Pearadoxes in the Classroom

Making a Classroom Hospitable but Charged

In creating a positive and effective learning environment, we are continually pulled between extremes. I want my classroom to be fun but also rigorous. I want it to be a collaborative environment but also one where students get important, individual thinking time. I want it to be lively but efficient. I want to push my students to new heights but also see them experience success regularly. I want to expose them to new things but also enable them to follow their passions.

Trying to make a space where each extreme can coexist creates an ongoing but essential paradoxical challenge. By challenging ourselves to do what seems impossible, we create some of the best learning environments for our students.

Parker Palmer writes about the Six Paradoxes of the Classroom in his book The Courage to Teach. One paradox Parker describes is one we all struggle with: how do we help students learn lots of new, exciting things, without pushing them so hard they shut down?

Hospitable and Charged

Students can’t learn effectively when they are too stressed, panicked, or overwhelmed. At the same time, they won’t learn anything if the classroom or lesson is so comfortable they don’t have to consider any new ideas.

Thus, a classroom needs to be both hospitable and charged. It must be a place where students feel safe — where they feel that who they are and what they say will be respected, where they can explore freely without fearing chastisement for missteps. At the same time, it must be a place where their ideas are challenged. Not everything is relative or subjective. It’s not always enough to make a claim — a claim must be supported. It’s not enough to have a great idea — an idea must be executed.

So can both of these be true at once? How do we make students feel safe and challenged?

Some Ideas:

1. Greet students at the door and ask how they are doing. (Show them you care about them as individuals and are excited to see them every day).
2. Ask them what big challenges or activities they have coming up this week. (Acknowledge they have responsibilities beyond your class).
3. Infuse fun, play, and goofiness into the lesson. (In play, we feel more at ease to make mistakes and learn to trust each other).
4. Play icebreaker games to help them get to know and trust each other (and you).
5. Ask students to reflect on what part of the lesson they liked best. (Help them become aware of how they learn and what kind of activities help them).
6. Ask students to take note of their mood before starting and activity and reflect on the activity afterwards. (Help them become aware of how their emotions impact their learning).
7. Create a culture of questioning. By setting aside a time for asking questions, students will feel safe and encouraged to ask questions big and small.
8. Let your own passion for the subject shine brilliantly.
9. Ask open-ended questions and help students home in on the answer that seems most true.
10. Build trust with your students by assigning projects that have purpose beyond a grade. When class projects take on a real problem in your school or community you show students how to take their learning out into the world and accomplish something with it. (Show them you take their time and the subject matter seriously).

When trying to create a paradoxical classroom that is both hospitable and charged, remember that even small gestures can go a long way in showing students you care about who they are and what they have to say.