The Australian Dictionary of Invisible Culture for Teachers
when to get the teacher’s attention
attitude: some people can think like this (see more)
Many teachers in Australia think like this:
If a student thinks “I don’t know something”, it is good if they can say it.
It is good if they can say it when it is like this: This student doesn’t know something. This student doesn’t know how to do it (this something). This student doesn’t know how to think about it. This student wants to know how to do it. This student wants to know how to think about it. This student did something to know it. After this, this student doesn’t know it.
It is not good if they say it when it is like this: This student doesn’t know something, they want to know it. This student doesn’t want to know how to do it. This student doesn’t want to know how to think about it. This student didn’t do something to know it.
Note
This entry focuses on the knowledge type of questions from students, of course, there are many other kinds of questions which students ask, but the same kind of duality can be used for other situations. By including both the 'it is good if' and 'it is bad if' components, it is possible to see the clear ends of the spectrum, while allowing for variation in the middle to be guided by the clear cases. 'It is not good' is not the same thing as 'it is bad'. Thus, the last line does not imply that 'the teacher will think something bad about the student', just that it is not good like the third line."It is not good if someone says something like 'Miss! I need more paper!'"
"It is good if a student says soemthing like 'Excuse me Miss, I've tried to do the work, but I don't think I understand it. Could you explain it again for me?'"
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