Teacherscribe's Teaching Thought #16

Teaching Thought #16

In prepping for my UND Teaching and Learning 250 class a few years ago, I came across this interesting read, Ten Things Teachers Should Unlearn – I revisit it before every school year.

First thing teachers should unlearn: Teachers know all the answers

John Merrow, in his book The Impact of Teachers, points at the folly of this, for any kid with a laptop or smartphone has access to far more information than we can ever hope to memorize and present to them.

This is a hold-over from the old days of a “Sage on the Stage.”  I tell my students upfront that I don’t know all the answers, but I’m willing to find them.  This is so true when we do our final research paper in College Comp.  MLA it seems is forever changing their requirements for their papers, especially works cited.  So when I model my works cited, I show students how I go to knightcite or owl at Purdue and rummage around to find the correct works cited citations.  I don’t have that format committed to memory anymore, and I’m fine with that.  The key is to show students how we can look for the answers.  Then the real work begins for students have to know that they simply can’t accept the very first answer they stumble upon.