2. Eyeballs count. Social media often leverages eyeballs – the number of people viewing them – and are worth millions even before monetizing. Others convert reputation to attention to money (See: Wired Magazine: Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business).

3. Monetize parks, museums and galleries in other ways. Borrowing from these ideas, and my jaunt through London’s finest, consider this:

• Make money from gift shops & cafés – have more of them, with longer hours.
• Sell product placement in non-exhibit spaces – big logos on those portable seats, coffee, maybe even lighting? Make use of the eyeballs in different ways.
• Put huge glass donation boxes everywhere with the label “Keep it free” (Yes, I saw this in action!)
• Have amazing permanent exhibits and collections (London has some fantastic ones).
• Charge admission to featured exhibits.

4. It must innovative. Engaging. Great. “Museums know that free entry does not deliver wide access on its own. It takes imaginative programming and marketing to change an audience profile significantly, as well as sustained development work with communities with no tradition of museum visiting.” (See Museums Association: Free admission and the lottery)

1. Start walking. It’s best if children aren’t forced to walk in line unless it is necessary from a safety point of view (e.g. city streets, crowds of people). I do this on nature trails so there is no need for such rigidities, but go wild and try this in art galleries and museums where students can draw from their surroundings for ideas.
2. “Uh oh! My engine is broken!” Stop all of a sudden and freeze in an awkward position. Then, call out to a student, asking them to “wind you up” (miming a crank on your back). Most children come up with a variation of this on their own. They are amazingly creative, especially the young ones. Once someone comes to the rescue, start walking again.
3. After a while, start hopping spontaneously. “My hopper is stuck!” Continue hopping until, again, someone comes to the rescue. Let them invent a new solution to the problem (e.g. pull on your arm).
4. Invariably someone catches on and decides that they, too, are now broken. If this isn’t happening, call out, ” I think so-and-so is having trouble over there. Is your kicker alright?” Pick someone extroverted. They will get the hint.
5. Soon you’ll have a whole class full of children burning up that extra energy (and the fidgets too). The best part is that they will try to outdo each other jumping on one foot, zigzagging, flapping their arms, twisting, clapping, stomping, etc. By the time they arrive at the destination they’ll be wiggled out and ready to focus.

1. Be proud of success as you define it, but define it carefully

We all know of course that our obsession with the Joneses won’t make us happy (See The Joneses (2009) They’re not just living the American dream, they’re selling it), but then we go and do things, and buy things, and set up our days as if posturing some external success is what’s truly important to us.

And maybe it is. Maybe our posturing of success as we define it might actually be a practical step in our constant battle to help connect our values to our actions, such as in our quest for a more sustainable environment (See Dan Ariely: The Polar Bear and the Prius). Maybe if there was a “tomatometer” on the side of our house showing our net eco-worth, folks would be ashamed of that second SUV rather than proud…? Interesting idea. Maybe if we do it right, whatever “it” is, this is just part of showing the world who we truly are and what we care about.

What does this have to do with education? Basically, consider many facets of success when you define your outcomes and choose wisely (See 4 tips for good facilitation I learned from riding a bike). Also, remember that as an educator your students may not define success the same way you do. Talk to your class about what this means for the classroom environment and for them as individuals. Ask them how this evolves over time – will it be the same when they graduate? Let their input influence your planning for the year (or at least for some of it).

2. Give someone a choice today

We see this all the time with children, yet as educators we forget how important it is to know that someone trusts us to make good choices for ourselves. My four-year-old told me the other day that he didn’t want me to lock his car window when we drive onto the highway. I asked him, if you’re not allowed to open it, why do you care if it is locked? He answered simply, “I want the choice.”

So we hear from Andre Agassi that it is important to give children the opportunity to choose their own life and highlights education as a key part in making true systemic change (See With Education, There is Hope and his interview on CBC Radio Q).

It makes me think about how we can build choice into our education system, right down to the level of the lesson. Using inquiry-based instructional strategies, discovery learning, a real-world context, giving real problems and real choices to students as they learn.

3. Teach the process

Our definition of success permeates into each aspect of our day – from what we eat to whether we walk our children to school in the morning. We need to actually teach students how to define success for themselves. Let them articulate it, revisit it, and think critically about the things that influence it, good or bad.

Surely if we teach it to them on a micro level, it will become their life on a macro level? Right?

For the past few weeks I’ve taken on a little challenge of learning to like things I don’t like. I decided one day: no sugar in my tea, almond butter instead of peanut butter, plain yogurt instead of flavoured. It was just a little exercise to see if I could actually learn to like it. (See Learning to Love Foods You Hate: A How-to Guide for Frugal Eaters http://bit.ly/17RSes)

It got me to thinking. How do we learn to like things other than food – and can an instructor make use of this? What is hard-wired, and what is learned through our social and cultural context? If it takes so much effort to like a flavor, do the traditional “broccoli” subjects stand a chance? Can we help students train their brains to like them?

In her book Child of Mine: Feeding with Love and Good Sense, Ellyn Satter highlights the difference between being too controlling and not setting strong enough limits at the table. I think classrooms have a similar challenge. “It helps children learn to like new foods if they are allowed to try the food on their own initiative.” Satter suggests that children may need to see food 10, 15, or 20 times before they learn to like it. She also highlights studies that show children are more likely to try foods the second time if they see a trusted adult enjoying it rather than if they are forced to take a bite.

So, as with “difficult foods” is it just a matter of seeing a “difficult topic” 20 times before you’ll choose to try it? And if so, is there time for that? I’m imagining a classroom filled with options where we let participants choose for themselves while providing suggestions and active encouragement. It’s not that crazy.

A. Integrate choice into your lesson planning:

1. Learning centers, which can integrate discovery learning or inquiry (pure or guided) (See Sky Watchers Weather Learning Centers; Air Quality Health Index Learning Centers).

2. Differentiated instruction that considers an individual’s readiness and style of learning (See Carol Ann Tomlinson’s work).

3. Terry Thorsen’s “Cafeteria Style” Method of Testing and Evaluation. I learned this one first-hand at a teacher professional development session at Cobequid Educational Centre where Mr. Thorsen teaches. “Students can choose the level of question that matches their understanding of a topic but can still pass at the lowest level.”
(See Prime Minister’s Awards for Teaching Excellence http://www.pma-ppm.gc.ca/eic/site/pmate-ppmee.nsf/eng/wz00944.html or contact Mr. Thorsen yourself at C.E.C. http://cec.ccrsb.ca/faculty.htm).

4. Montessori practice, a hard-core application of choice where individuals learn topics of their own choosing directly from a supportive environment at their own pace (See The Montessori Method http://www.michaelolaf.net/).

B. If the best way to introduce new foods is to see a trusted adult enjoy the food, maybe that’s the case with learning subjects too. Plan activities in your lessons where students get a chance to see someone enjoying his or her work in that field:

1. Take students out to see real work in the field (See Économusée www.artisansatwork.ca)

2. Bring in professionals and subject-matter experts (See Scientists in the Schools (SITS), a program that helps connect volunteer science speakers with schools, http://atlanticsciencelinks.dal.ca)

3. Invite older students who really take interest in a subject. (Talk to Tracy Webb at Horton High School in the Annapolis Valley, Nova Scotia. She spearheaded Science Buddies, a program where volunteer high school students create and deliver science activities to elementary students. http://www.horton.ednet.ns.ca)

C. Remember, everyone’s broccoli is different. Personally, I’ve always loved science, math, and artsy things like painting and choir. Gym class was my broccoli, but I’ve learned to like that too (Thank you yoga!). As a facilitator, one of the worst things you can do is assume that if you hated math everyone is going to hate it. Be aware of your personal bias and then work on it. Understand your personal life experiences – your context – has a profound influence on how you see a topic or subject. The same is true of your students. Suggestions:

1. Draw-A-”Insert Profession Here”-Test.  This is a good one to try yourself as a facilitator to highlight your own default images. It can be a Draw-an-Artist-Test, Draw-a-Historian-Test, or Draw-a-Statistician-Test. I’d even recommend it at professional workshops for companies or orientation workshops for new hires (Draw-A-Manager-Test). It’s my little adaptation on the original Draw-A-Scientist-Test (DAST), first introduced by D.W. Chambers in 1983 ( See Chambers, D.W. 1983. Stereotypic images of the scientist: The Draw-a-Scientist-Test. Science Education. 67:255-265).

McGraw Hill adaptation of DAST (See http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072486740/student_view0/chapter10/portfolio_activity_10_4.html).

The CSI Effect (See http://www3.nsta.org/main/news/stories/science_scope.php?news_story_ID=52803).

So, whether we offer a few options for each activity or something every once in a while, how about next time we remember the lessons of broccoli – it’s not going to do any good to pry open their mouths and force it down! Let them choose to try it, give them some positive images to encourage them, and eventually they may just love it.

p.s. I actually really like broccoli, but no one would have understood if I had called my article “Classroom lobster: How lesson plans can help students learn to like difficult topics”. Yet, now that I think about it, that’s sort of the point of the whole thing. In a creative learning environment, it’s ok if your broccoli is my lobster, and it’s ok for me to love broccoli too.

It’s amazing to me how appealing a closed door is to learners. In fact, instead of engaging with the perfectly wonderful exhibits, two students focus their attention on the freight elevator. Here we have it – a “teachable moment” without a teacher. We didn’t really plan for it and it’s not really on our agenda for museum goers, but it happens over and over again as class after class flows through.

I know you understand that it’s not about the elevator per se, but here is a quick brainstorm of some educational materials that could be developed for my example of the “teachable moment”:

• The obvious one. On the bare wall next to a freight elevator, explain how elevators work. Give people levers and ropes to pull on and play with.

• The Science Elevator Pitch. This is one of my favorites. Let people record them as they ride, listen to them, create them. Give them the parameters and a topic in science (e.g. Have them “pitch” photosynthesis).

• Fill the walls with quotations about things in science and nature that go up and down (e.g. Everything from birds to tides to levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere).

• Biomimicry (designing from nature): Are there elevators in nature? How does nature defy gravity? What can we learn from nature in our designs? (See Janine Benyus: Biomimicry in action: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/janine_benyus_biomimicry_in_action.html)

• Food chain – show how the elevator represents going up and down a local food chain (e.g. Something with an issue attached to it – perhaps it is economically important, is affected by local development, or has social significance)

• Display live data from something that is metered on a continual basis (e.g. Live data on electricity or water usage in the building or the electricity used by the elevator as it moves up and down. You could even show the equivalent calories they could have burned or how many elevators full of mined coal would be used in a day/month/year. 

(See IBM: http://www.fastcompany.com/1648801/biomimicry-challenge-smart-design-ecosystem-approach-to-water-conservation-for-ibm)

I know I always say that you have to start with your learning outcomes (which you do), but there is something to be said for looking around the walls, the doors, the cabinets – looking around the learning environment to see if there are any missed opportunities. Better yet, if it’s possible, plan for it and let the built environment be part of the learning environment. This is what’s happening at the Nova Scotia Community College’s Centre for the Built Environment where “the building itself will be a learning tool”. (See NSCC unveils its Centre for the Built Environment, http://www.nscc.ca/News_Events/Media/2008/02-21-08-00.asp).

Creating Healthy Communities through Discourse

Everyone knows that the measure of an individual’s health should be far beyond the currency we use today, yet we continue to focus on disease management and risk lowering. What is needed is a new language in the dominant discourse regarding health and happiness. Health promotion must give people the words they can use each day at the kitchen table, in a meeting, on the phone, in an e-mail, at break, watching the game, outside the mall, in line at the grocery store, with their children, with their parents, with their clients, with their friends. That is where people talk about health and make choices about health. That is where cultural change is made.
Health should elicit words like balance, well-being, spirit, family, environment, community, happiness, relationships, caring, ecology, connection, reciprocity, trust, and voice.
Health promotion organizations can engage individuals to create a new definition of health and happiness that will change expectations, create ownership, and promote change on an individual level and thus a community level.

Measuring the Success of Health Promotion Organizations

Health organizations should be leaders in embracing a triple bottom line and should report financial, environmental and social outcomes. Why environmental outcomes? Health organizations must be environmentally sustainable – it is simply common sense. How can anyone promote health without recognizing the source of healthy food, healthy water, healthy air, and healthy land? Even without any consideration of health as more than just the absence of disease, it IS part of the mandate because healthy living is simply is not sustainable without a healthy environment. How can we continue to act as if the living earth, the biosphere, is limitless and will provide healthy resources to us and to our children?

Health Promotion = Happiness Promotion
The promotion of health depends on the promotion of happiness. We must reflect seriously on how we define and measure health and happiness before we can form any kind of plan to promote them.

2. You need more than subject matter expertise. It should have been easy. After all, I know how to ride a bike (one could say I have subject matter expertise). Apparently, even though I know something really well, it doesn’t mean I should just walk out the door and go teach it without a thought. If you want people to actually take something valuable away with them (and keep coming back for more), the learning process is just as important as the content.

3. Provide a safe environment for learning. No matter what the subject, you have to get past the fear of failure. Of course we’ve been socially programmed to fear some content (like math) more than others, so then it’s even more important. How do you do this? For my little guy, it meant moving from crushed stone and grass to a recycled tire playground surface. In a classroom, this means social safety too.

4. Enthusiasm is only so contagious. You need creative instructional strategies. Just because you are crazy about {fill in your passion here}, doesn’t mean your students will be. So you’d think learning to ride a bike would be motivation enough for a kid – right? Wrong. He lost interest after a few tries. He wasn’t mad or upset, just not interested anymore. He went off to climb on the playground or run around. He got bored with it. So, I had to come up with a way to get his attention again. A new instructional strategy. Role play: Big bad wolf. I became the little pig and he chased me on his bike – if he made it across to my “house” he got to eat my piggie tails, ears, you get the drift… All of a sudden he was back on the bike.