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> Sometimes I would hear students grumble "He never answers my questions..." Did you ever explain why you are doing this? After walking a student through their

> Sometimes I would hear students grumble "He never answers my questions..." Did you ever explain why you are doing this? After walking a student through their problem I would praise them and point out they solved the problem themselves. Some people may perceive your style as you being annoyed or unwilling to fully help, so explaining explicitly why you're helping that way would be good.

civilized 5y ago
I had a teacher in high school who played the mysterious guru game. Instead of answering questions, he would say nothing and smile kind of creepily. He was good, but his mysterious guru bit wasn't why he was good, and he should have dropped it. All this to say, yes, explaining why you're doing things as a teacher is better than just doing them and mystifying people.
tshaddox 5y ago
Yeah, I don’t see the point in just stubbornly only responding with more questions. As an instructor you could actually instruct. Why not say “a good technique when you get stuck is to ask yourself these 3 questions…” instead of just cryptically asking the questions and hoping they come to this amazing epiphany that wow my instructor wasn’t just being cryptic because they’re a jerk, they were doing it to teach me!
- sodality2 5y ago
  I absolutely hated primary/secondary school until I realized all these "difficult" methods were designed to help ME learn. Naturally the attitude at that age is "Oh my gosh the teachers love torturing us >:( they hate us >:( school bad >:(". I'm forever grateful for the gifted program at my district for teaching me otherwise. Writing this comment gave me a rush of nostalgia, I think I'm gonna go visit again
  - bonestamp2 5y ago
    Yes, it took me too long to realize this too... so I immediately told my kids this is the reason for all of the exercises they have to do. When they approach it from the perspective of its purpose, then they take the time to learn it rather than just trying to finish it.

civilized 5y ago

I had a teacher in high school who played the mysterious guru game. Instead of answering questions, he would say nothing and smile kind of creepily. He was good, but his mysterious guru bit wasn't why he was good, and he should have dropped it. All this to say, yes, explaining why you're doing things as a teacher is better than just doing them and mystifying people.

tshaddox 5y ago

Yeah, I don’t see the point in just stubbornly only responding with more questions. As an instructor you could actually instruct. Why not say “a good technique when you get stuck is to ask yourself these 3 questions…” instead of just cryptically asking the questions and hoping they come to this amazing epiphany that wow my instructor wasn’t just being cryptic because they’re a jerk, they were doing it to teach me!

sodality2 5y ago
I absolutely hated primary/secondary school until I realized all these "difficult" methods were designed to help ME learn. Naturally the attitude at that age is "Oh my gosh the teachers love torturing us >:( they hate us >:( school bad >:(". I'm forever grateful for the gifted program at my district for teaching me otherwise. Writing this comment gave me a rush of nostalgia, I think I'm gonna go visit again
- bonestamp2 5y ago
  Yes, it took me too long to realize this too... so I immediately told my kids this is the reason for all of the exercises they have to do. When they approach it from the perspective of its purpose, then they take the time to learn it rather than just trying to finish it.