Feeling Young - Center for Inspired Teaching

June 28, 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.

I dance in my basement as often as I can, taking class as part of a wonderful, now online, community of dancers. During each class, we learn a piece of choreography; then our teacher divides us into two groups – so we can take turns dancing and observing the other students, and so we can rest. For me, the “rest” time, which lasts around 120 seconds, consists of a mad rush to put on my reading glasses (so I can see the other dancers); grab a sip from my water bottle; lie on the floor to roll my left hip on a tennis ball to release my recurring muscle spasm, and get back on my feet in time for my group to start dancing.

During a recent class, while my group was observing the other group dance, I spotted another student across the zoom screen – a young woman taking the class from her college dorm room. As the music was playing and I was on the floor with my tennis ball, I noticed that this young woman was singing. She was just sitting there smiling at the screen, bouncing up and down, singing. Her microphone was muted, but she was definitely singing out loud. (And it was clear she knew every word of the pop song accompanying our dance combination.)

When it was time for our group to dance again, as I was climbing up off the floor, I saw her literally bouncing up and down, as if her body just couldn’t wait for the music to start again.

I wondered: Where does her energy come from?

And then, for a moment, I remembered feeling young.

I wonder what she thinks of me, a 54-year-old dancing alongside her, but of course, she’s not thinking about me at all. Because she’s young.

How should I feel about the fact that she has so much energy? Should I feel jealous (because it’s clear her hip doesn’t hurt at all!)? Grateful because I get to be in her company and dance alongside her? Joyful because I am witnessing the joyful learning of a young dancer? Something else?

It’s a useful exercise to pause and reflect, once in a while, on how we feel when we are in the presence of young people. Whether we are in the role of teacher or parent or even the role of classmate, how do we respond when we encounter the energy of young people? Sometimes they bubble over with joy, as the energetic young dancer did during my class. Sometimes they become deeply sad for reasons that are hard for us to understand. Sometimes they rush to conclusions, certain of the rightness of their passionate viewpoints and the wrongness of our outdated perspectives. Sometimes – whether they are preschoolers, middle schoolers, or young adults – they do things that feel reckless to us: like forgetting to brush their teeth or running too fast down the hallway or skipping their math homework, or going outside in the middle of winter without gloves or a hat!

In these moments, it can be easy to default to judgment. There’s a reason so many of us smile and nod when we hear the well-worn phrase, “Youth is wasted on the young.” It’s easy to think, “These young people don’t appreciate what they have,” or “They really need to settle down and be serious,” or “How do I get them to listen to reason?”

Instead of defaulting to judgment:

What if we engaged our empathy?
What if we tried to remember what it felt like to be young?
What if we went even further and asked the young people in our lives about their lived experiences?
What if we asked what they feel and think, about the role of social media in society or the Covid guidelines in our city, or whether summer school should be mandatory?
What if we asked because we know that asking these kinds of questions is good for students’ social and emotional learning, and also because we are truly curious?
How might an ensuing conversation remind us of the wonder we can access in ourselves?
What might we learn if we listen fully to what they have to say?

One of the hallmarks of feeling young, as I remember it, is feeling curious, of being in an almost constant state of wonder. That’s a great place to be, for a learner of any age.

Whether you are teaching students in summer school or interacting with children in your family or other parts of your community, I invite you to engage your empathy and encourage that youthful sense of wonder – in your students and yourself.

If you’re in Washington, DC this Wednesday, join us at Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens at 9 AM ET for an exploration of wonder, together in the great outdoors!

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.