Never Say Anything A Kid Can Say Summary

Problem Solving Essay

In the article “Never Say Anything a Kid Can Say!” Steven C. Reinhart shares his struggle of finding the fundamental flaw that existed in his teaching methods. He is a great teacher, explained mathematics well, he was dedicated and caring, but his students were not learning and with low achievement results, Reinhart had to question his teaching methods. He began to challenge himself. He committed to change 10% of teaching each year and over many years he was able to change his traditional methods of instruction to more of a student-centered problem-based approach. This article promotes students to engage through the use of questioning.

Problem solving is the process of following a series of steps to obtain the solution

to a problem (Fritzer & Ridener, 2004) and questioning lets students clarify their own thinking, it is means for discovery. How do these two relate? Well, questioning is a big part in problem solving, in order to understand the problem students must comprehend the information that has been given to them, they must recognize what information is missing. Reinhart uses questioning strategies to get the students to teach themselves and their peers. Once they understand the problem, they can create a plan, solve and review. Through this process we use questioning. I understand that this sort of teaching method approach can make students feel uncomfortable, however Reinhart applied a few questioning strategies that supported students to be actively involved and feel content sharing their concepts, they were to ask good questions, encourage to use open ended questions, and to be patient. Giving students the time to process their information can be very useful, Reinhart thought it was significant to permit enough time for a student to think their thoughts through in order to get an answer. The authors position focuses on helping students determine a full understanding of the problem by asking questions.
I agree with the authors’ position; I think questioning is essential in any classroom but I do think it depends on the teacher and students. This article gave examples on ways to promote discussion through small groups, large groups, and pairing. I thought the think-pair-share strategy is brilliant, along with participation is not optional. The students must all contribute to the discussion, by making students accept the responsibility of their own knowledge makes learning more pleasant for them.