Kid Can Say! Is to Identify Strategies

¶ … kid can say!" is to identify strategies that assist pedagogues in conveying information more clearly to their students so that they can comprehend more. This is a concept that the most prudent teachers consider and to which they devote a plethora of time, resources, and energy. Reinhart implies that the basis for his strategy for getting students to learn more implies a revolution of the conventional teaching model in which instructors state information and students internalize and regurgitate it. Instead, the author widely propagates a model in which teachers involve student participation and responsibility in their own learning by asking leading questions which ultimately get students to provide their own answers which helps them to learn more effectively.

The duration of this article consists of Reinhart's elucidation of various techniques which assist with the basic model that asking the right questions helps learners to comprehend classroom information and concepts better. Thus, the author (2000) believes that a good teacher should not state information that students can state when asked the proper questions (p. 480). He also believes that asking good questions enables students to participate in the learning process a lot more, which leads to greater enjoyment and efficacy in their ability to master concepts. Reinhart's idea is to get the students to explain things to the teacher, so that the latter can gauge how much the former knows and adjust his or her lesson plans accordingly. Implicit to this process is a copious amount of patience on the part of the pedagogue to refrain from simply giving answers to students, as well as to setup a classroom environment and rules which fosters participation and encourages young learners to share what they know.

The crux of Reinhart's method -- which is simply an application of the Socratic Method for young learners -- is active participation on the part of students. As such, the author illustrates a number of strategies for engaging students in the overall discussion and questioning and answering process. One of the ways that he advocates doing so is by allowing students an opportunity to work by themselves before working in pairs, and then presenting their results to the class in a collaborative discussion, which he abbreviates as the "think-pair-share strategy" (Reinhart, 2000, p. 482). The author also denotes ways to involve students by having them ask questions when they cannot successfully do a problem, and to ensure that individuals can account for the success of a group. Additional strategies for reducing the involvement of the teacher to mere question asking include not carrying a pencil and to enable students the opportunity to complete their work for themselves.