Why thinking feels hard
Let’s be honest. Most of us have had that moment in class. You ask what feels like a good question. Something open-ended. Something that should get students thinking. Maybe, ‘Do you agree?’ or ‘Why do you think the writer said this?’ or ‘Whose point of view is missing here?’ And then what comes back is either silence, a very safe answer or something lifted almost word for word from the text.
It is tempting to think the problem is motivation. Or effort. Or that students just do not want to think deeply. But the . . .
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