Memorable Moments
As a teacher, I tend to take my work with me wherever I go. Over the years, I’ve built in better boundaries around writing lessons or doing paperwork at home, but the ideas and brainstorming about learning and education tend to keep coming. Over the summer, this mostly entails watching my daughters’ experiences and thinking through why (or why not) they’re successful in sparking excitement.
Last summer, we visited family in Washington DC and spent time in the National Children’s Museum. It’s an expansive, interactive museum that occupied my 8 and 5 year olds for hours. I watched as they built kid-sized cars out of spare parts, folded paper airplanes and tested their flight, climbed a three story tunnel maze, and opened and closed valves connected to wind filled PVC pipes.
Earlier that day, we’d visited one of the most historic and impactful buildings in the United States, the White House. We waited to enter, walked the halls, listened in on an educator lesson or two, and we left. As an adult, I’ve been able to find the value in visiting sites like this, taking in the gravity of the people who’ve been in those rooms before me. But my children breezed through the halls like the summer wind.
There was a clear contrast that day. A museum dedicated to children encouraged creativity, perseverance, exploration, and excitement. It’s fair to say that the White House itself isn’t quite a museum, but even the space dedicated to learning about it, the White House Visitor Center, lacks the same spark.
As we grow older and tackle teaching about topics that may not feel as tangible for kids, how can we keep the spark and excitement alive?
Last summer, I asked my daughter to recount the time we’d spent out of school. What would you name as your top 3 memories? I thought maybe learning more about what stuck out in her mind could give insight into what creates a spark for children and could help teachers create more memorable learning moments.
Fireworks and Rollercoasters, Unexpected Surprises
One of the ways our staff celebrates nearing the end of the school year is a visit to a Brooklyn Cyclones baseball game in Coney Island. Last year, we had a beautiful night filled with food, drinks and lots of laughs. My daughters tagged along and played with many other staff children, and we watched as the day turned into night, illuminated by the vibrant lights of the Thunderbolt, the Wonder Wheel and the Parachute Jump.
As the night came to a close, I planned to hop a quick ride with the girls back to our neighborhood. Creatures of habit by nature, they tend to fall asleep early and I was practically born with the middle name “routine.” But as the innings came to an end, we were surprised to learn that this game was followed immediately by a display of fireworks. My younger daughter has always feared fireworks. The loud sound can be a lot for many children with Autism to manage. But with our muffles headphones on hand and a few caring coworkers willing to support with hugs and smiles, we decided to stay and watch. As the fireworks lit up the sky, I saw excitement and wonder in my daughter’s eyes as I’d never seen before. With the right supports in place, she mouthed, “it’s so beautiful” while seeing a firework burst over the stadium.
One surprise turned into another. As we walked down the block, past the boardwalk and arcades, a coworker suggested a ride on the Cyclone. My older daughter, Harper, had been waiting years to be tall enough to ride and wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity now that she topped 48″ tall. One ride turned into two or three, and before we knew it the night had ended with unexpected twists that both of my daughters would always remember.
When reflecting on why this night was so special and memorable, the importance of surprise and the breaking of expectation came to mind. Children thrive on structure and routine, and good practice should never sacrifice consistency for excitement. But the element of surprise is one that can be tailored and utilized to create moments that students will remember. While teaching about small moments with the class, I once ‘mistakenly’ knocked over my block tower, creating a moment for us all to share and write about. Building up the expectation that all markets were indoor stores for selling food, my students were amazed to emerge from the Union Square subway station and find an outdoor greenmarket selling fruits, vegetables, honey, grass and art. Creating a moment of surprise is an opportunity for students to have a shared, memorable experience that can help launch a new study or delve deeper into a topic you’ve already been examining.
The Water slide park, A Chance at Independence
The second memory of summer my daughter recalled was a trip to Great Wolf Lodge, specifically the water slides. We’d taken a trip to visit family. Both of my children are water-lovers and meeting at Great Wolf Lodge seemed like a great way to engage them in play that they loved in a location that suited everyone. We spent four days eating meals together, exploring the halls of the expansive space and interacting with the fantasy storyline built into the lodge. But the most memorable part of the trip was the waterpark area.
Great Wolf Lodge has a collection of activities for children and adults to interact with. As you walk towards the back of the lodge, the doors open to an expansive waterpark with rides varying from a lazy river and wave pool to a floor-drop ride not for the faint of heart. We’ve been to one water park before, a sprawling outdoor location with almost 100 acres of rides. But this experience was most memorable because of the independence provided to my daughter. Although safely confined by the walls of the lodge, she had immense freedom to explore on her own as we sat nearby.
Providing an opportunity for children to demonstrate and practice more independence is a way to make their learning more memorable and impactful. Independence develops over time, within a school week, a school year, and a career as a student. Skills that were once cautiously facilitated by a teacher are slowly practiced and developed into second-nature. These skills, in turn, pave the way for new, cautiously facilitated skills. The pattern continues throughout the learning life of a child, but every new step towards independence is a memorable one. The first time you collect your project materials on your own, the first time you set the rules for a class game, the first time you walk to the library alone to return a book. All of these independent tasks take practice and planning. Teachers should be working towards offering students more opportunities for independence throughout the day and year by explicitly teaching the skills necessary to build up to an independent task.
The Garnet Lake Tornado, A Once in a Lifetime Event
Every summer, my family and I visit a lake in upstate New York. On our 35th year visiting, now with my own children in tow, we were slammed head on by an unexpected tornado. It was our fourth day there. All the days before had been perfect. Hot, sunny days. Cool night. Gnat free. But the tornado struck one evening, coming and going within 10 minutes, but leaving countless downed trees and power lines behind it. We were stuck at the lake for another day while the roads in the local towns were cleared. We emptied the fridges to conserve food in the cabins that were given a generator, and our trip was cut short. A tornado, surely, would be something to remember.
When I asked my daughter why this memory stuck out, she simply noted it was “something big that never happened in my life.” It’s interesting to note that during the short storm itself, the kids were mostly unaware of the severity of what was happening, safe inside a cabin watching shows on a tablet together. But the aftermath was significant. The kids worked together to pick up tree branches to “clear a path”, a task they’d been assigned to keep busy but took quite seriously. My guess is that the tornado experience was memorable because it was an experience that Harper had heard about but likely would have never personally witnessed. It was once in a lifetime.
Of course, you don’t need to put your students through a tornado to give them a once in a lifetime experience. Watching a car get crushed at a scrap yard, searching for hawks at the local sand dunes, sitting in the back seat of a limo and watching the window roll up and down. Outside of the school building the opportunities for these special moments are endless. Bringing curious objects into the classroom and calling an expert on your study topic can be equally memorable for students. These experiences are memorable because they’re things that kids may have never done and may never do again. The challenge is to create lifelong memories for students that can ignite or keep aflame a spark for learning.
As teachers, our work often travels with us outside of the school building. As a parent especially, every moment with my own children is an opportunity to learn more about the ways that children develop, the ways that they learn, and the things that bring them excitement. These observations can serve as lessons on the ways we can engage children in more meaningful and memorable learning that can help illuminate topics themselves and foster a deeper love of learning.