Developing a Sense of Urgency

In today’s PD session with CTL Academy Team, three weeks into the start of the school year the teachers shared that their students were showing signs of some bad habits returning. These habits included turning in work late, or not doing it, or not completing assigned tasks. Some of the teachers shared that to help mitigate these issues they have asked students to come to their class after they finish lunch to do the tasks and others have informed the students’ parents. Overall it seems that a cycle of futility is setting in.

Sense of Urgency is defined by professor John P Kotter as a “highly positive and highly focused energy driven by the belief that the world contains both great opportunities and great hazards and one must be determined to act now on critical issues. ” (2008) When students have this sense they are able to make learning happen and find fulfillment- the have tos become want tos and students start to take ownership of their learning. How to achieve creating this sense or helping students find this sense is described well in an article by Joanne Kelleher in her article titled Creating a sense of urgency to spark learning published in 2015. She describes a handful of strategies a teacher can use to help cultivate this urgency in their students without leaving behind half the class. One area that stands out is in planning. She states:

These are attributes of lessons that cultivate a sense of urgency:

• Authentic learning tasks that are important and demand the students’ attention;
• Collaboration with an expert in the field;
• Student-generated short- and long-term goals; and
• An audience for student work.

(Kelleher, 2015)

What else….

When we as educators take into account these attributes and connect them to our learners’ interests along with playing with pacing we can see a shift from learners being passive to being active. In an article in Edutopia, teacher Ben Johnson describes his best geometry lesson when it applied to saving a kid on top of the gym roof with a bit of rope and knowing the property of similar triangles. Using scenarios and taking kids out of the classroom to explore different ideas and concepts is another strategy Johnson used.

Parents/Guardian Roles

Interestingly there are a couple of different perspectives. One parent suggests letting your child fail using an example of a child not doing their chores. After several reminders to empty the dishwasher, the parent decided to counter with not serving dinner. The kid thought she was just bluffing but after 25 minutes passed the child checked in again on dinner and the parent responded- no dishes no dinner… the child figured out that they had to wash some dishes to get dinner.

Another researcher provides a few more strategies. Caroline DeLoreto describes seven specific tips to develop your child’s sense of self and offers a warning- it is important to let go and allow space for your child to find their own interests and direction. The tips include:

• 1) Encourage exploration and curiosity.
•  2) Support your kids in choosing what interests them. Don’t push your agenda on them.
• 3) Recognize introverted verses extroverted interests.
• 4) Let your teen learn from their choices and natural consequences.
• 5) Stop worrying about how things will look on their college application.
• 6) Don’t try to live your life through your kids.
•  7) Take some time to look at your own sense of self and passions.

(DeLoreto, 2015)

Crisis Aversion

Just recently I had the opportunity to see a mainstream movie in the cinema. As we were enjoying our popcorn waiting for the feature film to start I could not help to notice the rapid fire of advertising that started. The speed of each advert was on par with a TikTok or Reel with lots of transitions. At one point I had to close my eyes because it was too much too fast; then I realized that my daughter and her friend were fine watching these and it is because they have shorter attention spans as 12 year olds. Nowadays it seems that with all the ‘swiping’ we as a society take in lots of information at rapid fire yet what sticks?

As educators we need to actively teach with and about a sense of urgency- caring about learning. There is a lot of research that includes specific strategies that help students improve the effectiveness of their studying. Some are described below:

Spaced Interval Repetition or the Pomodoro Technique: In both instances the idea is that our brains learn best in short intervals with active breaks in between. Sounds like a HIIT session- learning is not different than physical fitness. The Pomodoro technique is more overall structuring the study session into 20-25 minute timings with clear goals to be achieved for each one. Spaced Interval Repetition is how you actually study the content and works well for memorization strategies. It is based off of a 1960s technique that was proven successful.

Cornell Notes: This is a method of taking notes that requires one to be active and engaging with the text- either by asking questions or making connections between key points. It helps support an internal dialogue with your notes which deepens the learning.

Teaching Someone (Feynman Technique:) Teaching is the best way to improve your own learning. When I taught middle school math I made my students bring in a stuffed toy and asked that they teach the toy the concepts I was teaching them. At first they were all a bit awkward but when they saw the improvement on their assessment results they embraced the practice. Even better would be to teach a younger sibling.

Reduce Distractions: We are all guilty of not disconnecting- even as I write this blog I have notifications on, messaging open, email open and way too many browsers/tabs. In addition to closing everything we need our study zones i.e. we have yoga mats for doing our stretching we need designated spaces to do our studying.

Here is a list of 15 more strategies to help study more effectively. Ultimately we need to improve our learning practice and develop a sense of urgency to move our students from complacency to active, engaged learners.

Please share in the comments what YOU do to improve students’ sense of urgency.

References:

DeLoreto, Caroline . “7 Tips to Help Your Teen Create a Strong Sense of Self.” PsychAlive, 11 Feb. 2015, http://www.psychalive.org/7-tips-for-parents-to-help-teen-create-strong-sense-of-self/.

Johnson, Ben. “Building a Sense of Urgency in the Classroom.” Edutopia, 12 Mar. 2013, http://www.edutopia.org/blog/building-sense-of-urgency-classroom-ben-johnson. Accessed 13 Sept. 2020.

Kelleher, Joanne. “Create a Sense of Urgency to Spark Learning.” Kappanonline.org, 1 Oct. 2015, kappanonline.org/create-urgency-spark-learning-kelleher/. Accessed 19 Jan. 2023.

Kotter, John P. A Sense of Urgency. Boston, Mass., Harvard Business Press, 2008.

Weiss, Margaret. “How Do I Teach My Child to Have a Sense of Urgency?” HuffPost UK, 2 June 2017, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/publishers-725/how-do-i-teach-my-child-t_b_16823562.html. Accessed 4 Sept. 2023.

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