Skip to main content

When is "I don't know" a great answer?

My younger brother and I weren't the most destructive kids on our block, but we did have our moments of mischief and mishaps. It was through these occasional errors in judgement that we developed a self-defense response called, "I don't know." Even in the event of being caught red-handed, we habitually broke out the "I don't know" shield. Trouble was, this answer was never acceptable to our parents. Not only was it considered the wrong answer, it in fact, only seemed to make matters worse for us.  (We will discuss the merits of rewards and punishments in a future post.) Like Bill Cosby hilariously suggests, maybe we were just "brain damaged".


As a practicing educator for the past 20+ years, I still, on occasion, get accused of having brain damage. While this may contain some truth, one thing I have most-certainly learned as a result of spending practically my entire life in school is... "I don't know" is not only a great answer, from a teacher's perspective, it just might be, at times, the best answer.
  • If you ask a thoughtful and challenging question - the answer that you should anticipate would be, "I don't know".  (Be prepared with a follow up challenge.)
  • When leading students into inquiry-based research, the best student response that you could hope for would be, "I don't know".  (Go find a solution.)
  • A lab experiment becomes a mysterious puzzle when it begins with "I don't know".  (Prediction, analysis, and reflection)
  • A class discussion or debate can remain student-centered when the teacher says, "I don't know".  ("You guys will have to figure this out.")
  • Students can assist in finding solutions, and take on more responsibility for learning when the teacher says, "I don't know".  ("Your expertise can help guide this research.")
  • Teachers are not perfect, they can appear more human to students when they say, "I don't know".  (Perfection is not reality. It's OK to acknowledge, and work through, shortcomings.)
  • Students and teachers can turn to their personal learning networks when they find themselves saying, "I don't know". ("Our networks are loaded with experts. Collectively, we can find solutions to complex problems.")
In this age of abundant information and connected networks, it is more important for teachers to ask the right questions - rather than having all of the right answers. The pressure to be the expert in the classroom is removed when teachers shift the responsibility of learning to the students, and their networks.  Once teachers assume the role of lead learner in the classroom, "I don't know" can be the spark that prompts a cooperative investigation to develop essential learning dispositions, collaborative research skills, and meaningful, helpful solutions to authentic problems stemming from those high quality questions mentioned previously.

Maybe my brother and I weren't brain damaged after all.  Maybe we were just too advanced for our own good.  "I don't know"

Related Reading



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Teachers Can Learn From Effective Coaches

In my educational world teaching and coaching involve the same processes. The people that impacted my own learning most significantly were coaches. Could it be that great coaches were ahead of their time with respects to instructional best practices? Let's take a look at ten coaching practices that thankfully have found their way into the classroom. http://www.coachwooden.com/files/PyramidThinkingSuccess.jpg Standards-based Grading - coaches aren't concerned with arbitrary measures of success such as letter grades. Great coaches identify a requisite set of skills that are necessary for advancement and success. Promotion and achievement are based upon clearly identified levels of skill mastery.  Authentic assessment - coaches are looking for their athletes to demonstrate their skill mastery under game-like situations. The best coaches incorporate game simulations and competitive, game-like drills into their practices. Winning coaches will use the contests as assess
Post a Comment
Read more

Board Games in the School Library: 3 Reasons Why It's a Winning Play

"Play is the highest form of research."  - Albert Einstein “Play is the work of the child.”  – Maria Montessori In our recently remodeled school media center, we have a space dedicated to active engagement in fun learning activities. Part maker space, part literacy lounge, board games are being incorporated to promote a culture of joyful learning. Whether it's a game of Rummy , Yahtzee , or Scrabble , family game night serves as a communication elixir and solidifies our domestic climate of togetherness. Shouldn't similar opportunities for interaction, challenge, and fun exist somewhere in our schools? Broken families, cultural fragmentation, and poverty are impacting opportunities for children to play. As we unpacked and tagged our new media center games, I was more disappointed than shocked by the number of students who had never played Monopoly , Boggle , or Sorry . One skeptical teacher commented, "Oh great, now we're letting students pl
2 comments
Read more

Self-Directed vs. Self-Determined Learning; What's the Difference?

"We need to move beyond the idea that an education is something that is provided for us, and toward the idea that an education is something that we create for ourselves." - Stephen Downes In this age of abundance of information, shifting classroom pedagogy isn't nearly enough to make learning in school more relevant and authentic for the learner. Self-directed learning ( andragogy ), and self-determined learning ( heutagogy ) are the ideals necessary in making students " future ready " to live and learn in a web-connected world. While original research applied these concepts to mature learners, it has become apparent that even young children have an abundant capacity for recognizing and directing their learning. Anyone who has observed toddlers learning how to walk and talk understand the motivation and skill development that quickly develops during these processes. Considered by some to be on a learning continuum, self-directed learning, and self-determined
Post a Comment
Read more