I had a good day.
It wasn't one of those days where all your students listen quietly, hand in their homework, and smile politely. I dealt with several minor discipline issues in my room, a couple of kids didn't have homework, and I definitely got at least one scowl (after one of the discipline issues). Those things tend to happen every day.
What made this day special was that I know I made a difference today.
Example #1: Math class - We were going over an assignment on linear, square, and cubic units. It's the kind of lesson I loathe: poor examples out of a textbook, little practical application, and rather boring. Most of the time I shun these lessons, ignore the text, and develop something much more interesting, but with a test coming up in a few days I figured I'd do a little personal white-board formative assessment w/ boring textbook problems to make sure my students knew what I thought they knew.
After a few minutes, I could tell that my students were starting to get a little bored, and I saw that all of them knew to use cubic units to measure volume, square units for area, and linear units for distance. So I asked them, "If we measure 1 dimension in linear units, 2 dimensions in square, and 3 dimensions in cubic, is it possible to come up with a unit that measures 4 dimensions?" It was something I hadn't really thought about before, and I was curious.
It was like the classroom hit with lightning. Suddenly there was a buzz. Little arguments broke out. Discussions were going on. After a few minutes we figured that if "time" was the 4th dimension, then measuring the output of an air conditioner in "cubic feet of air per hour" might be the kind of measurement we were looking for.
Great. I figured we'd had our fun, and we'd go back to the boring text problems. They'd have none of that, though. The next few minutes went something like this:
"Mr. Soskil, if time is the 4th dimension, what's the 5th?"
"I'm really not sure. You'd have to ask a physicist."
"What's a physicist?"
"Someone who studies physics. Some of them study particles, and there's a theory called the 'String Theory' that some of those particles exist in multiple dimensions."
"WOW! Tell us more about that!"
"I don't really know enough to tell you. I just know that the theory says that there are something like 10 different dimensions. I'm not a physicist."
"Then how'd you know about this stuff?"
"I watch the Science Channel. I think I saw it on 'Through the Wormhole w/ Morgan Freeman'"
"Can we watch that in class sometime?"
"Sure. It's math. I'll find some time for us."
Two students then told me that they now want to be physicists. I told them that they better continue to really understand math. Awesome!
Example #2: Lunch - At the end of math class I told my students that I'd be happy to have lunch with them if they needed help with anything we've been doing in class lately. I've made this offer before, but none of them have ever taken me up on it. Today I had six join me for lunch in my room.
One wanted me to go over a few test questions that she missed on her last test and one had a question about the Million Dollar Project we're working on. I think the others wanted to discuss particle physics some more, but we never got around to that. We reviewed the relationship between perimeter and area, and then talked a bit about their project. When we were done, I sent them out to recess.
Then something really cool happened. One of them stayed behind for a minute, and sincerely thanked me for taking the time to help. That totally made my day!
Example #3: Reading - My students were genuinely excited to start their reading assignments. After months of reading short textbook stories, I decided to organize in-class book clubs and allow them to choose what they wanted to read. Today, I saw genuine excitement. I heard good discussions on tough questions. I saw learning taking place, and not "I can meet standard 5R.1.3.6" learning, but genuine critical thinking learning.
I guess those deep thoughts and discussions I mentioned earlier will have to wait for another post. Today, I'm not worried about the state of education, how to get teachers to teach 21st century skills, or whether the teaching methods of Singapore and/or Finland can be used effectively in the United States. Those discussions can happen some other time.
Right now, I'm happy that I got a reminder of why I teach. Today was a good day.
