An Unexpected, Teachable Moment

A few weeks ago, I started co-teaching in the classroom. It’s part of my training during the second phase of my Peace Corps tenure. It’s meant to give me experience in the classroom before I take over completely in January when the new school year begins.

Earlier last week, I had an unexpectedly wonderful moment with the grade seven learners. Exams are coming up soon, so I was reviewing the writing process with them. I had gotten to the step in the writing process where they were going to edit their work. I wrote a sample paragraph on the chalkboard riddled with grammatical errors and misspellings. I gave the class a few minutes to make edits to the paragraph. The learners and I then went over the edits together. While we did this, there were a couple of learners who thought I should have put a period (called a full stop in South Africa) before the word “because” in one of the sentences. At first, I didn’t think much of this suggestion; I simply explained that the sentence was written correctly.

Before I moved onto the next part of class, I asked if they had any questions about editing. A learner who’s one of the more involved participants in class raised his hand and asked, “Why didn’t you put a full stop before ‘because’?” This time, instead of saying the sentence is correct, I decided to give more of an explanation. I told him and the other learners that the word offers more information to the first part of the sentence, or, to put it another way, the second half of the sentence is an extension of the initial thought. Then something happened that I wasn’t expecting; the learners asked a follow-up question – “why?”

(Sidebar: Since I started working in the classroom, I haven’t witnessed learners ask probing questions. Usually they accept whatever is given to them. This is partly because there is a deep respect for elders, like teachers, in the Zulu culture. It’s also because learners aren’t challenged to think critically. The focus is more about getting things right. For example, another time when I was teaching, I explained that in English there are many ways of saying the same thing. Virtually all of the learners had a hard time understanding this concept because in their minds to be right is to do everything the same way, including how something is said or written.  Okay, back to the story...)

I responded with a question, “Have you heard that a sentence is a representation of a thought?” This puzzled the learners; what does that mean? Seeing that they didn’t understand, I explained that anytime they wanted to express a thought they used sentences; whether that was in writing or in speech. People who speak or write well use whole sentences, or, to put it another way, whole thoughts. I then gave them examples of what I meant. It didn’t take long for them to get it. Eventually they were giving me examples. They looked pleased with themselves that they understood.

We continued on with class, and the moment passed without further thought for me. It wasn’t until I was home and telling Michelle about my day that this experience stood out as significant. I realized it was an unexpected, teachable moment. What’s more… it was a moment inspired by a learner asking a meaningful question. It’s in these moments that I feel that I am truly making a difference. I don’t doubt, at least I hope, that the learners are learning when I’m giving instruction, but I think the best teachable moments come from the learners themselves. It’s when learners take command of their own learning and make their own meaning. It’s when they construct knowledge on their own and begin building a foundation as lifelong learners.