First-Class Seats

In Skiing out of bounds from Seth Godin's Blog, Seth Godin shares,

“A different feeling with a similar boundary issue is the magic of a first class seat. It doesn’t matter that first class seats are often smaller than they used to be. What matters is that they’re better than coach.”

I feel that I need to make my class like a first-class seat. I want my students to feel like our class is the best thing around. I want them to feel proud to be in my class and proud of the things they accomplish in my class.

One year I wrote a grant for us to do some landscaping around the school for beautification. Our class came up with a plan after a lot of research and then checked with people with landscaping experience to make sure our plan would work. Next, the students did a lot of price checking and ordering materials. When everything arrived, we got our hands dirty (and blistered) as we did the actual hard work. When it was all done, the school grounds looked fabulous! We planted pear trees, azaleas, holly, and juniper. As we worked throughout the year, my students were excited and engaged in all aspects of this project. The best part was when other students not in our class wanted to know how they could enroll in our class! My students were beyond ecstatic at the school support of our project.

It doesn’t matter if you are in first-class or coach, there are certain things required before a plane can take-off. There needs to be time for everyone to get seated in the right places and safety information needs to be given. So, even though you have an exciting lesson, sometimes you have to get through the basics before you can get to the fun.

If I can get my students excited about what they are going to learn next, I can keep engaged in the activities.

It doesn’t matter what subject I teach, I need to make my students believe that there is no better place to be at that point in time than where they are.

I want my students to feel that learning is relevant to their lives. The skills they are learning are things that they will be able to use outside the classroom. The skills they are learning can be built upon and expanded if needed in order for them to be successful in life.

Photo by Andy Pearce on Unsplash