"I'm Confused"

Just two little words, but oh how I've grown to hate them.

Lately I've been pushing my IB juniors to do more problem solving without me, which causes a chorus of "I'm confused."  I think what drives me so crazy about the phrase is the inherent "I don't immediately understand so I want you to tell me how to do it."  I've tried to explain that being confused in math is okay and that not every problem will have an immediately obvious solution.  I've explained that my goal is to give them the tools that they need and then let them solve the problems.  In fact most of them do eventually solve every problem that I throw at them.  However, some students are just extremely uncomfortable with not knowing how to do something.  I need to keep in mind that these students have never before been pushed in this way and hopefully they will gain more confidence as the year goes along.

In the meantime I should teach them a new phrase.  I think "I'm pondering possibilities" has a nice ring to it.