Education

Outlawing Fear

By Brian Freedman — September 10, 2007 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Tired of hearing students answer your questions with the infamous “I don’t know?” CaliforniaTeacherGuy is -- and he thinks it stems from the students’ fear of making a mistake, not because they don’t know.

It’s OK to make mistakes. That’s how we learn. Some of my biggest mistakes have proved to be some of my most important learning experiences.

To combat this problem, CaliforniaTeacherGuy has outlawed the phrase “I don’t know” and replaced it with “I’m not sure but I think...” to challenge his students to voice their opinion.

It's OK not to be sure, but it is not OK not to think.

A version of this news article first appeared in the Blogboard blog.