“What Did You Learn in School?” Alternatives

You try to fake it, but it limps out of your mouth, barely alive: “How was school?” You might use a slight variation like, “What’d you learn in school today?” but in a single sentence, all that is wrong with ‘school.’ First, the detachment–you literally have no idea what they’re learning or why. You leave that up to school because that’s what school’s for, right? Which means you know very little about what your children are coming to understand about the world, only able to speak about it in vague terms of content areas (e.g., math, history). Then, there’s the implication–they don’t talk about the way that they’ve been moved or impressed upon or changed but in the rarest cases; you have to drag it out of them.

And there’s also the matter of form–you ask them as if a developing learner will be able to articulate the nuance of their own learning to make for a conversation that will do anything but make it seem like they learned nothing at all. So what to do? Well, that idea of form has some legs, doesn’t it? Show me. Demonstrate it. Let’s look at some artifacts that show thought and affection. Let’s see the impact of your work and effort.

So what are some alternatives to “What did you learn at school today?” Here are a few ideas.

1. When did you notice yourself most interested and curious today?
2. Was there a time today when you were especially confused? How did you respond?
3. What is one thing that was hard to believe? Not confusing, but surprising?
4. If you were more ____ today, how would it have impacted the day?
5. When were you most creative today?
6. Tell me one fun thing you learned, one useful thing you learned, and one extraordinary thing you learned.
7. What does a successful day at school look like to you? Feel like?
8. What sort of different reasons do your friends go to school?
9. Who worked harder today, the teacher or the students?
10. How else could you have learned what the teacher taught?
11. How do your teachers show they care?
12. What do you know, and how do you know it?
13. What would you like to know more about?
14. What is the most important thing you learned today? The least?
15. Tell me one chance you took today, and how it ended up.
16. What is one thing you learned from a book?
17. What is one thing you learned from a friend?
18. What is one thing you learned from a teacher?
19. What still confuses you?
20. What is something you say or heard that stuck with you for some reason?
21. Based on what you learned today in ______ class, what do you think you’ll learn tomorrow?
22. Tell me three facts, two opinions, and one idea you heard today.
23. What should you do with what you’ve learned?
24. When did you surprise yourself today?
25. What’s stopping you from being an (even more) amazing learner?

Allison Green
Boston Tutoring Services