Asking Questions
Thanks again for listening in to
Your Shadow Advisor, a podcast
about navigating higher
education from a first
generation person appellate
perspective. I'm your host,
Professor Darrel Wanzer-Serrano.
So today, I'm going to be
talking to you about asking
questions inside class and
outside of class, like an office
hours. And so we're gonna be
talking a little bit about,
like, how to approach the
process of asking questions, how
to prepare for that, when to
interject in class, and when to
take it out to like office hours
and how to navigate that whole
thing. I think that this is an
important topic, especially for
first gen students, because I
think there's, there's an
assumption, right that like, we
should get things, when really
the reality is that most of the
time, especially in a doctoral
program, people aren't getting
things right. You need to ask
questions, in order to develop a
better understanding of whatever
topic you happen to be engaging.
And so you know, so I want to be
able to talk about basically to
kind of talk up this task,
right, of asking good questions.
And, and talk a little bit about
how to navigate the process for
doing so. Before I do that, I
want to I want to kind of turn
back to, to just a quick plug
for the programs that we did,
that we did the last two weeks,
both of which were on public
service loan forgiveness, the
first episode
was focused explicitly on the
the temporary waiver that
expires at the end of October.
So for people who, like me have
been out of, of graduate school
for a little while, are out of
school for a little while, but
have been engaged in public
service, employment, now's kind
of the time to act, especially
if you haven't already been part
of the Public Service Loan
Forgiveness Program.
The second of those episodes was
more generally about public
service, loan forgiveness. And
so it's a great episode to to
listen to even if you're
currently still a student. So I
just want to recommend going
back and listen to those
episodes if you haven't already.
Because I think there's a wealth
of information in them,
especially coming from the
person I was interviewing
Christina Symbios, who is the
founder of a great community
focused on public service loan
forgiveness on Facebook. So
check that out, look at the show
notes. There's great links to
different resources. And, you
know, I hope you find those
episodes useful. The other thing
I want to mention, before we get
going on today's topic is that I
think, you know, really, I need
to I need to kind of slow down a
little bit. September has tried
to murder me, I think I'm
probably not alone in that
feeling is something about
really something about this
semester, feels like the first
kind of full semester back from
from the COVID pandemic, even
though the pandemic is, of
course, still going on, despite
what Joe Biden might say, it's
just like something about this
semester just feels more real
and more like active, I think it
probably has to do with the
return of more on campus events,
at least, you know, at least
here in Texas. And so, so I just
need some more time, y'all. So
I'm going to cut back, instead
of doing an episode every week,
right now, I'm just going to cut
back to every other week. So
we're gonna, we're gonna move
into a biweekly format. Because
you know, it's just me, and it
takes a lot of work to put
together the episode to do the
editing and to get things up
online and on time. So, so there
won't be an episode next week.
But there will be something the
week after. So stay tuned for
that. So today, as I mentioned
before, I want to talk about
questions. Like I said, at the
in the opening, I think that
there's an assumption, the first
gen students especially have
this assumption, although I
think this is probably an
assumption that a lot of
graduate students have. But
there's this assumption that you
should already kind of know what
it is that you're doing. You
should just kind of you know, by
your own smarts, completely
understand the things that
you're reading, the assignments
that you that you're tasked with
completing, et cetera, et
cetera. And I think that you
know, that this is one of those,
one of those key hidden
curriculum things right that the
fact of the matter is that
everyone doesn't know
everything, right. And that's,
that's why we're in school.
That's why we love school, right
as we get to learn new things.
And sometimes, you know,
oftentimes you need to ask
questions.
To be able to learn those things
now, I think that the people who
aren't first gen students are
kind of, you know, I think,
taught the value of asking
questions and being inquisitive,
and being present through their
questions in class. And I think
that first gen students aren't
taught those things. So. So I
want to talk through the process
of like, how to be asking good
questions. And I want to start
with the, with the kind of fear
that people have about asking a
quote unquote, dumb question.
Look, here's the here's the
deal. I think for the most part,
there aren't dumb questions. But
I do want to give a bit of a
kind of, you know, a bit of a
warning about that a bit of a
caveat about that. I think
there, there aren't bad
questions, so long as you've
prepared and thought through
what your question actually is.
And what I mean by that is that,
you know, I think the only time
that that I'm ever frustrated by
a question as a professor, is
when it's a question that is
obviously answered in the
reading, right. And I know that
there's like, complex, complex
topics that are covered in
readings or an assignment
sheets. And that those need
further questions, right. But
like, if your question is, you
know, what's the definition of
x, and on page two of the
reading, the author provides a
very clear definition of X, then
you know, that I think we need
to, like, think more deeply and
talk more deeply about, about
your reading skills, right? Or,
if you ask a question about an
assignment that's literally just
been answered in class, or is
like very clearly answered, or
like, objectively, clearly
answered in an assignment sheet,
then that's a little bit
frustrating, right?
But like, barring those
exceptions, there are no bad
questions, right?
I think that you, you know that
you have to do the work, though,
of situating, your question in
the kind of particular frame of
reference that you have in mind?
And ask the question in a kind
of precise way.
And so like, one of the things
that I'm trying to get at here
is that, you know, that I get
frustrated if a student says
just just throws their hands up
and says, I'm completely lost,
right? No one's ever completely
lost about something no one ever
doesn't understand anything in a
reading write. Your
understanding is always going to
be situational, though. And you
might understand, you know,
narrower range of things from a
reading than someone else. But
that doesn't mean that you're
completely lost. Right? So
you're entering the
conversation, you're entering
the question asking frame with
some kind of understanding. And
so that's always a good way, I
think, to situate the question
that you're asking, right? So if
you understand, you know,
what the author means about X,
but not y than I think you can
say, and there's a relationship
between those things, I think
you can say, hey, I understand
what the author is arguing about
x. But what I don't understand
is how Y follows from that.
Right? So what does the author
mean by y? And now how does it
relate to x? So trying to like,
you know, position your
questions. Link to what you do
already understand,
is a great strategy for how to
approach it and how to also
like, let's be honest, like,
save face and manage your kind
of performance of graduate
student, NIS.
Even beyond that kind of face
saving measure, though, like, I
think it's important to
demonstrate your thought process
in an efficient and appropriate
way. Right. It shows your peers,
it shows your professor, that
you have put some thought into
this and you're acknowledging
kind of what you do understand,
while while kind of like posing
a specific question about about
some something that's related to
that. So it's really kind of
critical that you're specific
with the questions that you ask
as specific as you can be, and
that you ask them at an
appropriate time in the seminar
or in office hours. So how do
you know what's an when it's an
appropriate time to ask a
question in Seminar Well, if
your question relates to a topic
that is all
already under discussion, then
that's a great time to, to
figure out a way to kind of jump
in and ask your question as a
follow up to, to that discussion
that's underway.
If you know, it's at the
beginning of class that that can
be, you know, another great time
to ask, right, right as
discussion is going most
graduate seminars, in my
experience, at least as a, you
know, coming from a kind of
like, critical and Cultural
Studies sort of field and
program, most professors will
ask, and early in class after
dealing with different kinds of
like housekeeping issues, who
wants to get conversation
started, right, maybe they'll
give a little lecture first,
maybe they will just jump in.
Because people have done
different like, written
engagements of the reading
already. And so that can be a
great time to kind of jump in to
get the conversation started,
especially if it's a kind of
like foundational issue, that
that you have to understand
before you can move on to more,
more kind of like higher order
concepts from the reading.
Sometimes, though, like, there
just isn't a good time in
seminar to ask the question, and
I think you've got kind of two
choices of what to do. If that's
the case. First is you can hold
off and ask the question after
class. So like, go up to the
professor and say, hey, you
know, didn't seem like there was
a good time for me to ask this.
Because we'd already moved on.
But here's my question about
this, about this reading or this
concept, or whatever. So that's
one way to handle him. That's,
that can be that can be
efficient. And oftentimes,
professors will have a little
bit of time after class to be
able to do that. If they don't,
right. If they're clear that
like they got a run or whatever,
then then you need to make an
appointment to to ask the
question I would do so sooner
than later, try to make an
appointment for during the
professor's office hours,
especially if they've got office
hours coming up. If they don't
have office hours coming up,
right, maybe they were earlier
in the week, and so you've
already missed them. Or maybe
like you can't make office hours
because you have another class
at that time, then I would email
your professor and say, Hey, I'd
love to meet with you to talk
about this. Before I do next
week's reading.
I can't make it to office hours,
because, you know, give your
valid reason. But I'd love to
know your availability, know, if
you have availability to be able
to meet later this week, right?
Don't say, don't just say I'm
available. Do today from three
to 5pm?
When can we meet, right, don't
make the assumption that you're
entitled to meet with the
professor right away, like,
leave the ball, you know, give
leave the ball in their court,
because every professor has kind
of different ways that they like
to, to schedule things, and they
may not have have been clear
about about what those ways of
scheduling are for you. So, you
know, leave it to them to be
able to, to be able to ask you
what your availability is on
different days or different
times? Or maybe they're gonna
say, Well, I've got these chunks
at times available, when can you
meet in those chunks of times?
Or maybe they have a link to
something like Calendly or
fantastic how that, you know,
that will help you set up your
own meeting in times that are
that are that they have
availability structured? Don't
be afraid to do that. Right.
That's what that's what office
hours are for. That's one of the
things that office hours are
for. And, you know, Professors
love to talk with students about
things. I think that's been
that's been my experience, like,
I would much rather be talking
with a student about about
things from class than just
sitting alone doing nothing in
my office during office hours.
Okay? I love having the chance
to talk with people about these
about the topics that I'm
teaching, because I'm passionate
about those topics. Right. And I
think that's the case for, for
most professors, right? They're
passionate about the topics,
they're they're teaching,
especially graduate courses, and
eagerly await the opportunity to
talk with, with with their
students about about those
things because they they have a
vested interest, right in
ensuring that the students in
their class leave their class
with with kind of new levels of
expertise right on the topics
that they're that they're
engaging. The last thing I want
to say about this is don't wait
for big questions that that need
to be answered sooner than
later. Right. Some questions
especially about foundational
readings, as I mentioned a few
minutes ago, are important, are
important enough to be dealt
with as
soon as possible, because
subsequent things aren't going
to make sense without them,
right. And I think that most of
the time, right, professors are
building their, their graduate
courses in a way that front load
some kind of broader theoretical
constructs or methodological
constructs, that then later
readings are going to rely upon
in some, in some explicit or
implicit way. And so it's really
important, especially early in
semester, like, right, like,
right now, if you're on the
semester system, or if you're on
the quarter system, right, maybe
you just started or about to
start your academic year, when
when you have those big
questions early, get them
answered. Because, you know, if
you don't you really risk being
lost as you as you move on. The
same goes also for for
assignments, right? So, you
know, look, I've approached,
giving assignments and graduate
courses in different ways at
different points over the years.
There have been moments in my
life when I've basically, you
know, the assignment hasn't been
spelled out in in very much
detail. And I've just said,
Well, do XY and Z. And, you
know, and we'll see how well it
goes. Other points I've been,
I've been, you know, kind of
more specific in the kinds of
direction I give people about
what I expect and how I'll be
evaluating the, the assignments
that they're producing in the
class. And, you know, there's,
there's, there's pedagogical
value in both ways of
approaching things, right. So
I'm not saying that like, if a
professor doesn't give you
really explicit instructions on
an assignment, then they're
doing something wrong, because I
don't think they're doing
something wrong, right. There's
just different models of
education at the graduate level.
That said, if you're unclear
about what you should be doing
in a in an assignment are
unclear about whether you're
performing at the level that you
should be performing at, then
that's another opportunity for
you to go meet with your
professor, especially if it's
about you. If it's about your
performance on assignments that
are like regular assignments,
say, weekly writing responses to
the readings, you should
definitely make an appointment
to talk to the professor about
that. Don't just ambush them
before after class. Don't ask
them a question about the
requires them to evaluate you in
class. Those are perfect things
to talk about in office hours.
And I think I think any
professor would welcome those
opportunities. If you need
clarification about how to do
something for an assignment,
then in class, especially the
beginning of class is a great
time to ask that kind of
question. I'll give you an
example of I think, a kind of
common common one. I know when I
was a graduate student, my
Professors love to assign a
prospectus or a proposal, right.
So like, most of my classes, the
big assignment was, you know,
was a full size research paper,
you know, 25 to 30 pages. But
usually there would be an
assignment earlier in the
semester, that was that was a
proposal or prospectus. The
assignment usually was
represented in the syllabus with
a couple of lines of tax that
said, write a proposal or write
a prospectus, proposing your
project and keep it to x number
of pages or X number of words.
And there wasn't there
oftentimes wasn't much, or at
least it didn't seem like there
was much description for the
assignment beyond that. And I
think that's probably like
fairly common, right? People are
told read the proposal, read the
prospectus, but then not given
the instruction of necessarily
of what exactly that should look
like. And so I think that's a
great opportunity for you to
say, well, you know, I haven't I
haven't written up proposal or
prospectus before, what are your
expectations for what that
should look like? Right? Because
the professor probably has a
couple, at least a couple of
ideas in mind of what that might
look like in practice, right?
Because there probably isn't one
single right way to do it.
But you know, but there's a
couple of more productive ways
to approach writing an
assignment like that. And and so
I'm sure the professor would be
happy to explicate kind of what
the breakdown of that might be,
and what that should look like
and what kinds of questions it
should answer, which will give
you some more guidance. If their
answer in class doesn't give you
enough guidance and you're still
feeling a little bit lost on the
assignment. Then again, that's
another great opportunity to
email them and set up at
set up a time to meet with them
in their office hours or outside
of their office hours. If If you
both can't do that,
to get the guidance that you
need, because you don't want to
just, you know, you just don't
want to guess, right? You want
to be able to approach approach
these things from an informed
perspective. And do it closer to
right the first time than to
then to complete something that
is just really off the mark.
Right. And I think that's
ultimately like to come back to
the value of of asking
questions, and the the
assumption that people will ask
questions, as that's kind of
part of daily life in grad
school, baked into this grad
school thing, right, is the
assumption that, that people,
you know, kind of have the the
wherewithal and the motivation
and the drive, to ask for
clarification, and to seek ways
of improving their own work.
Right. And so I think that the,
you know, I'm sure there's
exceptions that will, the will,
that will prove the rule here.
But I think for the most part,
right, most professors,
especially if they're, if
they're graduate professors who
advise students, they, you know,
they're eager and willing to
help you in whatever way seems,
seems appropriate for the
context for the class that
you're in, for your stage in the
in your graduate career, and all
that kind of stuff. So don't be
afraid to ask those questions. I
really think that you're going
to be pleasantly surprised,
honestly, over the course of my
career teaching graduate
students, which is over a decade
now. Anytime somebody has asked
a question that they've prefaced
by saying this is probably a
dumb question. Or I feel, you
know, I feel silly asking this
question. I think every single
time there has always been at
least one other person, usually
more than one other person in
class, who's had the same
question or related question,
right. So don't psych yourself
out of asking those important
questions. Even if they seem
like they're things that you
should know, chances are,
they're not the chances are
there's a higher level of
complexity involved, especially
if it's related to the content
of your course, than you're
anticipating. Right. And I think
that's, again, I think that's
especially true with first gen
students who have an even
greater tendency to undervalue
what we know and two into to
kind of like to basically like
be our own worst enemy and think
that oh, you know, no one else
would have this question when
chances are, they really
probably do. Anyway, that's all
I wanted to say. For for now, if
you have questions related to,
to what I've just said about
questions, yes, shoot me an
email,
reply on social media, do
whatever to let me know and I'll
do my best to kind of like
clarify that next time.
Relatedly if you have other
strategies, or other or other
practices that you want to
suggest you don't shoot those MY
WAY too. Because I'm more than
happy to, to kind of add those
to the list. What I have to say
about this stuff is rooted in my
own experiences as a first
generation college graduate and
as a professor at a at a
research intensive university.
But there are undoubtably you
know many other strategies for
approaching the topics that I
address on this show. Finally,
since I really do want to keep
the show as listener driven as
possible, please send me your
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