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It’s time to kick the IDK bucket

Students say “I don’t know” all too often, and some teachers call them out for doing so. Now, we can kick the IDK bucket. Connie Hamilton explains in this excerpt from Hacking Questions: 11 Answers That Create a Culture of Inquiry in Your Classroom.

The Problem: Students use “I don’t know” responses as a way out

No matter the reason, IDK answers are a problem in the classroom. Accepting them as responses only magnifies the problem. Students learn that if they wish to avoid effort or risk, the ticket is “I don’t know.”

Sometimes these words are stated explicitly. Other times, they offer dead silence, leaving the teacher wondering what to do next. Wait it out? Move on to someone else? Offer a hint?

What makes this problem even more complex is that we are often unsure of why students are unwilling to take a risk and engage in thought.

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Some are so automatic in their responses that we wonder if they really do not know how to respond, or are just shy, or are actively disengaged. Matching our reaction to the reasoning behind a student’s IDK allows us to react appropriately—and control who is holding that cognitive baton.

The Hack: Kick the IDK bucket

We set ourselves up to kick the IDK bucket by identifying the root cause for the “I don’t know” response. You see, we cannot assume that IDK means the student really does not know something.

Sure, that’s a potential trigger, but it isn’t the only one. Each reason has a different solution.

Creating a classroom where students feel safe about taking risks doesn’t happen without purposeful efforts by the teacher to create the culture.

The careful pairing of problems with counteractions will send the IDK bucket to the graveyard. Picture a cognitive baton. Your key to reducing the number of IDKs in your classroom is to keep the cognitive baton in the student’s possession. The person holding the cognitive baton is the person doing the most mental work.

Why are the students trying to rid themselves of the cognitive baton? One reason is that many students have come to believe that the game of school is about knowing answers. The narrative on this must change.

Students do not have to know the answers. They just cannot be satisfied with not knowing them. In short, IDK should be a rise to action, not an end result. We need to see this as a starting point, rather than a final answer.

There are bound to be underlying reasons why they are unwilling to take a chance. “I don’t know” is safe from the risk of being wrong. It does not require vulnerability. It does not draw the spotlight. No easy, one-size-fits-all answer exists here.

Facing an IDK situation does not trigger one specific formulaic procedure for overcoming it. We have to consider multiple reasons why a student might be avoiding answering or giving a wrong answer.

When students can identify the root cause of their IDK, and find a way around it, they are one step closer to removing the barriers that are delaying their understanding.

Creating a classroom where students feel safe about taking risks doesn’t happen without purposeful efforts by the teacher to create the culture. How we respond to students when they don’t know an answer says a lot about whether we value learning . . . or just the right answer.

Accessing the student’s reasoning for the IDK helps the teacher determine whether the student lacks confidence, was disengaged, has a misconception, or is really lost on a particular concept.

What You Can Do Tomorrow

Use a physical object as your cognitive baton. Use a ball, stuffed animal, or actual baton to designate a speaker. I use an actual cognitive baton or a think stick. Having students hold an object when they have the floor provides a visual and kinesthetic reminder that it is their turn to contribute their thoughts.

Be ready with encouraging responses that keep the baton in their hands. If a student gives an IDK, use these prompts to help organize the student’s thinking. Do not dummy down a question or begin to answer it for the student. Keep these IDK bucket-kicker questions prepped and ready:

  • What would you say if you did know?
  • What can you rule out?
  • What are you thinking so far?
  • Think aloud. Let us hear what your brain is processing.
  • Tell us what parts you’re sure of and what parts you’re still working through.
  • What part has you stuck?

Invite students to qualify their thoughts. You can hear a lack of confidence in a student’s words. In these cases, students use IDK to avoid committing to an answer they aren’t sure about. When you suspect a student is reticent to reply, instead of affirming or redirecting the answers, encourage qualifiers like:

  • Right now, I’m thinking . . .
  • Based on the little bit I know currently . . .
  • I might change my mind later, but here’s where I am now . . .
  • I’m still thinking this through . . .
  • I’m not exactly sure, so let me take a shot at it . . .

Seek qualifiers instead of commitments. Perfectionists live within our classroom walls. These students have the most trouble committing to their answers because they are still wrestling with the notion that it is acceptable not to know. These students can be 95-percent confident in their thinking and still offer an IDK in place of taking a risk. An answer for these students is to create a mathematical win-win. Ask them to estimate the likelihood that their response is correct. Encourage them to share their thinking, and leave the door open for it to be wrong by quantifying it.

Allow questions as responses. Rather than demanding an answer, invite students to share questions they have about a question. This gives them a chance to gain clarity and deepen knowledge through effective questioning.

Acknowledge students for their effort, not their answers. Praising learners for correct answers can discourage students from taking risks. Many students use this praise to define themselves. They personalize correct/incorrect answers in a way that supports a fixed mindset that they either are smart or not smart…. Effort, persistence, creative thinking, problem-solving, and reflection are all traits that will serve students long past knowing the answer to question number four.

Learn More

Read the entire hack in Hacking Questions

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Browse the archive and subscribe to the show at HackLearningPodcast.com

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Browse our collection of books for teachers and school leaders here.

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    Are Teachers Doing Enough for Gen Alpha?

    Are you teaching Generation Alpha with Baby Boomer content? Educators are faced with new challenges from the generation that may live into the 22nd century. How can teachers cope?

    Here’s what Michael Fisher and Elizabeth Fisher, authors of Hacking Instructional Design, say about planning for the future, so we can better meet the needs of Gen Alpha.

    The Problem: Contemporary Students Aren’t Interested in Traditional Constructs

    Depending on when you open this book for the first time, at least eighteen years have gone by since the beginning of the 21st century. Eight years ago, we saw the ending of Generation Z, those children who were born between 1995 and 2010. They are now in our classrooms and have been for some time. Since 2010, more than thirty million more children have been born, and they represent a brand-new generation: Generation Alpha.

    Gen Alpha is also known as the Global Generation or Generation Glass. They will be the most technologically literate generation in all human history. These are the children of Gen Xers and Millennials and they will live into the 22nd century.

    What this generation can do with technology will be mind-blowing, but many will lack skills like persistence and the ability to manage impulsivities.

    The problem is that we haven’t let go of the past. These Alphas are already in our classrooms, albeit at younger grade levels, and we’re still working to get where we should have been a decade ago. We are preparing for Generation Alpha while still considering Generation Z’s needs, while using Generation X’s resources, and Baby Boomer’s content.

    It boggles our minds when we walk into schools where they tout their readiness for the 21st century. We’re almost 20 years in … and readiness should have happened already!

    The Hack: Create an Alpha-Balanced Curriculum

    The people in the Alpha Generation, as a function of the world they were born into, are going to have very specific needs. Teachers will need to examine their curricula for opportunities to engage this generation of learners, and this includes all access to everything all the time. No more computer lab Thursdays. No more coming to school just to receive knowledge and information. No more limitations on what if or what’s next.

    Gen Alpha will also insist on being entrepreneurial. Think back to the Hack on Context. This is where the rubber meets the road for Gen Alphas. They will want to learn, apply, and create in many learning situations where the creation or the deliverable is relevant to other audiences—and specifically paying audiences. They will want to create content of substance and worth that they can share with the world, not just turn in to the teacher.

    Generation Alpha will increasingly need to see a high degree of equilibrium between their worlds outside of school and how they interact and learn inside of school.

    This generation is perfectly at home online. In fact, even the youngest members are already fluent in a multitude of devices and can search by voice for just about anything they want, from making slime to finding out how to play a new game or discovering the quickest way to clean something up that they don’t want Mom or Dad to find first.

    Let us reiterate here: these Gen Alphas don’t need to know how to read to begin searching digital devices. Traditional print literacy is no longer the main literacy entry point. (It’s still super important, though!)

    Gen Alphas, while a well-connected generation, will not necessarily have the same social skills as previous generations. They are comfortable and will seek out online interactors—at the expense of physical/live human interactions. Because of this, teachers will need to be cognizant of soft skills like the Habits of Mind, as well as what Michael Fullan and Andy Hargreaves describe as social and human capital.

    The planned curriculum for these students should be in balance with these needs. Teachers need to care about the world their students are currently living in and the world they will graduate into. Knowing the above, in partnership with existing instructional practices, creates a contemporary curriculum that is inclusive of Generation Alpha’s needs and the responsibilities of the teacher.

    What we’ve done up until now in education has worked for the majority of students. However, those methods and practices will wane in effectiveness as time moves forward.

    What You Can Do Tomorrow

    • Plan for 24/7 access across multiple devices. Teachers will need to be more considerate of skills rather than content. The What is out there already. The How and the Why are still critically important. Devices are a requirement in the classroom, just as paper or pencils or chairs are choice items. Contemporary learners need experiences with all these materials, including different types of devices that allow for different functions: tablets for portability, and laptops and desktops for more powerful research, writing, and product-making. Note that we are not suggesting they should be on the device 24/7, just that those devices must be available when needed. Start planning for a way to make this happen.
    • Plan to create products of value. Teachers will need to consider learning outcomes where students can demonstrate learning in innovative and creative ways. Students will want to create these demonstrations of learning for a much wider audience (see the Hack on Ultima Thule) and perhaps for a chance to make money or a difference.
    • Start collaborating when thinking critically and creatively. Teachers will need to provide opportunities for digital interactions, virtual connections, making, prototyping, gaming, video production, virtual destinations, coding, and more! All of these “hot” activities in education boil down to decisions that children make and the outcomes or consequences of those decisions. These different opportunities invite students to be metacognitive, high-level thinkers who reflect on their decisions and choose more wisely.
    • Plan to teach more soft skills. What this generation can do with technology will be mind-blowing, but many will lack skills like persistence and the ability to manage impulsivities—dispositions that are focal points in the previously mentioned Habits of Mind. With everything available all the time, students develop habits that keep them from exploring and discovering. Alexa and Siri are only going to help students to a point, and then students need to navigate learning, communication, and collaboration in ways that technology is currently eroding in human interactions. Be prepared to help them with these skills so they can move forward into the world purposefully and successfully.

    Final Thoughts

    Generation Alpha, and by extension, Millennials and Generation Z, will increasingly need to see a high degree of equilibrium between their worlds outside of school and how they interact and learn inside of school.

    Learn More

    Find 32 more Extraordinary Ways to Create a Contemporary Curriculum.

    Listen More

    Browse the archive and subscribe to the show at HackLearningPodcast.com

    Read More

    Browse our collection of books for teachers and school leaders here.