Cross-content wish-list

What I wish my students learned before coming to my class is to try out things, and to think independently. Unless I show students exact example, they do not know how to solve problems. They do not even try. In my study skills development class, if I give the students a handout with exact explanation how to do something, they do not read it, and just tell me “I do not get it”. And, honestly, I am getting a little tired of that response. If they at least tried! Always everything was presented to my students in a straight-forward way, and it seems like they did not have to use their brains at all to figure out new things. Maybe I am expecting too much from the 7th graders that I teach, but I do not think so. So slowly, we are all learning how to deal with this issue – some of the students are starting to try out new ways of solving problems (really, only very few…), and I am learning how to present problems to them so that they have a chance to solve them but still have to try. Teaching 7th grade math would be much easier if the students learned in previous years how to try something out and see if it works, if they learned how to think independently. This could be done in any subjects, from math to English language, social studies, are, etc…