Teach You to Think

My mentor teacher and I are trying out a new teaching strategy. We’ve gotten a bit tired of talking to kids in class and the conversation going nowhere as we try to discern what the student wants/needs.

Most of our existing strategies are based on a book called “Love and Logic.” We went back to the book for inspiration and found the concept of teaching people to “ask the right questions.” It’s something we’re trying out with the kids- much to their annoyance.

An example of this:
Jasmine needed to call her mom to ask to stay after school for tutorials. Jasmine came to my class during passing period and called her mom. While she was on the phone- the tardy bell rang. Jasmine hangs up the phone and asks me:
“Miss Martin, I need to go to Mrs. Costa’s. May I have a pass to Mrs. Costa’s class?”
“Yes,” I reply.
I fill out a pass for her and she takes it. As she looks out the door it dawns on Jasmine that Mrs. Costa’s room is directly across the hall from mine, a mere few footsteps away.

“Why didn’t you just say you’d walk me to Mrs. Costa’s?” Jasmine asks sullenly, (she didn’t like having to wait while I wrote out a pass).
My reply: “You didn’t ask me to walk you to Mrs. Costa. You asked me for a pass. Ask the right questions.”
She got visibly annoyed for a moment, and then she realized she did indeed ask me for a pass and nothing else.

Another aspect of this approach always befuddles the students but gives my mentor teacher and myself internal smiles.
The student comes up to us with some problem:
“Miss! I don’t got my homework.”
We then let a few seconds of silence pass before replying:
“Ok. What do you want me to do?”
The usual response to this question is a blank slack-mouthed stare. The students have gotten so used to adults doing the problem solving for them. I want to teach them to think of solutions on their own. I probably ask “What do you want me to do?” about 30 times a day. But it all has a purpose. In real life you can’t just stutter out your problems and have someone swoop in and fix everything. Ask the right questions!
“Miss, I don’t have my homework. Can I have another paper?”
“Yes. Thank you for asking.”

It’s fascinating to me how much brain power it takes for the students to comprehend that I the teacher am not going to tell them what to do or offer answers voluntarily. Ask me for my opinion, “Miss, what should I do?” and I’ll help you. But don’t stand there being mentally lazy waiting for me to spoon-feed things to you.

We can’t expect the kids to act like adults if we don’t teach them how to think like adults.