We've all done it. Ask a question...wait for our students to answer...and get nothing. In an effort to bring about some dialogue with our classes, we ask one particular student a question. The student struggles to answer, so we give them the answer and move one. Within that moment that we decided to give the answer, we sent some serious messages to our students.
- Message #1 - If you remain quiet when I ask you a question, I will ultimately give you the answer.
- Message #2 - Struggling to give an answer is not ok, which is why I provide the answer.
- Message #3 - Participation in your own learning is voluntary.
- Message #4 - When learning is hard, shut down because an adult will take care of it, and you don't have any responsibility in the situation.
As adults, we talk a lot about learning from failure and making sure we have the growth mindset. Unfortunately, the growth mindset doesn't work (Why the Growth Mindset Doesn't Work) as well as it should because we treat our students in a fixed way. Error provides the opportunity for growth, but we treat students in a fixed way by providing them with an answer so they never really have the opportunity to learn to the depth that they could. Remember the Chinese proverb...
"Tell me, I'll forget.
Show me, I'll remember.
Involve me, I'll understand."
We're good at reciting the proverb but not so good at making it happen.
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