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Answering Questions
The curriculum is designed to facilitate learning rather than teaching. If the student’s question is answered for him, the mental inquiry may stop short of a learning experience. The successful teacher will become adept at assisting pupils in digging out answers and gaining insight into learning how to learn. When a pupil asks an academic question, he should be given HELP, not the answer. Some good responses are as follows: "What seems to be the difficulty?" "Read aloud the instructions for the particular sections or problems." (See if he understands key words.) "Explain in your own words what you are supposed to do." "Work out the problem while I listen to your explanation." (Observe any possible oversights or mistakes.) "Review the example (or previously completed problems)." "Is the question asking for a person, place, name, or date?" "Would an encyclopedia, atlas, or dictionary help?" The teacher’s responsibility is not to answer questions, but to determine the nature of the problem. "A good teacher: one good measure of the effectiveness of any teacher is the rate at which he makes himself unnecessary to his pupils..." Dr. C. B. Eavey Please call 1-800-863-1474 with any questions you may have! |
