Bridge Between Fashion and Education

I personally have never cared too much about fashion, so I thought I would have trouble relating this module to education. However, after watching the one episode of "What Not to Wear," I realized that there are many connections. In the episode, they were teasing Pam, saying that she would never get a second date with the clothing she was choosing. This made me think of how important first impressions are. They were trying to dress Pam in a way that was flattering and appealing.
In the same way, we need our classes to be flattering and appealing so that kids want a "second date" with the experience they have in a classroom. We want kids to want to come back. As a math teacher, I know this is hard to accomplish all the time, but it is something we can all work on. I think the old clothes Pam was wearing could be like old ways of teaching. In our discussions, I thought primarily of all of the math teachers I have worked with who sit at an overhead with notes every day, and then assign the even math problems out of the book every night. While I think there can be a place for this, there is so much new and exciting technology that can be used these days to teach. The more flattering "fashions" for teachers would be to involve these technologies.

Rythms and Patterns

I was listening to Robert Kapilow talk about how rhythms and patterns are fundamental to our understanding of the whole world. While talking the listener through the song "America the Beautiful", he discusses the rhythms and patterns that repeat throughout the song. Every phrase in the song has an identical rhythm which keeps the listeners attention. I think that these predictable patterns are also important in a classroom. I have always heard that kids need set routines, whether at home or in a classroom. They need to know what happens when they arrive in class, what will be happening in the middle of class, and what will happen at the end of class. Just like we love and are comfortable with the song "America the Beautiful," students are comfortable in a safe, predictable environment where there are limited surprised. This is an atmosphere I try to create in my classroom.

The "hook"

This may be a rather obvious "bridge" but a hook is used in music just like a hook is used in teaching. Wikipedia describes the hook in music as what you are selling. It makes the song appealing and catches the ear of the listener. The musical hook draws you in and keeps your attention throughout the song. In teaching, a hook is really the same thing. The gifted teachers at my school have been doing staff development on Understanding By Design, by Wiggins and McTighe. They suggest that the first step in planning learning experience is to "hook" the student. They suggest that every lesson should begin with a hook, and the hooks should not be the same every day. These hooks can include pictures, math problems, a question for discussion, something to write about, something to listen to, something watch, and many others. I wrote about this last week when talking about a "light to Walk Toward" in interior design. I think these ideas all relate. There must be something to grab student's attention and to hold it throughout a lesson. If the interest of a student is never grabbed, they are not likely to fully understand the material.