Often the role of the teacher is emphasized as the guide and the leader but an important feature to gain trust and engagement with students is to humanize yourself and effectively ‘break the 4th wall’. Those not familiar with the theater term, the 4th wall usually refers to the stage as being this closed container within which the drama plays out completely removed and unaware of the audience. However, occasionally, an actor pierces the veil and communes with the audience, speaking directly to them as confidants or co-conspirators.
Sometimes in teaching, especially for older audiences we can get swept up in following our lecture notes and running through our lesson plan as if it was a play performed at the front of the class without any exchange from our audience or perhaps with a few pop quiz questions to be answered here and there. This can create a stark seperation between teachers and students without any shared sense of investment or risk. If we want our students to push themselves into a new spaces of learning we must also model a courageousness to share more of ourselves and our personal experiences. Sharing our personal journey also helps to create context for the course as you can connect your personal motivations for teaching and getting into STEM. These stories help to humanize the material and create a stronger sense of trust and communion as a class.
Sharing our Stories
You’ve got to risk something – on teaching as improvisation
To create a sense of connection, it can be helpful to get a little personal. Instead of upholding the idea that you have mastered everything about your discipline, you can model a nimble mindset that is rooted in curiosity.
“I am still figuring things out, and I don’t know what’s next” – is a great way to start a conversation and have people open up about things that they are interested in, would like to explore, or share when they feel threatened or intimidated by something.
Another way is to be an active part in brainstorms as well and demonstrate that you, too, are learning in this space. In these moments, the participants in the space can experience an equalization of knowledge/power while the teacher remains the guide who is leading through the process. If that a majority/ a lot of constructive energy/curiosity/interest is moving into a particular direction, I can consider whether I am willing to let go of something to reach this objective (based on original agreements/criteria, or what is set up with the students). When improvising like this, it is important to cultivate a nimble mindset, continuously check in and see whether needs are met and be ready to adapt for new needs to emerge.
A mode of building curricula and teaching that allows for more flexibility and pivot according to student needs and interests is to build the concepts you want to get across as modules, closed units in themselves that you can move around. This allows you to enter the classroom with a particular story arch in mind and change the course and still be able to reach the destination.
The best way of feeling more comfortable with that improvisation is to understand yourself as a puzzle maker and see how these puzzle pieces are interchangeable .
how to overcome insecurity when experiment with embodied teaching for the first time
People who step into improvisation for the first time might have trouble figuring out where to start. Instead of just jumping into it unprepared and potentially getting overwhelmed by the vast possibilities in the wide open space, it can be helpful to create a small set (two or three) rules for yourself in order to have a safe container.
