A long long time ago in a state not so far away, I was a member of my college improvisational comedy group. If you’re unfamiliar with improvisational comedy (improv), it’s a theatrical art form where improvisers perform without a script. Many improvised comedy performances begin with a simple premise—often an audience suggestion and the actors then riff on the suggestion, listening closely to one another and allowing scenes to spontaneously develop in real-time. No doubt you’ve watched shows like Whose Line Is It Anyway? or learned that some of your favorite comedians like Steve Carrell, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey launched their careers at renown improv theaters like The Second City in Chicago, The Groundlings in Los Angeles, and Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) in both New York City and LA. You might have even taken an improv class or participated in some corporate training or team-building session featuring improv techniques.
I recently started reading Warren Berger’s book, A More Beautiful Question, and it became clear to me that one of the principle rules of improv – the “Yes, And” – might just be the mindset we need to not only ask better questions, but to produce change. In fact, a 2020 study found that improv helps boost divergent thinking – the mental process of trying to come up with alternative ideas. It’s a form of asking questions and “promotes peoples’ ability to find creative and resourceful solutions that can help us think in more diverse ways or even break away from ingrained patterns of behavior.” (Schwenke et. al, 2020)
What’s “Yes, And? “
The “Yes, And” concept suggests that in order for a scene to be successful, an improviser should accept what another improviser has stated (“yes”) and then expand on that line of thinking (“and”). So if your partner says “I can’t believe all the snow we’re having!” and you say “Brrr, I’m freezing”, you have positively reinforced your partner’s choice and engaged them in the scene. By contrast, responding with, “What are you talking about?” cuts off avenues for exploration and dampens the scene.
When I came into teaching it was at the height of the pandemic. It was a time fraught with uncertainty and change. Every facet of society was forced out of autopilot mode into questioning mode and asked to improvise; re-create careers, redefine old ideas about living, working, and education and re-examine priorities. For me, personally, it was a time that I was grappling with the racial reckonings of Anti-Asian Hate and the Black Lives Matter Movement.
I found I was at a loss on how to guide my students and myself through this time and kept asking the question, How is this still happening? Little did I know, asking this question would send me down the path I’m on today as I look for ways to fill in curricular gaps in Asian American History.
Tackling controversial topics like race and gender identity are one of the many “wicked problems” teachers and educators are facing. While questioning does enable people to think and act in the face of uncertainty, it’s easier said than done. We live in a culture where not knowing the answer to a question can trigger embarrassment, anxiety, shame or humiliation. In reflecting on a “Question Quickfire” – a five minute brainstorming exercise, I went back to explore the idea of having hard conversations and how to ask questions that engage others instead of having them shut down.
Photo from Kim Yen
Created using Post-It.
Questions challenge authority and disrupt established structures, processes, and systems forcing people to have to at least think about doing something differently. It can be uncomfortable and the ugly truth is that anything that forces people to have to think differently is not an easy sell. We don’t like cognitive dissonance and the brain finds all kinds of ways to “reduce our mental workload” – like accepting, without question, the status quo. (Berger, 2014, p.6)
Knowing this, I continue to wonder if there’s a way we can get students and teachers to be comfortable with discomfort? Can we adopt a “Yes, And” mindset using it as a tool to strengthen communication, alleviate conflict and facilitate exploration and divergent thinking? What would that look like in a classroom?
References
Berger, W. (2014). A more beautiful question: The power of inquiry to spark breakthrough ideas (Reprint ed.). Bloomsbury USA.
Planetclare. (2020). I Have A Question Questions [GIF]. Tenor. https://tenor.com/bghk1.gif
Schwenke, D., Dshemuchadse, M., Rasehorn, L., Klarhölter, D., & Scherbaum, S. (2020). Improv to Improve: The Impact of Improvisational Theater on Creativity, Acceptance, and Psychological Well-Being. Journal of Creativity in Mental Health, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/15401383.2020.1754987
