Should I take your word for it?

One of the shortest yet most complicated question that arises within a mathematics classroom is...wait for it.."Why..?" We can all relate to this situation whether it be that we are the one asking the question or if we are the one being asked the question. It is noted that everyone is different in their own unique and positive way. Not all teachers are going to be the same. Not all students are going to be the same. We must be able to adapt while interacting with others especially in close quarters such as classrooms that we will be spending a rather large amount of time together. With each and every person being unique in their own way that must mean that we all learn and teach in our own unique way. There may be similar patterns between people but overall, it is not all that concrete. So I ask the question, are we answering these, "Why..?," questions appropriately?  Pertaining to all loaded questions such as these, there are a multitude of answers. Included in this blogpost are my own experiences and personal thoughts in regard to these loaded questions. 

There are many different ways of learning where teaching is only one of them. Growing up my mother was a teacher even at our home. However, not much teaching went on. I was pushed to find my own answers when I had questions. This method was soon engraved within me. When I had a question at school that my teacher had a hard time answering in front of the whole classroom leading to finally being told to just believe them about it, I did further investigation. I made it my goal to find a better answer than that. Another benefit to the act of finding answers on my own without it being spelled out to me was the fact that this kind of learning sticks with you for longer and is more in depth when finding it on your own typically. The desire to actually want to learn about certain concepts to make my understanding more clear and concise pushed me in the direction to want the same thing for my students. 

Having the ability to experiment with their questions allows students to be more involved in their learning. This makes them want to learn and they will retain information without them even realizing! Teachers should all be on the same page in regard to the fact that the objective of education is learning, not teaching. When we are questioned about the concepts and ideas that we are teaching to our students, we should have a firm grasp on said concepts/ideas. Did we just gain this understanding by listening to lectures, or do we find time to investigate these on our own to deeper our understanding? The latter should be the answer 10 out of 10 times. The other part of this is the goal of being able to have the student follow our explanations and leave the classroom knowing more than they did before entering. Their understanding should be enriched so that they are able to go out and investigate more on their own or even teach another peer about the concept/idea. This does entail effort for the teacher to be able to manipulate their own understanding so that the student is able to grasp what the teacher is trying to relay to them. That should be our ultimate goal: to ensure that all of our students enhance and enrich their understanding and comprehension of the concepts that we teach.

So, the next time that a student or peer ask you that loaded question, "Why..?," take a moment to fully digest the situation. If you don't have enough background knowledge of the concept to teach to it in a different way, come back to it at a different time after you learn even more. Because that is the point of education right? Education is for learning, not teaching. For everyone.