Recently, we’ve been learning about different types of questions and ways that we can use questioning in our teaching. I particularly liked an idea in one of the handouts: teachers need not have the answers to all of students’ questions right away. The teacher can let the student know that they will research the answer to the question and come back with an answer. This shows the student that the teacher is still learning, too.
I really liked this idea of modeling how we learn and discover new things. This also connects, in my mind, to self-directed learning: if a student is wondering about something, it’s great for that student to know that s/he can go and find that answer. In the case of the particular question that the teacher didn’t know, yes, that student will probably wait to find out the answer directly from the teacher. But I think it plants the idea that we can all continue learning and growing independently, and it feels like a critical point for me as a teacher to get across: knowledge acquisition does not end when a person graduates!
In the future, I hope to be able to keep all this in mind. It’s okay not to know the answers, but it’s not okay to disregard my own ignorance when I have a chance to model this part of the learning process for my students.
