363: The Secret Sauce to Help Students Care

The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA

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How many times have you sat in a PD meeting that didn't apply to you? One where you were learning an 11 letter acronym for a strategy you'd never use, a 3 point plan for a new program that wouldn't fit with your curriculum, or a training you'd already had?

A PD meeting that was... irrelevant.

In their book, Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters, Kylene Beers and Bob Probst use one word to describe a key component we need in our in our curriculum in order to keep students' attention: relevance (115).

Relevance hit home for me, conceptually.

For many years, I've argued here for authentic audience, more contemporary texts featuring diverse voices, real-world projects like genius hour and podcasting, exploring modern mediums for communication, and student-led discussion.

Relevance - in the words of the latest visual trend on Insta - fits the #vibesibringtothefunction here at Spark Creativity.

I want it for you, of course, in your professional learning, and that's why I'm here. And I want it for your students, in their learning in your classroom.

When Beers and Probst polled high school students on what issues they'd be interested in exploring, the issues that feel relevant to them, they named things like solving hate/bullying, fighting racism, ending discrimination around mental illness, and protecting the environment (117).

It's not easy to dive into issues like these if you're tied to an aggressive standardized curriculum. As Beers and Probst put it, it's easier to create a learning environment that matters to students "if the question begins, 'What do kids want to know?' rather than 'What does the curriculum say we must cover?'" (116).

And yet, there are inroads you can make in your classroom toward relevance, while you have larger conversations with your colleagues and administration about the wider curriculum and the freedom (or lack thereof) it allows you as you design your units.

So today, I want to explore ways to build more relevance into the curriculum, even if you don't have carte blanche to teach whatever you want, however you want to.

Links Mentioned:

Kylene Beers and Bob Probst's Book: Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters

David Kelley's Incredible Ted Talk: How to Build your Creative Confidence

Jared Amato's Book: Just Read It

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