Be Quiet: Hooray for Monday - Center for Inspired Teaching

May 17, 2021

By Aleta Margolis, Founder and President, Center for Inspired Teaching

Hooray for Monday is a weekly blog filled with questions, ideas, reflections, and actions we can all take to remodel the school experience for students.

Most of the time, Be quiet is a command, often uttered when we are displeased with what our students are doing. Many of us have childhood memories of being asked to stop talking in school, in our families, and in other settings.

Often teachers use the words Be quiet as a request, and sometimes as a demand – telling students to stop doing something, stop talking, stop moving around, stop interacting. It is the opposite of action.

What might happen instead if we think of Be quiet as an invitation. What if we invite our students to experience silence, quiet, and stillness with intention, to reflect and look inward?

Here are some things students can do in silence:

With eyes open or closed…
- Notice your breathing – feel your lungs expanding and contracting; then try placing your hands on your belly and notice how your breath moves in your body.
- Notice your heartbeat; then try placing your hands in the center of your chest and see if you can feel your heart beating.
- Appreciate the many things your body does on its own.
- Engage your senses and perhaps notice the sounds within or outside of the school building.
With eyes open…
- Sit near a window and notice what you see outside – what moves? What remains still? What goes back and forth between motion and stillness?
- Sit quietly outside and notice what you see, hear, and smell.

These kinds of exercises can spark writing, speaking, drawing, and other forms of sharing and expression. They also have value when they stand alone.

Silence is good for your brain. Research shows it relieves stress and tension and can even regenerate brain cells. Silence supports mental wellness. Many people are uncomfortable sitting with their own thoughts; but don’t we go to school in order to step out of our comfort zones and learn something new?

How can you offer your students the opportunity to experience silence, without demanding it of them?

Here are some ideas:

Ask your students.
- Give your class a survey asking for recommendations as to how to incorporate a few minutes of silence into each day or week.
- Ask for volunteers to form a committee to decide how to incorporate silence into the school day.
- Ask students how they feel about spending time quietly. See who is familiar and comfortable with it, and who would find this a new experience. Encourage students to share their perspectives with one another.
Have students designate a corner of the classroom for sitting silently (with one or a few physically distanced spaces to sit), with the understanding that this is not a place the teacher directs students to go, but a place where any learner – including the teacher – can choose to sit for a few moments during the day.
Connect to our human biology. Teach students to feel and hear the inner workings of their bodies (since, of course, our bodies are in motion even in stillness). A few stethoscopes (which can be purchased online for under $10) can teach students to recognize their own heartbeats, which they can then notice when they sit in silence, along with the sounds of their lungs bringing air in and letting it out, and more.

This week I am studying the practice of yoga and meditation, and silence and stillness are core to that learning. But silence in yoga and meditation doesn’t happen in response to a demand. And it certainly isn’t a consequence or punishment for overzealous activity. Silence is, among other things, an opportunity to learn about ourselves.

As many teachers and students face the end-of-school-year race to get through the remains of the curriculum, get students tested, and just get over the finish line, offering students the opportunity to be quiet, with intention, may make these last few weeks more enjoyable and productive. I invite you to challenge yourself to avoid demanding quiet from your students and instead offer quiet and stillness as an enhancement to the learning process – for your students and for yourselves.

Micaiah Anderson

Community Outreach Specialist

As a Community Outreach Specialist, Micaiah is responsible for program promotion and outreach support for Inspired Teaching events and workshops. Micaiah has a passion for collaborating with community members to build-power and connect. She is an educator with a heart for youth and has experience supporting students fight injustices within their schools and communities. She has a BA in Political Science from, the real HU, Hampton University & anticipates graduating in May 2024 with a Masters of Arts degree in Educational Policy Transformation from Georgetown University.

AUTONOMY

"I want to have a say in what happens to me."

Autonomy is the need for independence; the ability to make choices, to create, to explore, and to express oneself freely; to have sufficient space, to move around, and to feel unrestricted with opportunities to exercise free will.

Brady Maiden

Outreach Coordinator

As the Outreach Coordinator, Brady helps maintain Inspired Teaching’s social media presence and supports the organization’s mission to connect with DC community leaders, educators, and parents. Brady has her Master’s in Public Policy from George Mason University and her BS in Political Science from Northern Arizona University. She is passionate about community, equity, and coalition building recognizing that learning and growing with the community at large is how we continue to be impactful.

What brings you joy in life?

I find joy in spending time with my friends and family and meeting new people. I like going to concerts and festivals, and finding new books to read.

The Learner’s Cycle, Wonder-Experiment-Learn, and the Teacher’s Cycle, Observe-Plan-Instigate, comprise Inspired Teaching’s approach to engaging students in inquiry-based learning.

When they are engaged in the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, students are immersed in learning. They take the lead in designing authentic learning experiences around their own interests and their school’s standards of learning. Each discovery leads to a new question which in turn leads to more wondering and more learning. In the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, Learn is not a destination or an endpoint; it is a deeper understanding, leading to a deeper wondering and new possibilities that create new entry points to further exploration. The cycle continues because what students have learned generates more wonderings that require more experiments that foster more learning – and on and on.

The Observe-Plan-Instigate Cycle is the work of an Inspired Teacher. While a student is expected to follow the Wonder-Experiment-Learn Cycle, the teacher joins them on the learning journey while following their own cycle of Observe-Plan-Instigate. This cycle ultimately serves to ensure an inquiry-based atmosphere is at play in the classroom.

Jaqueta Abbey

Teaching and Learning Specialist

Jaqueta is the Teaching and Learning Specialist for Inspired Teaching. In addition to her current role with Inspired Teaching, Jaqueta is a first-grade teaching assistant. Her background features a variety of traditional and non-traditional experiences in the field of education, including working as an adjunct professor, teaching summer reading programs to children and adults, and tutoring children in the foster care system. Jaqueta earned a B.A. in Communication Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an M.A. in Interactive Media from Elon University.

What brings you joy in life?

Creative self-expression! In addition to my passion for storytelling, I love dancing of all kinds. I've studied belly dance, bachata, and Brazilian Zouk among other styles. I also enjoy glass fusing, crocheting, photography, and cross stitching. These art forms allow me to express myself and build connections with other people at the same time. I think life would be a lot less vibrant without artists and storytellers!

Michelle Welk

Communication & Marketing Specialist

As Communications and Marketing Specialist, Michelle is responsible for finding and creating new ways to highlight Inspired Teaching and promote its programs in order to expand and deepen the organization's impact. Michelle has worked in communications in an array of settings, from creative agencies to state politics to national nonprofits. She has a BA in Journalism from Temple University in Philadelphia and is passionate about education, access, and equity.

What brings you joy in life?

My son, the beach, making a persuasive argument and good food!

Max Peterson

Real World History Assistant Teacher

Max received his Bachelor’s degree in History and African American Studies from Boston University in May 2016. He has worked in museum curation at the Museum of the White Mountains in New Hampshire and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Max has worked with young people of varying ages from young children to young adults transitioning to college.

Feedback and Accountability

We grow through feedback and an understanding that the quality of our work is a reflection of what we are learning, but the shift to remote learning this spring disrupted a lot of the tools teachers were used to using to evaluate student growth. How might we do things differently this fall? Participants in this workshop will explore ways to bring meaningful assessment into the virtual and/or socially-distanced classroom and approaches to student feedback that strengthen motivation, and build relationships and achievement.