Hot Moments in the Classroom. By Lee Warren, Derek Bok Center Sometimes things seem to explode in the classroom, and what do we do then? Knowing strategies for turning difficult encounters into learning opportunities enables us to address important, but hot, topics -- religion, politics, race, class, gender -- in our classroom discussions. Hot moments occur when people's feelings -- often conflictual -- rise to a point that threatens teaching and learning.
They can occur during the discussion of issues people feel deeply about, or as a result of classroom dynamics in any field. For some instructors, hot moments are the very stuff of classroom life. They thrive on such moments, encourage them, and use them for pointed learning. Others abhor hot moments and do everything possible to prevent or stifle them. Fortunately all of us can develop techniques to handle the unavoidable difficult moments. "We were ten weeks into Introduction to Afro-Am and were discussing Louis Farrakhan," a young instructor told me. Schn, D. The Teachable Moments Podcast Episode 1: Voting Rules. Podcast: Download (Duration: 20:12 — 18.5MB) The following blog post accompanies Podcast Episode One of the Teachable Moments. You can access the podcast by clicking on the player above. Please let me know if you have trouble accessing the podcast! Well, its coming up to election time in Canada. Several provincial and municipal elections are taking place across the county this fall, providing a wonderful opportunity for educators to leverage the energy, enthusiasm and media attention that always accompanies these periods in order to shine a light on the importance of civic engagement, understanding and, in particular, the electoral process.
In Ontario, Elections Ontario, in partnership with Elections Canada has produced Voting Rules, a curriculum resource keyed to provincial expectations at the Grade 5 and Grade 10 levels. That said, the concepts, content and approach are adaptable across various grade levels and jurisdictions. About Stephen Hurley. Education :: Teachable Moments. Teachable Moment - About Us. Jump to Navigation Teachable Moment Classroom Lessons Share on facebookFacebook Share on twitterTwitter Donate About TeachableMoment TeachableMoment, a project of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, fosters social responsibility through K-12 classroom lessons that: encourage inquiry and critical thinking on current issues support students’ social & emotional learning TeachableMoment was created in the wake of 9/11. Find out more about Alan Shapiro. TeachableMoment now includes hundreds of issue-oriented classroom lessons, as well as lessons to foster students' social and emotional learning, essays and reviews.
Teachers are free to reproduce TeachableMoment lessons for use in their classrooms. Search Lessons By TeachableMoment Latest Lessons Most Popular Current Issues Most Popular Social & Emotional Learning About TeachableMoment School Services. Teachable Moment - By Alan Shapiro "If people don't obey the law, you can't have a decent society. " "But what about people like Gandhi and King? Without them India would still be ruled by Britain and the South would still keep African-Americans from voting.
" "Most people aren't Gandhis or Kings. " "Some, are, though, and we need them. " The scene is a history classroom. The debate has produced strong disagreement, some reasonable arguments, and lots of heat. We teachers are often better at stimulating exciting arguments than at complicating and deepening understandings; often better at developing critical thinking skills than at entering into another's point of view and working to experience it and find whatever truth it may contain. The intellectual tradition of critical thinking Peter Elbow calls "methodological doubt," that is, "the systematic, disciplined, and conscious attempt to criticize everything no matter how compelling it might seem-to find flaws or contradictions we might otherwise miss.
" 1. 2. 3. Teachable Moment - What is a Teachable Moment? Definition: A teachable moment is an unplanned opportunity that arises in the classroom where a teacher has an ideal chance to offer insight to his or her students. A teachable moment is not something that you can plan for; rather, it is a fleeting opportunity that must be sensed and seized by the teacher. Often it will require a brief digression that temporarily sidetracks the original lesson plan so that the teacher can explain a concept that has inadvertently captured the students' collective interest. Taking this tangent is worthwhile because it is organically timed to maximize impact on the students. Ultimately, the teachable moment could evolve into a full-blown lesson plan or unit of instruction. Examples: During our morning meeting, one student asked why we had Veterans Day off from school yesterday.