Quote:
Originally Posted by Dark of the Moon
Five minutes. It would have taken the teacher five minutes to answer the student's question. Instead of doing that, she shut him down completely. Care to guess whether he ever asked a question in that class again? If you're OK with that, fine. I'm not.
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Perhaps it wasn't a 5 minute answer or it was too far off topic. I will shut down questions I can't work into the lesson even if they take only 5 minutes to answer. Why? Because it takes 10 minute to get the class back on track after the side trip to nowhere useful. Another possibility is the teacher didn't know the answer. She may not have prepared for that question. (I had a student ask me why a particular periodic trend deviates in the 5th period and I had to tell her I'd research it and get back to her because I wasn't sure of the answer. I never did find a good answer. Just possibilities. In chemistry we learn the rules and then deal with the exceptions to the rules.) Or, it was a particularly disruptive day. Sometimes, I can't take questions because the class can't deal with the side trip. You have to remember there are 29 other students in that room the teacher has to be concerned with. Even if a question is interesting, I will often not allow them to derail class in my lower classes. In my upper classes, I'll, usually, answer them as I can get those kids back on track faster.
Ideally, I'd use the question to teach the lesson but this often doesn't happen in my higher classes (it happens all the time in my lower classes because their questions often pertain to how the lesson applies to life because if they're listening, they actually try to relate the material to their lives (why my upper kids don't seem to do this is a mystery) - for example, I taught a lesson on heat transfer through solids, liquids and gases using the question "Is it better to take your clothes off after falling through the ice or should you leave them on? - of course I had to have them repeat the word "Naked" until the thrill wore off first...
) It worked because the question really was related to the material. How fast a body cools in cold water, cold air or up against ice. Sometimes, however, the question is really an attempt to derail the class.
What I am against is spending more time on one topic at the expense of another. That does a disservice to the kids who will be expected to know both of them not just the one they found interesting.
Out of curiosity, what was the question the teacher refused to answer? And did your son take the time to find that answer or did he give up because someone didn't hand it to him? I have been known to assing a question to a student for extra credit if it's a good one.
This really isn't about one question as I'm sure you know. 5 minutes for one question is one thing. 5 minutes for questions every class period means you loose a class period every 10 days to side questions. The sad thing is we want our kids questioning but time is a factor. Kids will be expected to know all of the content we are supposed to teach not just part. If we teach only part, we cheat them all. Perhaps, the teacher simply felt that moving on was the better option at that time. Or perhaps you only got half of the story. As they say, there are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the truth. You heard your son's. Did you hear the teacher's?
Sometimes, questions are a way to disrupt class (and the student will say "I was JUST asking a question"). Sometimes, they're a way to get attention of peers. Sometimes, they're so far out in left field the entire class can't go there and will disengage if you try to answer that question in class. Also, the class has a tendency to tune out if a question isn't going to be on the test. That can make getting back on track difficult. I have had students I have asked to save their questions for after class or after school for this reason. One thing you have to remember is that teacher has to do what is best for the CLASS and sometimes that isn't what is best for your child. That's just a reality of teaching groups of 30 or more at one time.
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