Never Underestimate the Power of a Green Balloon for Motivating Reluctant Learners to Participate in Classroom Conversations

I gave my students one task at their tables of 4 to 5: keep the green balloon in the air. All the students were submitting their first literacy lesson plans, paired with Ann E. Burg's Flooded: Requiem for Johnstown, and I knew they'd be frazzled because it's nerve-wracking turning in your first teacher-esque lesson plan. While they kept the green balloons in the air, I had a series of questions for them to ask about the ups and downs of their lesson plans, what worked and didn't work, where their frustration landed, and how their accomplishments were achieved. The activity lasted over 7 minutes and as I joined each group, kept the balloons going, I formatively oversaw what they were saying. 

True story: Class of 2006. I had a cohort of students that weren't into school, rarely did the work, and basically resisted instruction and goals for their academic success. One day, however, we tapped around a balloon and they became obsessed with keeping it in the air. Why they were motivated by this task, I'll never know, but instruction then became centered around balloon conversations. I'd have my daily objectives, and even if they wouldn't read or write, they'd talk about knowledge with the balloon in the air. This was my subversive way of instructing them, even as they didn't want to be instructed.

The graduate class last night read a chapter on motivation, and it paired well with the class on motivating writers two weeks before. We all realized there are multiple factors that motivate us, and the secret for teaching is to find the ways the young people we work with are motivated, even when they aren't into school, learning, or building pathways to their future. When the balloon worked with them, that's where I decided to go. Eventually, we were able to move beyond a balloon, but it took the balloon first. 

No, you can't make up the experiences most classroom teachers have. Too many think it's an easy job or one can snap their fingers and kids will want to do the work. This rarely, rarely happens. Teaching in college is very different. 

We're also reading Jarred Amato's new book Just Read It, and it's a great addition to get future educators (and in-practice teachers) to think about building literate communities when encountering non-readers in school. Like Amato, I've found that with the right books, the kids will read. Often, the books districts expect students to read simply results in Cliff Notes, gaming the system, cheating, and students disengaged with school. Amato noted that off all high school graduates that go to college (which is around 37% percent of them), only 1% will major in English programs. It's hard to get many to shift their idea of reading, its purposes, and its possibilities when most high schools are trying to prepare kids to be literary scholars (which the percentages show is not necessarily doable). 

Yes, motivating kids to read is what our goals should be. Central to it all is tapping the purposes for reading so the young people remain engaged with knowledge for the rest of their lives. 

The students were amazing last night of talking and keeping their green balloons in the air. Kudos to them, just like I cheered the reluctant readers in 2006.