Location, Location, Location

 

While the summer can potentially put a stick in your spokes, you love teaching, and search again for something to give this year an exciting face-lift. Looking for inspiration, you blow a very thick layer of dust off The Seven Laws of the Learner, but that is no help. I have an idea for you.

A number of years ago I realized something about the way I learn. I discovered that my physical location has tremendous bearing on how a bit of information impacts me. This year I’m reminding myself of that forgotten lesson.

The teacher must know WHERE the learner will learn best.

For example:

1. I step to the plate in the bottom of the 7^th inning. It’s a local softball tournament, and the game is tied. I really want to rip the cover off the ball this time. Between pitches, the umpire leans forward and quietly explains that the Monarch butterfly always migrates to Mexico.
2. A friend and I are sitting on the shores of Lake Erie in the early hours of the morning. Through the morning mist, we watch the sun peep over the horizon. My friend reminds me that I ought to stand forward in the batter’s box to avoid hitting fly balls.

Now, let’s put location and learning together:

1. I step to the plate in the bottom of the 7^th inning. It’s a local softball tournament and the game is tied. I really want to rip the cover off the ball this time. Between pitches, the umpire leans forward and quietly reminds me that I ought to stand forward in the batter’s box to avoid hitting a fly ball.
2. A friend and I are sitting on the shores of Lake Erie. Through the morning mist, we watch the sun peep over the horizon. My friend observes that our grandparents have passed on. We ponder what it means for our generation to take our place and be committed members of our communities.

Great teachers are masters at taking their classroom from the Marianna Trench to the peak of Mt. Everest in the twinkle of a top-notch role-play. Still, role-play is only better than some other methods, not always the best approach.

It’s popular these days to get out of your classroom, so you might want to start planning fifteen field trips. But that’s impossible. You just might be overlooking a mountain of great learning locations within eyesight of your classroom.

A number of years ago, I decided to list every place within eyesight of my classroom that might be a helpful location for learning. I was astounded and rewarded! I recall a Bible class about heaven in the church graveyard. Afterward, a student who rarely talked pointed out his little sister’s grave.

Within a few hundred yards of my current classroom there is a church sanctuary, a shade tree, a graveyard, a ball field, a gym, a garden, a hot parking lot, a stack of round bales, a sewage plant, a damp basement, a beaver pond, and even a walk-in freezer. I also have a very steep bank on which my students can sit while I teach them a physics lesson on force vectors.

Don’t overlook those great locations within eyesight of your classroom. It might surprise you how many there are. Give this year a fresh face-lift by hitting those locations for a number of class periods. It might even help your students learn more.

Warning: If your location choices do not connect with your content, your students will be distracted rather than helped.