I have also noticed this with my daughter. We’ve always asked her how she knows something or how she figured it out. Now she begins to explain how she did it without us asking. She seems to take pride in her explanation as much as in the correct answer. It does a mom proud.

Robert: Do we need learners to need us as arbiters of correctness and truth?

Seems like they can get that anywhere, doesn’t it.

I feel the most useful to my classes when I can ask a question, receive their explanation of an answer, ask another question to illustrate a soft spot in their argument, and then put them in a position to self-correct. Those moments aren’t common for me.

The ‘think-pair-share’ strategy helps here – youngsters discuss their ideas with a partner first, before sharing with class. No teacher involvement until they have already vocalised their thinking.

It is much harder to get a ‘tell’ when you are communicating online. Maybe online learning has an edge here.

This whole issue is a symptom of “teacher as priest”. Do we need learners to need us as arbiters of correctness and truth?

http://numberwarrior.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/my-favorite-educational-psychology-experiment/

We got into wait time. Like, “don’t just answer your own question when there’s silence,” but nothing like this kind of utterly essential Jedi mind trick.

I’d like to trade notes on one point with both of you: it takes me a matter of months to rid most students of their dependence on my reaction for their response. Months. The process is much quicker than I’d imagine.

If they get too deer-in-the-headlights then sometimes I let them know that they have the right answer, I just want them to explain how they got there. But that’s a short-term fix for poor self-efficacy and risks turning into a new cue. (Revised student algorithm: answer, look scared when asked to explain, wait to see if you are told you’re correct.)