Teachable Moments

One of the things I look for as a teacher is those “teachable moments”, or “moments of educational opportunity”. The times when my students are particularly disposed to learn something, are responsive and aware of what is being discussed or taught in my classroom. These “teachable moments” are unplanned, unpredictable, and usually happen when I veer “off topic” and teach about life in a way that reaches my students in a personal manner. These moments often arise from an “innocent” question or comment, an idea generated by the students themselves. What makes these moments so powerful, for both the teacher and the student, is they are spontaneous, they just happen.

As a parent, these teachable moments arise with much greater frequency then they do in the “typical” high school classroom, but the ones that are the most rewarding, and have the greatest impact on our children, are still the ones that happen by accident, the ones that circumstances throw in our lap. It is truly amazing when a parent gets these spontaneous, teachable moments. It is a miracle when we get more than one of these in the same day.

A couple of weeks ago, I spent my Sunday with a group of volunteers building and installing new playground equipment at my sons’ school. With three young children at home, my wife Mary was not exactly thrilled that I would be gone most of the day, but this was tempered by the excitement of the new playground. Mary brought the kids by for a visit a little before lunch; so she could check on our progress and get the kids out of the house. The excitement in Ian and Nathan’s eyes was indescribable as they gawked at the new gear. It made all the hard work worth it. After spending a little time climbing around on the new equipment, Mary gathered up the kids and headed home for lunch. A little while later, she called telling me that the boys wanted to come back and watch us work on the playground. My two-year-old daughter was already down for a nap, so they were stuck at home. After a short discussion, we decided that the boys would ride their bikes down to the school (we only live about three blocks from the school). The boys love riding their bikes, but at only eight and six, Mary and I have always limited how far away from home without one of us with them. This would be their longest “unsupervised” ride and a teachable moment. Mary explained to the boys that they would ride down to the end of the street, turn right and go to the crosswalk a block over. They would wait for me at the corner, before crossing 75th Street (which is pretty busy, even on a Sunday). As I waited for the boys, I couldn’t help thinking about this lesson in independence. This was a spur of the moment decision by Mary and I, but one that would help teach our boys responsibility and independence. As Ian and Nathan, crossed the street, I knew they “learned” that we trust them and I didn’t have to say a word. They both said thank you and chattered about how cool it was for Mary and I to let them ride their bikes down to the school. It was an amazing moment.

Of course, the boys rode their bikes around the school parking lot for a few minutes before they were drawn back to the playground equipment. They weren’t the only ones. We had attracted decent sized group of children by this time, some were the children of other volunteers and some were from the neighborhood. In an effort to keep the kids out from under foot, the project coordinator asked the gathered children to help clean up the bits of trash and left over construction material on the playground. Both of my boys immediately told me they didn’t want to help clean up, they wanted to play on the new equipment. Teachable moment number two had presented itself. I quickly stopped working, walked over to them and sat them down. I explained to them that how I was volunteering my time to help others, that I was doing a service to the school and the community, and that it made me feel good, knowing that was a part of something that would benefit them, as well as every child who attended their school for years to come. I then went back to work. It wasn’t long before both of my sons were up, helping clean up like they were asked.

After they had finished, Ian came over to me and Ian said, “Dad, every time I play on the playground with my friends, I can tell them that my Dad helped build it.” He paused for a moment, and then continued, “I can say I helped too.”

Two teachable moments in one day, priceless. I am thankful I recognized these moments and didn’t miss a golden opportunity to “teach” my children about independence and the importance of service to others.