Hooray For Monday: Why do I need to know this?

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.

For 25 years I’ve been encouraging teachers to ask the question “So what?“ every time they create and teach a lesson. Inspired Teaching has always championed relevance. “Why do I need to know this?” is one of the most important questions a student can ask, and also one of the most common questions students do ask. “Because it’s part of the curriculum.” “Because you will need to know it someday.” “Because it’s on the test.” All of these answers are familiar. Yet they are not satisfactory to students, nor to us as teachers. We learn and teach better when our content is connected to our lives.

It’s simply more engaging to teach concepts in context.

Would your students prefer to have a half of a third of a pizza, or a half of a fourth of a pizza (assuming both pizzas are the same size)?
What can crash test dummy videos illustrating an accident with and without seatbelts teach us about Newton’s Second Law of Motion: Force = Mass x Acceleration?
Try having 2 minutes of nonstop conversation without using any pronouns. You will soon understand how pronouns can make a conversation more efficient and clear. (And consider the important learning opportunities a lesson on pronouns can offer about expressing one’s identity, and showing respect for the identity of others.)

Sometimes finding relevance in the subjects we teach in school is simple and straightforward: It’s pretty clear why we learn to read or tell time or calculate a tip. Sometimes, as in the examples above, we need to engage our creativity as teachers to help students and even ourselves see the relevance of the material.

With so much of life feeling scary, distracting, urgent, and important right now, and with school occurring in a disrupted fashion for nearly everyone, our students are even more hungry for learning that connects to their lives. The events of this past week have offered crystal clear opportunities to make those connections. Here are just a few examples:

Respect and listening: On Tuesday evening we got to see the damage that can be done when someone in a position of power does not exercise the ability to listen and debate respectfully with someone with whom he disagrees.
Reading graphs: We’ve come to rely on line graphs to let us know how our communities and our country are navigating Covid and to assess our own risks.
US Government: We all had to memorize the names and basic powers of the three branches of government. Now, our students need to investigate questions like: How are federal judges selected and why does it matter who is on the bench? Who is in charge if the president isn’t able to lead? What does ‘peaceful transfer of power’ mean and why is this important to me personally?
Science: Are all diseases spread the same way? What makes the spread of Covid-19 different from something like measles?

Making these connections is at the heart of what it means to prepare our students to be informed and active participants in democracy. But we know it’s exhausting and overwhelming to carry that responsibility, especially right now.

On Thursday at our Speak Truth seminar on “The Impact of Trauma on Mental Health” one student reflected, “I never thought about how teachers are put into a first-responder position.”

Last week I wrote about the importance of saying “Thank you.” It’s even more relevant today.

Thank you, teachers. You and your work matter now more than ever.

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.