People have different ways of learning. Regardless of learning style, we all take in new information and attach it to our pre-existing internal foundational base of related content. I refer to this process as anchoring.
We make connections, bridge gaps and eliminate potential discrepancies between newly acquiesced information and previously existing information in order to paint a picture in our minds that makes sense.
When one truly cares about learning wisdom of mind and body from another's expertise, and she wants to build an accurate internal picture including this new wisdom, sometimes clarification by the talker for the listener is needed. If the listener hears what the educator is teaching, but somehow there is an aspect of the material that doesn't make sense to the listener and/or something about the new material conflicts with the pre-established cognitive framework, the listener may ask questions for clarification such that proper anchoring can occur.
When a question is posed by the learner, it is important that the educator answer the exact question within the design and parameters asked for by the learner. If the educator doesn't stay within the contextual framework of the learner, he not only makes the learning process more difficult, but he may truncate the desire for integration of new content by the learner.
The educator's answer framed within the order and perspective of the learner may not make logical sense in terms of the educator's framework, but if the goal is maximizing learning potential for a student (of any kind), a perceived illogical question from the educator shouldn't matter. What should matter is filtering and funneling the information it in a way that will make sense to the person trying to understand the content.
Now that an ideal learning and teaching scenario has been established with respect to answering clarification questions that allows for anchoring and assimilatiion of new content, it is important to know that it is not uncommon for the educator to take the learner's specific question and spin or angle the answer such that it makes logical sense in the educator's mind.
Having been a teacher, and having had difficulties learning myself, when a teacher tries to be helpful by answering a student's question in a newly organised fashion from from the teacher's perspective, it is not only frustrating but the content is not absorbed and properly fitted.
Please stop trying to help be of more help by reframing questions through your lens. After you clarify the answer to the student from the student's perspective, a teacher may then ask the student to repeat what she has learned in order to make sure the points were properly acquiesced. If they haven't been, it may be helpful to try the teacher's perspective approach to answer the secondary questions.
I write using the words "teacher" and "student. "Please keep in mind that we are all in both of these roles at any given time.
One more teaching related practice that is important to keep in mind is: allowing for mistakes to be made. There is a process that happens within the brain following a mistake. Often, the brain will recognize a mistake shortly after it has been made. This recognition causes a pause in time and a space to reflect on what caused the mistake. By the second time for practice, the mistake will often have been corrected. By the third time, if the mistake hasn't been automatically corrected by the learner, the teacher can then go back and point out the problem. Sometimes it's is important for a student to get into motion without being continuously stopped so the negative frustration aspects of learning don't outweigh the enjoyment of the practice.
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