The Magic of the Margins

Being from Kentucky, I’m familiar with corn fields and their look. The same things, planted in rows and columns, spread apart the same length. There is no other plant growing there, it’s a monoculture. However, on the outskirts of the field, there lies the margins. Here, there is diversity in plants, species, and ecosystems. In education, most classrooms fall into the field category or the center. Lecture heavy, exams make up most of the grades, answers are given, and growth is minimal. A classroom that is in the margins, however, is determined by characteristics such as:

• Diversity of ideas and personalities
• Unpredictable answers and activities
• Adaptable environment 
• Questioning everything
• Taught to think, not memorize 

Margins vs teachable moments

To teach in the margins is a deliberate choice and is student-centered. Students guide themselves toward knowledge by asking questions and exploring a topic. They become the experts and use their knowledge to explain science in a big-picture way. They are looking beyond the classroom and how science enriches everyday life. A teachable moment is something that happens unexpectedly in the environment/classroom. It’s teacher-driven, with the teacher explaining but still guiding students to ask questions and helping them answer questions. 

My Marginal Classroom

A couple of days ago, I had the opportunity to listen to a lecture with John Green. The Green brothers revolutionized education with Crash Course and I owe much of my knowledge to them and my curiosity. John Green stated, “I love humanity, we’re a catastrophe”. And humans have indeed made many mistakes and issues. However, John Green continued by saying, “One thing I love about humans is our ability to fix mistakes and tackle issues”. We come together to help each other and solve issues. A teacher can encourage students to be curious and solve problems. Science is more than asking questions, it’s coming up with solutions to fix or mediate issues. I will teach in the margins of my classroom by encouraging solutions over answers. Answers are definite and used to get a grade. Solutions can be used but they may not work, which means they need to be rethought. My classroom will be centered on the process of coming up with solutions and thinking about how concepts can be applied to everyday life. My classroom in the margins:

• Allowing students to speak freely on ideas
• Labs that have no definitive outcome
• Be flexible and adapt to changes
• Plan but don’t be rigid
• Take an interest in student’s interests 
• Interwin interetssas and science
• Make the most out of the time given
• The quality of a lesson over the quantity

“It seems to me that the great pleasure of human life is not in having an opinion, but rather in learning all the ways you are wrong, and all the nuances you failed to account for, and all the truths that turned out to be not as simple as you once believed. And it seems to me that one of the central pleasures of attending school is that you get to read with really well-informed people who can help welcome you into a complex world stuffed with rich and maddening ambiguity.”
— John Green

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