One of my newer commenters, Jim Doherty, left this comment in reply to my Edutopia piece:

The key piece to me is the questioning piece. I think that I always hope that my actions will serve as a model for my students, but I realize more and more that I need to explicitly point out the behavior that I want the students to see. I need to be clear when I am questioning in a way that they can use themselves. I am good at this in one-on-one conferences, I need to be better when I am talking to a group of students.

That’s a big part of my classroom routine. Having kids think for themselves is something many of us wish we could achieve, and it’s still a work in progress for me. More often than not, it’s about making sure kids know we’re not going to give them an easy way out of their thinking. Thanks, Jim.

Mr. Vilson