Bid adieu to week two

It’s the beginning of week three and I am fairly certain it is safe to say that the honeymoon is over. Students have become comfortable with me and the daily droning routines of high school. In my experience people, not just students, tend to achieve less than desirable results when they become secure and thus complacent. Being the eclectic educator and applier of theory that I am, I have come to employ Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) in most areas of teaching and learning. Without initiating a snore inducing composition on ZPD, I will say that by adding controlled or calculated doses of stress into various activities students achieve more by simply not being comfortable. The key is to find that small sweet spot for each student between complacency and frustration, that area where they are on slightly on edge and uncomfortable, where they flourish the most. It is a tool I utilize daily in teaching (e.g. math, science, social skills, leadership, and photography) and in my own learning.  I hope this collection of irreverence can be applied to your own teaching and learning styles.