(A video tribute to Justin Bieber from Rebecca's younger siblings.)
As teachers we are repeatedly challenged to make our lessons exciting and capture the attention of our students. We are competing with Social Media and video games that allow children to experience constant and instant feedback, pseudo relationships and conversation, and fun in whatever capacity suits the child. In one PD session that I led, the pressure to make every single lesson 'super-exciting' was a source of true frustration. New teachers were feeling stress over how to create lessons that were filled with excitement and enthusiasm at every turn of the school-year. How can we compete with what children are accustomed to in Fortnite when we have fractions, Punnett Squares and proper grammar instead of New Skins and Flossing?
And so, this concept was my wrestling opponent throughout the summer. I spent a lot of time trying to pin down the reason behind the happiness of my students vs. my lesson planning. I thought I was defeated in this match as I moved through the summer without success in finding answers for these teachers. In looking at my lessons...lessons spanning all academic core areas...I tried to figure out what the secret was that kept my students happily walking through my classroom door. In perusing my plans it became clear that my lessons, while interspersed with out-of-your-seat hands-on fun, are not all that exciting in the day-to-day. Our students deserve lessons that are engaging. Yes! They deserve lessons that challenge and teach. Of course! We can do this with hands-on activities, various student positioning and alternatives to worksheets, and we should. But if I am a classroom teacher teaching everything from spelling to writing to reading to math, how can I possibly be expected to make every lesson exciting? What I was hearing from fellow teachers was that this expectation can be downright defeating. In my reflection, I came to the realization that not every lesson I teach is exciting, and yet my students arrive each day smiling and eager to enter our classroom. Why?
If you've hung on here this long with me and are wondering where JB fits in, don't worry. He's about to make his appearance and answer all of these concerns about exciting classroom teaching at the same time. To do so, we need to take a peek into my daughter's obsession. For years Rebecca had an infatuation with Justin Bieber. His lyrics coated her walls and books, his music filled her ears, and his tattooed torso was on display all around her room, even behind the clothing that hung in her closet. To Rebecca, he was amazing! We watched movies, read articles and sang along with him, even in Spanish. At one time, she declared she could never go to his concert because, "I would just die!" You get the picture. In her mind, he was a hero. You know what else he could apparently do better than anyone? Sing that ubiquitous song, "Happy Birthday". Two years in a row Rebecca's older brother Max, had JB serenade Rebecca on her birthday to tears of joy. Wait...what? That same old song?!?! We sang it to her many times - no tears. Bieber begins crooning in his breathy voice and all of a sudden the same song has her heart all aflutter and tears streaming down her face. Again I ask, Why?
But I don't really need to ask, do I? You see it now, don't you? It's not the song, it's the singer. It's not the lesson, it's the teacher. My students don't come to my room each day smiling because they might learn about integers or subject-verb agreement or Constitutional Amendments. They come in smiling because I have connected with them and they know that whatever we do together, today will be exciting because we will have fun, we will laugh, we will solve personal problems, we will enjoy our safe environment and we will grow together in relationship. I will "sing" to them in a voice that tells them they are special and I love them. And yes, some days our work will be done with underwear outside our clothing to drive home the lesson of Order of Operations, but not everyday. And while this is not permission to neglect creating exciting ways to deliver your material, the out-of-the-ordinary doesn't need to be daily when you just enjoy the people with whom you are spending that time. True, there are no tears of joy streaming down the faces of my students as we hash out revisions to our essays. But when students are connected to us because we have taken the time to become 'that' teacher, even the mundane can be a source of joy and excitement in the classroom.
