The 9th Planet: Are There Students Who Continue to Revolve on the Edge of the Classroom?

                                                         


This week my students and I have had a lot of one-on-one conversations through our one-minute check-ins. Students who revolve around the edges of the "community" to whom have never spoken to me at length, have now ventured in to the center of the class to speak to me about science and their interests. The once 9th planet phenomenon occurring in all of my classes has slowed and brought these distant celestial bodies closer to the center of the universe that is my classroom.

Often students can be seated in the middle of the classroom and still be on the outskirts of the galaxy. My classroom motto is "colliding with science" and I tell my students that this flexible seating, student-centered classroom has been designed to cause these collisions. Science with interest, science with curiosity, students with inquiry, growth mindset and innovation, the collisions are endless. We are all planets, satellites, comets, asteroids, even black holes. It is imperative that we work together to keep the balance between collisions and near misses. Collisions need not be painful but with new knowledge, discrepant events, and a change of mindset often comes struggles and challenges we must overcome.

So how do we recognize the 9th planet students, are they always the quiet ones? They may be the distant ones or the ones being bombarded with space debris. They may be eager and conversational but the bigger picture, viewing the Milky Way as a whole may be missing. They may be near the edge of a black hole and time is slowing and thought processes are staggering and connections are not taking place. Space is endless to our minds eye, we know through science that the universe is expanding and this applies to students as well. It is critical we realize that their mindset is expanding every day and that we as teachers foster this growth not hinder it.

We want every one of our students to be a star. Shining bright with creativity and enthusiasm. In order to do that we need to make strong connections with our students. The one-minute check-ins, story share where we share our highs of the week, and collaboration between students provides the foundation for this. But as with every relationship, this formation of light and energy, needs to be cultivated. Genius hour, makerspace, even debates and skits are great ways to bring those students in from the fringes of space and put them on the spiral course where most students revolve. The teacher may be considered the sun or moon in the classroom but the students are all the objects of space on course or off course. It is our job to align them and get them in sync with the rest of the orbitals. The 9th planet then becomes one of many and together they form the classroom universe.