Do your students ever leave the classroom with more questions than they came in with? Do they ever seem perplexed by what they have just experienced? (No, I am not referring to the outcome of a disorderly classroom or a poorly taught, confusing lesson.) In fact, this apparent perplexity in your students might be a sign that something very significant is happening in the students’ heads and hearts. Here are some good words for teachers from Dr. Howard Hendricks:
Never forget that your task is to develop people who are self-directed, who are disciplined, who do what they do because they choose to do it. That’s why I suggest you spend more time questioning answers than answering questions. Our job is not to give quick-and-easy answers, patent-medicine solutions that never work in the realities of life. It’s far, far better to have students leave your class scratching their heads with questions they think and talk about, and with problems they’re eager to find solutions for in the week ahead.
Then you know you’ve got some education going on…be assured that it takes work to get people to work.
(From “Teaching to Change Lives—Seven Proven Ways to Make Your Teaching Come Alive,” copyright©1987, page 48)
