The short answer, yes. Teaching in the margins benefits not only the students but also makes teaching itself more interesting for everyone involved. But before we get ahead of ourselves, what are the margins and how do you get there?
What are margins?
In nature, margins are areas between larger areas, for example, a bank between a river and a forest. This bank is different from both the river and the forest, but it needs both to exist. In margins, the biodiversity is much higher than one might think in an area that size. Because the margins are such different places from the areas around it, it allows many to thrive which may not have otherwise. In education, the margins are an area in which, much like in nature, thoughts and curiosity that are outside the norm can thrive and flourish.
How do you take your class to the margins?
One thing that many teachers have trouble with is that you can’t always take your class to the margins. Going to the margins has to be led by the students. Teachers can give prompts or ask questions that cause the students to want to investigate, but if the students are resilient to going to the margins, then you can’t force them to go there. With proper encouragement, the vast majority of students will go to the margins because people are curious. People want to learn and one of the best ways for them to do that is in the margins. As Bill Nye (yes, the Science Guy) says about learning in the video below, “you always want the student to figure it out for her or himself you don’t want to give her or him the answer if you can help it.” A student figuring out the answer on their own is so much more powerful and meaningful than just being told the right answer by a teacher.
Some things to remember about margins:
- They are relational places
- The margins can only be talked about and experienced with reference to their surroundings. Margins in a classroom can’t exist without the ‘center’ or the standard curriculum being there. The margins are meant to reinforce what is being talked about in the center of the classroom and give a new perspective on that topic by allowing students to ask ‘off the wall’ questions and investigate the answers.
- They are unpredictable
- Sometimes, teachers can guide their class to the margins with a leading question. Other times, a student will ask a question that sparks the curiosity of the class into the margins. As a teacher trying to teach in the margins, flexibility is key. You can’t always plan when your class is going to the margins, but you must encourage this.
- They can’t just be talked about
- As talked about earlier, margins can’t exist in a vacuum. Along that same line, talking about margins is not the same as teaching in the margins. The margins are meant to be a place for students to ask questions and investigate, so without both of those aspects, there is no margin.
Teachable moments are the same as teaching in the margins right?
Not at all. There are many differences between teachable moments and teaching in the margins, one of the most important being mentioned in my tweet below.
A student answering a question wrong and the teacher telling them that it’s wrong and giving them the correct answer is not teaching in the margins. One easy way to differentiate the two is that teachable moments are caused by mistakes, while teaching in the margins is sparked by questions.
Okay, I’m convinced! How do I teach in the margins though?
The main way to teach in the margins is to encourage questions but don’t answer them. Let your students figure it out. You’re there to encourage their curiosity, keep them on track, and facilitate the discovery, but the students take charge. As mentioned previously, not all teaching can be done in the margins, but what can be done there, should be. One way that I will go to the margins is by encouraging off the wall question from students. If a student were to ask me how a worm chewed, I wouldn’t just explain it to them, I would have them design and do an investigation to figure it out for themselves. Remember, margins aren’t always planned, but they add a lot to each lesson that they are a part of. Teaching in the margins is also a ket piece in the puzzle of being an exemplary science teacher.
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