Tonight I had a session that really helped me. I was in a really good session. The question was on momentum, and for the first time in a couple of weeks, I was dead sure of where to go. Unfortunately, the student was rather unresponsive. Every 10 minutes or so, he would say "So, what do I do?" First, this in annoying to me since it really comes down to mean "So, tell me the answer!" Besides that, I was in the middle of showing him what to do. Ok, venting done...
After the session, I began thinking about why he didn't understand what I was doing. Then I realized that I had an advantage he didn't: I knew where I was going and how to get there. So, perhaps in our teaching, it would be wise to say:
1. Here's the problem...
2. Here's what we have and what we need...
3. HERE'S HOW WE'RE GOING TO GET THERE...
If the student has a basic outline of the procedure, then he'll be able to follow along 100 times better than before.
