TL;DR:
- Intentionally plan and invest in moments that significantly impact students’ lives, rather than leaving them to chance.
- Design school activities and lessons, from everyday classroom interactions to major events like graduation, to create memorable and transformative experiences.
- Educators need to balance structured planning with the flexibility to seize unplanned teachable moments, fostering curiosity, adaptability, and reflection in students.
“The ‘occasionally remarkable’ moments shouldn’t be left to chance! They should be planned for, invested in.” ― Chip Heath and Dan Heath, The Power of Moments: Why Certain Moments Have Extraordinary Impact
A typical school year consists of 180 days. Each of those days are a series of moments. As the Heath brothers (2017) wrote, moments “should be planned for, invested in” (2017). Teacher teams collaborate to intentionally plan curriculum, assessments, and learning targets. School teams plan for back-to-school, team-building activities, and school assemblies. School districts plan convocation, student recognitions, teacher of the year banquet, and graduation.
Some lessons can be learned from planning these moments and creating memories for students, staff, and families. A high school graduation experience is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so school districts pay attention to detail and attempt to create a celebration for students and their families.
On average, students spend approximately 15,000 hours in school, between kindergarten and high school graduation. Students will complete homework assignments, go on field trips, listen to guest speakers, complete community service, join a club, participate in student assemblies, and take assessments. Which moments could impact a student beyond a lesson and beyond high school? Are there K-12 moments that adults reflect on as life-changing moments? “Defining moments can be consciously created. You can be the architect of moments that matter” (Heath and Heath, 2017).
Teachable Moments
During my first year in the classroom, I quickly learned that ‘teachable moments’ happen in real-time. A student could challenge another student’s perspective or a mistake could lead to a teachable moment. Teachers know when to pause or even scrap a lesson to lean into a moment. Teachable moments should be a natural part of learning. There are times that the best written curriculum cannot have the same lasting impact as an unexpected ‘teachable moment.’
Each school day, lesson, and interaction holds the potential to be transformative. As educators, we must recognize and seize upon these moments that arise organically, fostering curiosity and critical thinking in our students. Click To TweetMoments of Awe and Wonder
If you reflect on your K-12 experience, there will be moments that you still recall. It may have been learning multiplication or a project you completed in the sixth grade. Some students remember their high school FBLA state competition and others remember dissecting a frog. Essential questions can lead students to awe and wonder, but these moments often happen at different times for students. How do you intentionally design instruction that leads to awe and wonderment?
Sagan (1997) wrote, “Many [kindergarteners and first graders] are natural-born scientists — although heavy on the wonder side and light on the skepticism. They’re curious, intellectually vigorous. Provocative and insightful questions bubble out of them.” As students enter middle school and high school, several begin to look for the right answer, go through the motions, and lose the sense of awe and wonder from the early grades. Moments of awe and wonder may occur through outdoor education, a science lab, learning to play an instrument, solving a problem for the city council, or being challenged to think critically and contribute. These moments of awe and wonder do not have to be reserved for early elementary classrooms.
Moments of Inquiry and Questioning
Student-centered learning focuses on student voice and choice. “Inquiry-based instruction is a student-centered approach where the instructor guides the students through questions posed, methods designed, and data interpreted by the students. Through inquiry, students actively discover information to support their investigations” (Alper, 2018). Heick (2023) wrote, “One of the most powerful ways to promote inquiry learning in your classroom is to design activities, lessons, and units that benefit from, promote, or require inquiry. Without ‘room’ or a ‘role’ for inquiry in your classroom, it will be difficult to ’cause’ sustainably. In the absence of inquiry and questioning, learning is frictionless. Inquiry and questioning allow “students [to] follow a trail that begins with their own questions [which] leads to a search for resources and the discovery of answers, and often ultimately leads to generating new questions, testing ideas, and drawing their own conclusions” (Larmer and Mergendoller, 2010).
Moments of Adaptability
The ability to navigate change and adapt is critically important to developing ‘learnability. “Developing ‘cognitive flexibility’ enables you to envision multiple scenarios, develop different solutions simultaneously, and pull the plug and move on when an approach isn’t working” (Colvin, 2020). Identify a time when cognitive flexibility helped you adapt to a challenge or a turning point. What are the benefits of utilizing cognitive flexibility when the situation is complex and unpredictable? “Today’s [students] must truly understand the vital importance of adaptability, agility, and learnability….As change has acquired a new cadence” (Culberhouse, 2023). If teachers follow the pacing guide, cover the standards, administer benchmark exams, and cover the curriculum, students may not be prepared for life. However, by planning meaningful moments, these impactful experiences can seamlessly occur during a unit. Moments of adaptability will help students navigate a complex and unpredictable world.
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Moments of Reflection
How often do students feel like the pace of schooling is rushed? Once a unit is finished, the teacher moves to the next unit. Reflection involves slowing down to share what we learned. In the absence of reflection, how will students make meaning out of their experiences?
With the push to cover more content and standards, teachers often choose between coverage or pausing for reflection. Costa and Kallick (2008) wrote, “We want students to get into the habit of linking and constructing meaning from their experiences. Such work requires reflection.” Reflection comes in many forms: reflective journals, group work, whole class, silent reflection, reviewing yesterday’s work, reflecting on an essential question, or creating a product that shows your thoughts about a previous lesson or understanding. Reflection is a moment that allows each learner to make connections, meaning, and relevance.
Embrace the Moments
It is crucial to acknowledge that each school day, lesson, and interaction holds the potential to be transformative. As educators, we must recognize and seize upon these moments that arise organically, fostering curiosity and critical thinking in our students. Whether it’s through moments of awe and wonder, inquiry and questioning, adaptability, or reflection, we have the power to be architects of moments that matter. By embracing these moments intentionally, we can cultivate a learning environment that nurtures lifelong learners equipped to navigate the complexities of an ever-changing world. Teachers should intentionally plan moments, while realizing that student-led moments and unplanned moments are often life-changing!
References
Alper, C. (2018). Embracing inquiry-based instruction. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/embracing-inquiry-based-instruction
Colvin, B. (2020). How to get comfortable leading through uncertainty. https://www.coachingworksnyc.com/blog/2020/1/24/how-to-get-comfortable-leading-through-uncertainty
Costa, A.L., & Kallick, B. (Eds.). (2008). Learning and leading with habits of mind:
16 essential characteristics for success. ASCD.
Culberhouse, D. (2023). X. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/DCulberhouse/status/1614448007453495296
Heath, C., & Heath, D. (2017). The power of moments: why certain experiences have extraordinary impact. Simon and Schuster.
Heick, T. (2023). 14 effective teaching strategies for inquiry-based learning. TeachThought. https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/inquiry-based-teaching-strategies
Larmer, J., & Mergendoller, J. R. (2010). Seven essentials for project-based learning. Educational Leadership. http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/sept10/vol68/num01/Seven_Essentials_for_Project-Based_Learning.aspx
Sagan, C. (1997). The demon-haunted world: Science as a candle in the dark. Ballantine Books.
About Steven Weber
Dr. Steven Weber is a curriculum leader. He has served on multiple state and national boards. His areas of research include curriculum design, multiplying leaders, professional learning, and school leadership.
