want them arriving with questions they want to ask each other. Once that happens, you become the silent observer.

These questions are the building blocks of their story about a “happening.” These are the stories that build individuals, and when these stories are shared, people connect and the possibility of change “happens.” You are the solid foundation on which they rest their experience of questioning. That’s why your story and your point of view is not a necessary part of this experience. They may ask your opinion, and I would suggest you return that asking with gratitude and appreciation, and not contribution to their conversation. That can be a challenge, but it’s the great work. You are helping them move into “adult-ing” by giving them the chance to create a community and build it through communication and the actions required to maintain social agreements. I remind them of those agreements all the time, and offer them the opportunity to change the agreements whenever they want. Everyone has to agree to the change though, and they have to work it out through mediation, which they will learn by observing how you teach the class. You are not the answer book, they are, and they will write it if given the chance.