By Dr. Glen Coleman
Today’s news can be overwhelming. The election, global warming and artificial intelligence (AI) are subjects that can cause alarm or fear. They can make anyone feel powerless, including us and our students. But we can use those feelings as an impetus to rethink basic assumptions on teaching. Doing so will help us become more engaged in safeguarding our sanity and upholding our profession.
Here are four outside-the-box aphorisms, questions or prompts to encourage you to rethink and thrive in today’s classroom:
- Learning starts at the quadriceps.
- Make Mount Everest your goal.
- Community is key.
- The most interesting thing in the world is you.
Learning starts at the quadriceps
Consider that learning starts from the quads, not the brain alone. If you find your students’ attention spans lagging, consider a game of “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” because if we move our bodies, we’ll be more fully awake to learn.
Consider that people can’t fall asleep while standing up, that perhaps our best conversations could take place with students on their feet and in small groups without notebooks, talking to each other without distraction. One thing would be certain: everyone would be awake.
Consider bringing your students to the front of the classroom to investigate what is projected on the screen: stand up close to a work of art, a map or a scientific equation without a notebook or computer. Hold a conversation there, as though you’re at a museum, analyzing an election map; marveling at Picasso’s Guernica; or appreciating The Gettysburg Address—all up close.
Experiment with teaching only from the back of the classroom. Put students front and center. What would that look like? Could they debate an idea? Could they impersonate a character and put on a “one act” play? Could they lead their own class discussion?
Consider the power of breathing to inspire your students. Exhale more slowly than you inhale, and your pulse will slow down; or vice versa. To slow down in our anxious age, practice mindful breathing by exhaling slowly. Try a “slowest pulse contest” in class by practicing slow exhalations.
Consider the power of sunlight to awaken the mind. Indoor lighting is a snore. Sunlight is majestic. Perhaps sunlight can illuminate our learning space so as to awaken students to different points of view and renew their feelings of possibility. After all, as most students spend hours each day on their phones, a brief walk outside with your students could prove energizing.
Make Mount Everest your goal
Imagine giving students a difficult test at the beginning of a unit but avail them of numerous opportunities to retake until mastery. Imagine they work together to master it. Because the test is hard, they will make mistakes. Because they can try again, they can master the material at their own pace. Because most students will have mastered the basics, they can now make something new with what they learned—a project, an essay, a skit, a speech. These projects could fully engage the whole child.
Imagine availing students of two opportunities to deliver compelling speeches with no notes. The first time, give them permission to speak their most awkward, their most honest and vulnerable. Peers would then give each other feedback to improve for their second attempt. On their second attempt, students try again to hit it out of the park. This could demystify one of the most fearful tasks of all: public speaking.
Community is key
Imagine asking “How are you?” and daring to listen as a superpower to forge community.
Imagine listening as a hack for classroom management. Ask students who don’t usually talk to each other to hold a five-minute conversation. Ask them to learn something new about each other. You may try to make some good starter questions or find some useful questions through a search on the internet or through AI. Some examples:
- What would constitute a perfect day for you?
- For what in your life do you feel most grateful?
- What do you most value in a friendship and why?
These brief activities—perhaps done on a weekly basis—could help bring students into a greater sense of community.
Imagine the power of a joke book aimed at 3-year-olds as a seminal text to bring joy to your classroom. Imagine rattling off a few knock-knock jokes at the beginning of class—or have your students do so—to get students relaxed, engaged and happy to be there. Wouldn’t beginning the day with a smile make everyone’s day better?
Imagine expanding our perceptions of strength and leadership. Imagine that it is more than macho, hard, rough or stoic; it is also feminine, caring and compassionate. Perhaps ask students what leadership means to them. Then compare those traits to those exemplified by today’s leaders or historical figures such as Gandhi, King or Mother Theresa.
The most interesting thing in the world is you
Experiment with this premise: the most interesting thing in the world is you. When we infuse students’ interests into the courses we teach, students will find relevance in their lives. But take it a step further. Ask students to express their interests through the lens of what you teach.
So, experiment with the prompts below. Here are some brainstorms:
Students, reframe Shakespeare’s famous soliloquy, “To be or not to be.” Model Shakespeare’s structure—such as his rhythm and rhyme scheme, or tone—but inform it with your passions, interests or concerns.
Students, show how algebra (or whatever course you teach) is seen in everyday life. Describe the variables and create the equation that helps you express your insight.
Students, analyze current events through the lens of Abraham Lincoln (or any person or character you’re teaching). What would Lincoln say?
Appreciate that “What do you think?” is a heck of a question when we take time to listen to the answer.
Appreciate that your local community is a golden, untapped resource. By going local (i.e., learning from our neighbors), we sidestep the algorithms that have made our national conversations so toxic. And as students strengthen their interpersonal communication skills by having such conversations, our courses grow in relevance and engagement.
Appreciate that as our world gets ever more infused with AI, we must double down on deep, enduring questions: Who am I? What’s important? What is success? Who are my friends? How do I know?
Appreciate that grit is gold, that “oops” is the sound of learning, and that getting back up and trying again is perhaps the greatest lesson of all.
Appreciate that great music, comedy, art and literature transcend time, that BB King, Bach or Bacharach still resonate, Abbott and Costello are still funny, and Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith and Joni Mitchell still inspire. Great art is a lodestar in trying times. Why not share a masterpiece with your students?
In praise of divergent ideas in our age of disruption
We live in a time when a lot seems upside down. Let’s use it to make our classrooms right-side up, i.e., safe spaces to learn, grow, question and feel a sense of community. So consider new points of view, experiment with new ideas and appreciate the untapped resources that are all around us.
By doing so, we’ll help ourselves and the next generation better navigate today’s challenges.
Dr. Glen Coleman teaches social studies at River Dell High School and is the author of Teaching in the New Crazy: On Thriving in Overwhelming, Politicized and Complicated World. He can be reached at info@twominutestomastery.org.