Maker Monday: Unboxing a Lesson

My nieces--both Brazilian and American--are obsessed with LOL Dolls. I'm sure you've seen them--little babies with big heads, glam and glitter, and accessories like water bottles and teeny tiny shoes, bracelets, and pacifiers that get lost in the excitement of mixing and matching. I like how these dolls display a variety of skin tone and natural (as well as wildly unnatural) hair styles, and I just might be jealous of a few of them, wishing I could pull off the same sparkly fashions. But what pulls kids into this craze is an endless stream of YouTube videos where the dolls are unwrapped, one layer, one accessory at a time. Riddles and puns also find their way into the layered balls, (which, as a teacher, I think is great for language development). There's always an element of mystery and surprise, as you never know which doll you are unwrapping, or if she's a color-changer, or a super-rare.

In some ways, teaching a class is like unwrapping an LOL Doll or another mystery item. Of course, the objectives of the lesson should not necessarily be a surprise, but there is often an unveiling that happens at different steps along the way, sometimes with anticipation building before the treasure is revealed. An icebreaker might lead into the context for a grammar lesson. An opening question might activate students' schema, drawing out what they already know about a topic before leading into a reading or listening. Realia engages the senses and makes vocabulary more meaningful and memorable. Students are often challenged out of their comfort zone by taking a task they know how to do and bringing it up a notch, getting them out of their seat, producing language in a higher-stakes context. These are activities that most language teachers are well-familiar with, and every teacher I know has a vast supply of tricks up their sleeve to make classes more exciting. And, although I teach the same books and language points as many of my colleagues, none of us do it in quite the same way. My point is that teachers are a lot more creative than we give ourselves credit for.

Some folks are afraid of bringing a hands-on, maker-inspired activity into the classroom because they feel they aren't creative. But I've never met a teacher who didn't have at least a dash of creativity when facing the challenges we face. So let's embrace and unbox our creativity together!

I'll tell you a secret. I don't always know what to get my students to make in order to learn certain language points. I do lots of searching on Pinterest to get ideas related to STEM and the maker movement. From plenty of personal experience both making and teaching, I know which activities are doable and advantageous for developing language, and which are just rabbit holes leading somewhere we don't need to go. But the truth is, if I'm not being "creative," then I'm being resourceful. Just like any teacher. I strongly believe we are all makers, whether we draw, code, sew, or find new ways to spark curiosity in learners.

Last week I started teaching a class of pre-teens, and the topic was extreme weather. While it was fun to introduce them to Boston and blizzards, I knew I would need more to catch and hold their attention, especially for a text about Siberia leading into a review of simple present and present continuous grammar. I wanted to find a tactile way to bring Siberia to São José dos Campos. So I went to Pinterest and searched under "weather STEM activities" and ended up finding several recipes for fake snow. The one I chose was a mixture of baking soda and shaving cream. My students noticed the items on my desk as they walked in, and, even after a bit of chatting about the weather in Boston compared to the weather in São José, they had no idea that they would be making snow in a few minutes.

As I planned this warm-up and while it was taking place, I mentally checked off some of my guidelines for a maker activity:

• It brings something meaningful into existence or solves a problem. In this case, we made snow in Brazil, which was very exciting!

• Everyone plays a role. Even the kid who didn't want to get his hands messy got to spray the shaving cream.

• It stimulates creativity and encourages playful tinkering. The kids knew it was baking soda and shaving cream, but they imagined it as snow, sprinkled it to make it fall, and tried to build a snowman. It was all hands-on, and they worked hard at playing--something that kids really need more of!

• STEM/STEAM* skills are learned or practiced in English. (*STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math; add an A for arts, and it's STEAM!) We didn't get into chemical reactions and molecules, but we connected the experience to mixing slime and to the fact that snow and hail are solids, while rain is a liquid. Some questions that came up even led me to introduce some extra vocabulary, sleet and freezing rain. I admit, in the excitement of the moment as simple ingredients became "snow," the kids started speaking Portuguese, but this was an icebreaker, and not a task of language production, and so I just helped guide their spontaneous ideas into English at that point. 

• It connects to the theme of the lesson and/or the target language. It's not enough just to talk about weather and make snow. The making has to reinforce or encourage production of language that students are learning. In this case, I used it to contextualize the grammar, giving and eliciting sentences such as It snows in Boston. It doesn't snow in São José. It's snowing in the classroom! It isn't snowing in Boston right now. These were much more meaningful to the students than anything I could have pulled from the text, and it kept their interest while we went into the form and meaning.

It certainly wasn't a perfect lesson, but the unboxing of snow helped me reveal some grammar. I saved the snow so that I could review the language on another day, and encourage more student-made sentences. I even froze it, just to see what would happen. (It became more powdery and dry, and it feels great to the touch!) I might combine it with another fake snow recipe, which involved damp paper towels shredded by a food processor. It will make some great sensory play for some little kids,
as well.

So whether you are a teacher or another kind of lifelong learner, don't be afraid to tap into your resources, discover creativity and innovation at the intersections of different fields, and get your hands on something new. What were some of the most powerful moments in classes you've taken or taught? What have been some exciting moments of unwrapping or unboxing? Let's uncover more about the power of making together!