Quantum Teaching

 I have often heard the expression "teachable moments", which I particularly learned in reading Parker Palmer's writing. It's only been in my own recent experiences teaching young students that I can understand what it means. In the past, this expression has invariably brought to mind the character in Dead Poet's Society, who tries to inspire young men to tackle the issues of life through poetry. But in reality, it seems that the teachable moment is not so dramatic. Contrary to what it may seem, teachable moments might even be moments where 'teaching' in its traditional, instruction-based sense might not even be available or applicable.
   To use an example, there are times when a student appears not to have followed the assignment instructions or is presenting something straight from a book rather than trying to put it into their own words. In moments like this, I might want to jump right in and start instructing students before the lesson gets derailed. I might even get impatient with the idea of student reading aloud for long periods of time through a book, thinking, "now I need to get the class back on track and start actually teaching." But the problem with this view is that it overlooks the delicate process of learning, where the ability to learn doesn't sit with the teacher alone or the student alone. Martin Buber once referred to two analogies when describing these two approaches: one is a teaching 'filter' where the teacher controls the outcome and content, and the other is a kind of 'pump', where the student is the sole arbitrator of the educational experience. Neither of these seems correct, because the learning experience is always a relationship in some ways which takes place by way of many factors. And if we take teaching too literally to be the act of processing experiences for the student, we can overlook the other ways in which students find themselves learning in the process of doing. Reading aloud from a chosen book is one example of an activity that seems disempowering to the active process of learning, but it can actually build unexpected ways of approaching a text, by 'sounding' out the text as though it were one's own thoughts.
    Teachable moments may not even be intended to that way. However, I have to caution that the teacher had better not leave the classroom up to chance or fate because of this. I have found, rather, that the serendipity of teaching moments sheds light on the way I can plan classes without becoming overly fixated on the plan itself--thus allowing the classroom the space for unexpected learning moments. In other words--yes, by all means, have your plans, but treat your plans more as clouds of possible paths rather than exact trajectories. Think of plans as cloud chambers, not as single straight lines.