Expect Key Moments in Class

According to Jon Saphier, Mary Ann Haley-Speca, and Robert Gower in The Skillful Teacher, anticipation is an important ingredient to being a successful teacher. We must anticipate when students will need clarification, when there may be lulls in a lesson, and how to best group students for an activity, just to name a few parts of any lesson where it could get derailed if things aren't considered ahead of time.

So, expect the unexpected should be a mantra of mine in the classroom. Yesterday, I didn't foresee one development in my lesson. Fortunately, what took place was a pleasant surprise.

We've begun our final writing unit, an argument of judgment. I'm following the approach presented in Teaching Argument Writing, Grades 6-12: Supporting Claims with Relevant Evidence and Clear Reasoning, by George Hillocks, Jr. He suggests starting the unit by considering a simple argument of judgment, what comprises a good school mascot. So, two days ago, we discussed our school mascot, the Lebanon Raiders, and the examples of unusual, but real school mascots Hillocks, Jr. shows in the book. We discussed what students thought of the mascots, whether or not they liked them and thought they made sense, and why.

Yesterday, picking up where we left off, I had students work together to generate descriptors of what a good mascot should be. By the time students had exhausted their lists, in each class we had over 15 descriptive words and phrases. After presenting students with the concept of criteria, and with the intention of having students write a brief argument of judgment about our school mascot in groups, I then told students we needed to narrow our criteria for a good school mascot down to the top five.

And this is when I was happily caught off guard. Up until this point, students worked dutifully and diligently. But, suddenly, hands shot up all around, some being waved by their owners. And thus began lively discussions of which criteria were most important. Was "courageous" a top five criteria? Did a majority of the students think "intimidating" should be one of the most important standards? How vital was it for the mascot to be "original"? All around the class, students were flexing their brains, reasoning out why they made their choices, listening to what their peers said and respectfully either adding to the other student's position or rebutting it. Class-wide, rudimentary arguments of judgment sent the energy levels through the roof.

These discussions lasted 10 or 12 minutes, and a majority of the students participated in them. By the end of each deliberation, I had the sense that my students' grasp of criteria and an argument of judgment was stronger. I've spent years honing my skills at predicting when there may be problems in a lesson and planning accordingly. What I realized during this lesson is that I should also look ahead for points in lessons that will be strong, and plan to make my students' learning even greater during these moments.

Thank you,

Brendan