My favorite lesson to teach... makes the students want to revolt!
For many people I know, tomorrow is a very big day. They will be going to see Solo:A Star Wars Story. Unfortunately due to the fact that I decided to have children and those same children decided to play musical instruments and those instruments need to be played in front of an audience on Thursday and Friday night, I will have to wait until Saturday to see it.
Luckily for me, I don't worry too much about spoilers. Oh wait. Yes I do! In fact I hate spoilers!
But it is ok. I'm not going crazy preparing for it or anything. It's not like people are running contests centered around making fun of me for being so psyched that I have entered excited puppy mode. Oh wait. Yes they are! @steemmatt happens to be running that exact contest right now.
Take us to see Solo now!
Luckily for me I have @steemiteducation to take my mind off of it for a few minutes at least. This week's steemiteducation homework assignment asks:
Which lessons are you most passionate about, and which is your least favorite subjects to teach and why?
As far as the worst, I'll go with teaching about Feudalism. That system sucks. Aside from getting to show a brief clip of Monty Python and the Holy Grail it really is no fun at all.
Since that is no fun, allow me to explain my favorite lesson. I guess to be more accurate, I should say allow me to more thoroughly explain my favorite lesson. I wrote a little bit about it back in February.
I love teaching about revolutions. I especially like to have my students study different revolutions to see why they started and what they have in common. As I mentioned in my previous post, some of these common causes for revolution include:
I already explained that this particular lesson ends with an activity that involves looking for these causes of revolution in the Simpsons episode titled Kamp Krusty. However, in that description, I "yada, yada, yada'd" over my favorite part of this lesson.
One sure fire way to get students to understand and remember something is by creating an emotional connection to the content. When dealing with angst-ridden teenagers, it works best if you can get them really fired up and hopping mad about something. In order to provide them with an authentic learning opportunity, I do just that when I begin my unit on revolutions.
I've got them just where I want them.
It is important to note that this lesson takes place in February each year. I have had over five months in order to create excellent rapport with my students. If I did not have this rapport, there is no way I would attempt this lesson. Because of this relationship, after it is over and I need to beg for forgiveness, they usually grant it to me... after making me grovel a little.
I begin the lesson by walking to the front of the room with a stack of red papers. I put on my most serious face and say,
"Guys when you accept a job, you are agreeing to a contract with your employer. You agree to follow their directives in exchange for a paycheck. The employee does not get to decide which rules he will follow. As long as the directives are not illegal or immoral, I need to carry them out. But I don't need to like it. I plan on meeting with the administration after work today in order to make a case against this. I need you guys to help me by providing arguments to use against these changes. All I ask is that we discuss this in an organized way. When you are expressing your concerns, please don't yell or swear."
This introduction never fails to hook every single kid. I know I have their attention and they are going to be fully engaged in the discussion.
I pass out the red paper which contains a paragraph explaining that our school has decided to institute a new decision making process. I explain that students will now have more of a say in the rules of the school. However, due to the fact that Freshman and Sophomores are younger, less mature and less experienced, their two classes will only have one vote while the Juniors and Seniors will have one each.
It does not take long for the students to figure out that they, as Freshman and Sophomores, will be outvoted in every single vote. (This also happens to be the exact way decisions were made in France before the French Revolution... a fact my students never forget.)
I then go on to explain that:
Cafeteria prices for Juniors and Seniors will be cut in half while those for Freshman and Sophomores will double
Each Freshman and Sophomore will be required to pay a $100 “Safety insurance fee” each semester.
1/2 of all Freshman and Sophomore snack foods will be transferred to the Junior and Senior campus cafeterias
All Freshman and Sophomores will pay a $150 “construction fee” in order to build a pool they will never get to use
Juniors and Seniors will be able to get paid for jobs around the school
In order to save money, our school will merge with our rival school and take on the name of their mascot: The Bulldogs
Each day will begin with a morning prayer. The prayer is NOT optional and will be decided upon at the next meeting of the Estates General.
I have never made it through the list without being interrupted by angry students. When this occurs, I tell that that I can't wait to hear what they have to say, but we should get through the whole list first. As soon as I complete the list...
Actual footage of my classroom.
The room explodes!
Students begin shouting out complaints.
Again, I calm them and ask for them to share their concerns one at a time so I can write them down and share them with the principal. One by one we go through the list and the students share why it is so unfair and wrong.
After completing the list I ask, "What can you do about it?"
Students begin to brainstorm ideas. Invariably the list always contains the following actions:
- Write letters to the school board
- Tell their parents to come in and complain
- Boycott the cafeteria
- Refuse to pay the fees
- Walk out
- Refuse to come to school
- Take over the school
At this point, I tell them that they don't have to do any of that because...
I made it all up!
They lose their minds! Some claim they never believed me (even though they were pretty hyped when they suggested the walkout). Others tell me how mad they are at me.
Before it gets too out of hand, I stop them and profusely and sincerely apologize... and I mean it. I explain to them that I did not do this to "punk" them. I am not interested in laughing at them or getting them upset for sport. I explain that it is part of a lesson. I ask them what they think this next unit could possibly be about. Then I ask them what they were preparing to start.
I can practically see the light bulbs going off as one by one they realize that were about to start a revolution. As a result, they conclude that revolutions must be our next topic of study.
As I begin the discussion surrounding the Power Point presentation, kids immediately start to see how each rule in the fake example illustrates one of the common causes of revolution.
The lesson ends with the students completing this sheet:
They all get a 100% on it... then growl at me on the way out the door.
Although they always vow to get revenge, they never do. They also never forget it. I have used this lesson for many years. Whenever I see a former student on the street or at the grocery store they always smile and say, "Do you remember when you got us so mad?"
I do.
Then they ask, "Do you still show the Simpsons all the time?"
I do.
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The other two images were created by me.
Dude, you're so lucky to have this kind of bothers. Really, I wish I had your problems. Says a man who lost pretty much everything in half a year... not sure why I'm telling you this, just do me a favor and appreciate what you have, ok? It's not gonna be there forever.
Wish there were so many more educators like yourself. Absolutely love your stimulating growls among your students. So politically incorrect! I hope you have every opportunity to keep up this good work. Peace and goodwill.
It seems to be a magnificent lesson! in fact you can verify that the years go by and the class is in the memory of each student, although it was perhaps cruel all that list, I loved the classes where they mixed feelings, it was a lesson that I always remember, it is a good way to record in your brain all the information, definitely educators should use tools for the good understanding of the class, happy evening, I congratulate you for that.... and soon you will see the film, while you run away from the spoiler, excuse my English, use translator
Thanks. I am glad you had some lessons that got you emotionally involved.
And I though history was boring.
It doesn't have to be if you teach like that.
Stir some emotions and you got the attention of students.
Yeah it is much more fun to teach than it was to be a student.
Really? I wish I was a child again and be your student. I don’t think we had this, when I was at school. I do understand some people don’t like much spoilers like you, and some don’t mind, like me” seeing ahead what the movie is about and if it’s worthy to watch. Just a word “Feudalism” doesn’t catch my interest. I guess on this one we are on the same page. If I were your student, I would love the topic about economic problems. I could talk about it for hours.
I can imagine lol! As long as it works! I can see you caught student’s attention when they started shouting and complaining...
Than you said “I made it all up”. I can imagine this silence at that moment 😆.
Great lesson! It felt like I was there as a student.
Thanks. It really is a lot of fun to see the kids make the connections between the fake announcement and the real world.
If only my high school teachers were this creative with their lessons... people learn through emotional connections and stimulation, not raw, regurgitated information.
There was one teacher like you back when I was in high school, he was outperforming all the other teachers but got fired for his unorthodox methods.
Oh man that is too bad. Luckily my bosses give me quite a bit of freedom.
Amazing , what!!! What a brilliant way to introduce and get their mind solidly on the topic .
You’re a great teacher I must confess. I can’t stop laughing through the fake announcement.
But must of those things happened when I was in a freshman.
I remember the first day at school, a protest occurred the semester that ended the last session which we the freshmen aren’t in school then
An old school official car that doesn’t even move and had not for couple of years was in the course resulted into breakage of the all the glass of the car and new session came with freshmen on campus
Everyone was made to pay damages for a car that doesn’t move including the freshmen who knew nothing about the whole thing. Lol
Wow so you got to see a protest first hand. Well that is definitely authentic learning.
History can be very boring if the teacher approaches it bookishly.Discuss history, don't memorize it. Most of us hated history because of the preoccupation with facts, figures, dates but while those are important in establishing a timeline and remembering who is who, that's not the same as understanding it. History ought to be about knowing why things happened and what we can learn from them. That's learned by discussion.
I agree 100%. Kids have the internet in their pockets. They can look up any fact they want.
I absolutely love the way you played to your student's emotions with that lesson. They get a stronger sense of what it must have been like when this is what really happened. I can just imagine how angry they must have been getting and I can believe that most if not all totally believed this was about to happen. I have done something in my class where I have had them imagine that the school was going to incorporate a new rule and have them discuss how to write persuasive letters to affect change. I am now considering telling them that these are actual changes and new rules. Provoke that emotion in them. Something tells me that you take just a tiny bit of joy in watching those reactions. Seeing them get so passionately worked up and you were able to make that happen and turn it into learning.
Seeing their passion is definitely a huge motivation. I don't like tricking them... but it has such a huge payoff that they understand why I do it. There is no way I could pull this off early in the year. They have to trust me enough to understand there is a method to my madness.
Though I love your post and your methods (have you considered leading a workshop for other teachers on how not to be a total bore in the classroom?) I'm stuck on one part that's left me feeling slightly dejected...
As far as the worst, I'll go with teaching about Feudalism. That system sucks. Aside from getting to show a brief clip of Monty Python and the Holy Grail it really is no fun at all.
I thought feudalism was interesting :/
LOL. Yeah I actually have a pretty fun way to teach it where I make kids lords, vassals and serfs (and I use Smurfs). Then I make them pledge loyalty to two lords... then have those two lords go to war. Its fun to watch them try to figure out which lord they should side with.
I just wanted an excuse to mention how bad feudalism is in practice. Some people think it might be a fine way to organize things today...
Oh goodness no leave it in the history books... Isn't that why we teach history? So we don't repeat it?