Reflection on Dave Hewitt's Approach to Teaching

I enjoyed watching the video last class that highlighted yet another different approach to teaching mathematics. Dave Hewitt's tactics are definitely interesting and attention grabbing. What has been described as the 'theatrical' teaching style proves to be effective in Hewitt's classroom since each student sits in rapt attention, unwilling to miss something as Hewitt seems to be fond of loud, unexpected sounds and antics.

However innovative this style may be, I was most impressed by Hewitt's consistency in not declaring a student's answer to be right or wrong. The genius of this is in the fact that he is not allowing his role as teacher to be reduced to "answer checker". In this way, he is encouraging the students' thought process to continue long after a question or problem is solved. "Traditionally", students race through problem after problem in their math homework, modeling a prescribed list of steps, and as long as the answer corresponds to that at the back of the book, they don't stop to consider what they've accomplished. Hewitt's inconclusive responses forces his students to reconsider all angles of the problem, verify that they've thoroughly understood the question and that their answer not only satisfies the requirements but also 'makes sense'. I expect that through this process, students are more inclined to take the time to not only come up with the algorithm themselves, but also to acquire a fuller understanding of the general topic.