Well, there is one formula that has unlocked some of the answers to life, space, and time as we know it, so this post applies that same formula to the world of teaching and learning. This is my Theory of Educational Relativity.
More specifically (and with apologies to Albert Einstein), this theory expands to become a theory of relativity, as well as relatability and responsibility in our teaching lives. In looking at the formula, I've swapped a few elements and ideas into the mix. Here goes:
Experience
Experience is everything. The experience of our own education is our foundation of how we first encountered teaching and learning. The student-experience is what we are lucky enough to be tasked with creating. We can engineer experience and craft moments that ignite learning. That’s when we witness these other Es: Empowerment, Engagement, Empathy. When these elements come alive, so does learning.
M
Moments
Experience may be everything, but it’s built by moments. Some moments are transformative, while others are also small and personal. If you’ve read my blog before, you know about my 3 Ms that I like to say build those powerful moments. The alchemy is in the intersection of student learning that’s Meaningful, Memorable, and Measurable. A teacher can have a great lesson that hits one of these elements, but when all three intersect- that’s the sweet spot, that’s the magic of moments that ignites learning.
To get back to Einstein, a moment can be considered a point in time and space, so thinking about our building and classrooms, how well (or flexibly) do we approach time and space? What are our variables when it comes to educational time and space? Personalized, Blended, and Flipped learning begin to shift conventional thinking about both components. There’s a reason flexible seating or redesigned learning spaces feel revolutionary, and it’s because they break traditional structures to explore new depth and dimension in student learning.
I don’t mean that we are entering a different dimension in the twilight zone sense, but an increased depth of knowledge, or flexibility in students’ opportunities to show what they know in authentic and meaningful ways. This shift brings emphasis on student competency and understanding over compliance and completion.
C
🎶 Somewhere Beyond the Cs 🎶
I’m a big fan of the 4 Cs (communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking), but that’s just the start, and since Einstein reminds us that the C is squared, here’s the exponential connection. It’s my belief that those are the “student 4Cs,” while there are additional 4Cs (school 4Cs). These are Culture, Compassion, Connection, Climate.
If we want our students to experience learning through their Cs, our buildings and classrooms should function to provide learning environments that actively foster and promote culture, compassion, connection, and climate. That’s where empowerment and empathy emerge, and that’s where student agency begins.
While we may not be unlocking the secrets of the universe, I hope this post can serve to shift thinking about our own relativity (the perceptions and perspective we bring), relatability (the connections and relationships we create), and responsibility (the opportunity we face to impact a student’s learning trajectory and their experience of learning). We escape the black holes that distract us or keep us from our forward progress, and avoid the wormholes of time when we catch ourselves doing or saying the exact things our own teachers said to us! Teaching in the moment may not be rocket science, but sometimes it feels like it. When we can bring Einstein's equation to life in our own classrooms and building, time can stand still, and learning happens at the speed of life.
