Teacherscribe's Teaching Thought #40

Teaching Thought #40

The four Elements of peak moments for your classroom.

In The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath, they explore how businesses and teachers can cater to the customer service experience so that your business or classes are filled with great experiences.  They examine ‘peak’ moments; their research has revealed that there are four elements inherent in peak moments. Element #3 – “Pride.”

PRIDE.  These moments catch us at our best.  Moments that involve pride take a lot of prep and building up to.  In other words, a goal has to be achieved. Seeing kids after a play, performance, or concert illustrates this well.  One thing I discovered about this was on the choir trip when I was visiting with Megan. She was talking to some sophomores who would be taking College Comp in the fall.  Megan talked about how much pride she took in her final paper, which she did a great job on. She said that when I tell kids that they have an 8-12 page paper due at the end of the course, she was horrified.  But the way the curriculum is structured, you start small and before you know it, you’re cranking out 4 page papers and then you’re cranking out a 6 page paper, so the last 8-12 page paper is do-able.

So how can you build “pride” in your students?  Make them aware of their own work and growth.

I saw how this was done first hand when I observed Coach Mumm’s strength training class a few years ago.  During class the kids were finding their maxes, or how much they could lift. They were then measuring how much they have grown over the quarter.  One student, who happened to be wheelchair bound, was doing pull ups. When he finished and collapsed into his chair, I thought he’d rest a bit, but, no.  As soon as his butt hit his wheelchair, he was wheeling over to Coach Mumm. Though he was breathing heavy from his feat, he couldn’t wait to tell Coach how many pull ups he had done.  The pride was all over his face.

I saw this too just last week on our way home from the choir trio to San Francisco.  Reese encouraged the seniors on our bus to come up and talk on the mic about their experiences.  Time and again, the students talked about how proud they were of their hardwork with Steve in the studio and how that all would pay off on their CD.

The keys to both of these prideful moments is to allow students to reflect on their hard work and accomplishments.  But if we’re chained to your curriculum, too often we just move on to what is next. And that doesn’t inspire anyone at all.  That just covers material. We want to craft amazing moments.