You'd be surprised/disappointed. When I taught 11th grade English, I started the year by asking students to write a two-page composition (and gave them a concr

You'd be surprised/disappointed. When I taught 11th grade English, I started the year by asking students to write a two-page composition (and gave them a concrete, well-defined topic), due the following Monday. They panicked, hardcore: "How do you expect us to do this? That's 2 whole pages! How can we ever get that muc done?" Now, even when I substitute teach, I have to spend a decent amount of time hand-holding. Particularly in classes, it feels like there are not many teachers who take the "Let's try this out and see what happens. It's okay if it doesn't work this time, because we're learning a new skill. It might take a few tries," approach. It's a necessary approach, I think, when learning higher-level thinking, particularly systematized thinking.