{"id":1227,"date":"2018-09-19T22:48:30","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T02:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/edt431-531\/?p=1227"},"modified":"2018-09-19T22:48:30","modified_gmt":"2018-09-20T02:48:30","slug":"teaching-in-the-margins-getting-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2018\/09\/teaching-in-the-margins-getting-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching in the Margins &#8211; Getting There"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Remember those times in the classroom where you were totally invested in what you were learning? Those times when you lost a sense of time and space and felt like you were actually a part of something? You felt something out of the ordinary from what you were used to doing or being a part of in the classroom?<\/p>\n<p>Those times were probably when your teacher was teaching\u00a0<em>in the margins.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<h2>What are the margins?<\/h2>\n<p><em>The margins\u00a0<\/em>are the times when you move away from the center to explore things outside of the norm and try creative, new things in teaching.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ak1.picdn.net\/shutterstock\/videos\/12619751\/thumb\/1.jpg?resize=443%2C250&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Image result for forest and field\" width=\"443\" height=\"250\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This threshold between field and forest is an example of how in the margins exists the most diversity and interaction. Between the field and forest, this is an area of discovery and a difference from the center. When teaching, you should be striving to reach for that diversity and interaction between students and the curriculum, each other, and the world around them.<\/p>\n<h2>But how do you teach in the margins?<\/h2>\n<p>Teaching in the margins is all about breaking out of the typical class structure.\u00a0 This could include things like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>allowing the class to spend that extra time answering the questions that students are genuinely interested in figuring out<\/li>\n<li>letting students figure concepts out by themselves<\/li>\n<li>helping students connect with the material in a personal way<\/li>\n<li>working on the edge of the curriculum to investigate concepts not directly stated, but relevant to their learning<\/li>\n<li>releasing control of the set structure of the class to allow for more valuable open communication.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Bill Nye (the Science Guy) put it nicely when he says that &#8220;having someone do it is worth being told about it a thousand times.&#8221; He is reinforcing the concept of getting away from the typical lecture experience of many classrooms and trying something different and encouraging students to &#8220;choose&#8221; to learn something.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bill Nye on Teaching Science Like Comedy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AqCytRZRXng?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>What does this mean for my classroom?<\/h2>\n<p>You can incorporate teaching in the margins by a number of different ways, and it doesn&#8217;t just mean doing a hands-on activity:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>have a local expert in the field come into the class to help children understand more about the subject matter and how it impacts this person&#8217;s life and their community.<\/li>\n<li>sparking a discussion about how the students feel about a particular debated scientific issue.<\/li>\n<li>having classroom animals to learn about and take care of to help understand and connect with nature.<\/li>\n<li>doing an activity involving collaboration, sharing of ideas, inquiry, and discovery such as creating their own lab experiment to learn about specific concepts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>An important thing to remember about the margins is that you can move in and out of them fluidly. If you choose to have a class period devoted to them, you can. But, you can also spend half the class time there, or simply drift in and out. These can be planned or unplanned times.<\/p>\n<h2>Teaching in the Margins vs. Teachable Moment<\/h2>\n<p>These things sound very similar to most people, however, they are actually quite different things.<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.theonlinemom.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/Teachable-Moments-4.jpg?resize=221%2C277\" alt=\"Image result for teachable moment\" width=\"221\" height=\"277\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A &#8220;teachable moment&#8221; is something entirely unplanned sparked by a student&#8217;s curiosity that can usually be completed in a short time frame. This is usually closely related to the material and close to the center of learning. These can be useful teaching opportunities and can lead to great moments, however, they are not the margins.<\/p>\n<p>The margins can be planned or unplanned and focus more on pushing the boundaries of what the material is. Though you can move in and out of the margins, these tend to take longer than the short explanation for a teachable moment. The students are typically the ones making the discoveries instead of a short answer from a teacher.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com\/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRGMEkS9JgFWMJo2W8U2IuXYqH6futWHqwDDWBAzxGdTEO7M0ve\" alt=\"Image result for education quote\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Dr. Ann E. Haley-Oliphant puts it well in her piece entitled\u00a0<em>Exploration, Risk-Taking, and Wonderment: Traveling to the Margins of Instruction\u00a0<\/em>when she writes that &#8220;we would expect the margins of the classroom to be places where diversity of thought is promoted, risks are taken, dreams are fostered, and enjoyment of the material is experienced.&#8221; (1994).<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">How can we get our students excited and involved in learning? Check out this post to learn more about leaving the center to do some work in the margins! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VtcqrM3OSE\">https:\/\/t.co\/VtcqrM3OSE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/scienceteaching?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#scienceteaching<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/EDT431?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#EDT431<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/nsta?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#nsta<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AnnMacKenzie?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@AnnMacKenzie<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Margaux Haiber (@margaux_haiber) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/margaux_haiber\/status\/1042605655226572800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">September 20, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-jetpack-boost=\"ignore\" async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h6>Haley-Oliphant, A. E. (1994) Exploration, risk-taking, and wonderment: Traveling to the margins of instruction. In Exploring the Places of Exemplary Science Teaching, in Haley-Oliphant, A. E. (ed). Washington, DC: American Association for the Advancement of Science, p. 99-114.<\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Remember those times in the classroom where you were totally invested in what you were learning? Those times when you lost a sense of time <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2018\/09\/teaching-in-the-margins-getting-there\/\" title=\"Teaching in the Margins &#8211; Getting There\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2517,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-teaching-in-the-margins"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2517"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1245,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1227\/revisions\/1245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}