The Guessing Habit

Sometimes it happens that a bright, creative child fails to acquire basic skills in reading and/or math right away in kindergarten and first grade. The child starts to give the first answer that pops into the head without doing any thinking. Since the student then falls behind, a parent, volunteer, assistant teacher, or unwary tutor often begin to "help". The bright and creative child then learns a multiplicity of subtle ways to get the adult to give the answers. One of those ways is to say possible answers until the adult indicates that one of them is correct. Another way to get the answer without really thinking is to wait until the adult gives enough clues to make guessing easy. Now, in this learning situation as in previous ones, the student has escaped from having to do any thinking, and the devastating Guessing Habit has begun to grow.

Guessing escalates anxiety in both the student and in the adult. The student gives the right answer one minute and the wrong answer the next minute to the same question! Self-confidence erodes in the student, and the adult becomes frustrated. Every time the student tries to learn something in an area of weakness where the Guessing Habit has taken root, anxiety paralyzes thinking, the student guesses again, and skills get weaker. Eliminating the Guessing Habit is akin to getting rid of a tree that has taken root in a flower garden, but it can be done.

One technique for eliminating guessing is to give clues to make the answer easy when presenting the question. If the student gives the correct answer on the first try, gradually give less clues to similar questions until the student can answer independently. Always praise the student for giving the right answer the first time without help.

Another way to interfere with guessing is to insist upon a certain number of answers correct the first time before stopping the lesson. Each time an answer is correct the first time make a tally mark where the child can see it. Usually the number of correct answers insisted upon is between one and five, depending upon how difficult the material is for the student. It is important to keep giving examples of the missed question until the child can answer correctly. When the student sees that the lesson doesn't end until a correct answer is forthcoming it's amazing sometimes how quickly the student can learn to respond without guessing.

Fast and frequent feedback about the rightness or wrongness of answers, especially on tests, tends to control guessing. Guessers like to fool themselves into thinking that their answers are right.

The most important step to eliminate guessing is to give the student enough supervised practice in the area of weakness to make guessing unnecessary. Any student under pressure who doesn't know the material will resort to guessing.

Guessing is no fun. Thinking and really knowing the answer is very rewarding. When students get turned on to that reward there's no stopping their progress.

What do you think? What are your experiences? Do you have questions about this article? Please contact me at newskill7@msn.com. Happy teaching.

Mary Sue Laing, M.Ed.
Resource Teacher, St. Ambrose School

by Mary Sue Laing, M. Ed., New Skill, Inc. Academic Tutor