Slice of Life: The Class of Infectious Curiosity

(This is for the Slice of Life challenge, hosted by Two Writing Teachers. We write on Tuesdays about the small moments in the larger perspective … or is that the larger perspective in the smaller moments? You write, too.)

I almost title this post “The Chatty Class in Room 8” or “The Class of Non-stop Talking.”

But I didn’t, because the more I thought of this one particular class of sixth grade students (out of four groups that I teach), the more I realized that the talkative nature is driven more by wondering and curiosity than anything else. I’ve had plenty of classes through the years where the talking was difficult to keep in check (and I am pretty lenient most of the time) and where small clusters of students (last year, it was a group of boys) think class time is social time all the time, and that the teacher’s voice is one to tune out.

Not this group.

These students always have their hands raised, always want to contribute to the conversations, whatever the topic might be. They always are asking insightful queries to their classmates during presentations. They bring us on tangents, true, but interesting ones, with odd angles of looking. They always seem to want to know more, more, more.

And I think that curiosity is infectious, is it not?

I noticed the leaders of the class — smart, strong students — being kind to others, by asking them to share more, explain more, think more, question more. And their classmates have followed their lead, which is quite interesting to watch and to see. They’ve already built on my work with them to create a safe space to wonder in.

So, even if the room gets loud at times, it’s the right kind of loud. The curious kind. The kind of talk every classroom in every school, everywhere, should be open to.

Peace (and wonder),
Kevin

7 Comments
  1. How powerful that you’ve chosen to see your class through this positive lens and to support their wonder and curiosity! What a journey you’ll be going on this year!

  2. This post brings me hope, as I sometimes see a lack of wonder in our elementary students. It’s one of the reasons I do a lesson with our online databases and allow them free exploration of them for a few minutes. It’s sad when a child doesn’t even know what to search for, click on…but that is happening less often now, thank goodness!

  3. Your words resonate with me and I’ll be carrying them into my classroom today: “I noticed the leaders of the class — smart, strong students — being kind to others, by asking them to share more, explain more, think more, question more. And their classmates have followed their lead, which is quite interesting to watch and to see. They’ve already built on my work with them to create a safe space to wonder in.“

    Creating a safe space to wonder in is where I’m headed today.

  4. I am always “wondering” about things which inevitably makes me curious and always leads to trying to find out more about whatever I’m wondering about. Your classroom sounds (get it) like a classroom should sound when it is fully engaged. How lucky you are to have this group and I’m sure you’ll be doing wonderful things with them this year.
    P.S. It might be a good idea to have a half hour or so of silence during the day…just to develop a bit of self discipline.

  5. There are so many kinds of loud just as The Quiet Book captures the many silences we experience. Good reminder to listen in, capture some of what’s being said and then reflect on the levels of talk.

Leave a Reply to Tamara Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *