It is not at all uncommon to see the following anxiety expressed by a new instructor:
My job is to have the answer to every single question that could possibly come up in class today; if I don’t, I’m not doing my job properly, I will immediately forfeit all authority in the classroom, and it will be further proof that I’m a fraud. Not knowing is not an option.
Before we go any further: knowing everything is not your job, admitting that you don’t know something is not going to cause your students to lose all respect for you, and you’re not a fraud. (I [probably] don’t know you personally, but I don’t care. You’re not a fraud. If I do know you personally? Hi. You’re not a fraud either.)
It’s probably obvious at this point what I’m going to tell you: having the answer to every possible question is not a realistic expectation. I’m also going to tell you that this expectation is harmful to both you and your students.
So what happens, then, when you don’t have that answer? The most common impulse seems to be to make an educated guess, but to present it authoritatively. You are, admittedly, likely to be right – you’ve got at least one degree in the subject, after all – and this way, you preserve the image of the infallible fountain of knowledge that your students surely expect you to be.
But there are downsides to this ‘solution’ – if you were wrong, you either (1) potentially undermine the authority you’ve been trying so hard to preserve by either later correcting yourself or (the horror) being corrected by one of the other students, or (2) have allowed your student to walk away with incorrect information (a far more grievous result). If you were right? No offense, but you essentially got lucky. And that’s not sustainable – toss that die enough times and you’ll eventually roll a 1.
So what do you do, then, if you’re not guessing? I’d say that the only acceptable response in this situation is to say you don’t know. Depending on the specific situation, you can follow up in one of two ways:
1) Tell them you’ll get back to them with the answer. This way, you guarantee that they get the correct information. You also demonstrate your reliability – you said you were going to do something, and you did. Now the next time they have a question, they’ll remember that they can rely on you to get them the information. You’ve established authority, you’ve shown your capability as a researcher, you’ve demonstrated your trustworthiness, and you’ve found out the correct answer (for both your own knowledge as well as the student’s). Victory!
2) If you’ve got the time (and the classroom allows it), throw your computer screen up onto the projector and show your students how to find the answer! Did they ask what a word meant? Find a dictionary and look it up! Did they ask about a historical event? Show them how to find a reliable source that can provide the answer! While other instructors might have just given them the answer and left it at that (boring), you gave them the answer AND taught them how to find similar answers one their own in the future! Two teaching victories for the price of one!
I know that it’s scary to admit to your students that you don’t know everything. But doing this allows you to encourage their curiosity (“huh, that’s a good question. I’ve never thought of that”), and can help them feel more comfortable asking questions in the future (“if ___ was able to admit to not knowing something, so can I!”). If Socrates can admit to knowing nothing, you can too.
-David Welch
Classics Teaching 