On: How to help a programming student get unstuck

[civilized]

I had a teacher in high school who played the mysterious guru game. Instead of answering questions, he would say nothing and smile kind of creepily.

He was good, but his mysterious guru bit wasn't why he was good, and he should have dropped it.

All this to say, yes, explaining why you're doing things as a teacher is better than just doing them and mystifying people.