the tie ceremony

Investment. Teach For America has taught me that part of the strategy for getting kids to learn is to get them invested in learning. This past Friday, my first Friday with my fifth grade class, I devised a plan to invest my kids in learning: the tie ceremony.

As I pounded away on my lesson plan on Thursday night I remembered what I was like on Fridays at school: useless. As a student, I knew early on that Friday meant the weekend was upon me. I remember not wanting to do much of anything at school on Fridays. But time is short in summer school and I needed these kids to give me their very best; hence, the tie ceremony.

I started my lesson on Friday by inviting the kids to the carpeted area of the room. I told them about Ira and about how some didn’t think Ira would make it. Some gave Ira very little chance of survival. But Ira fought hard and did, in fact, overcome. I told them all of this while showing them pictures of Ira and capped it off with a video of Ira as he is now. They were captivated.

I then told them that some people don’t really give them much of a chance. These people have seen their reading and math scores and have witnessed their behavior and have decided that these 5th graders don’t have a chance. I then leaned in and whispered, “But I know different. You have a brain that no one can take away from you. And I know that you are more than capable of proving these people wrong. But I need you guys to step it up today. I need you guys to get serious. You know what helps me get serious? Putting on this tie every morning. I just happened to bring a bunch of ties with me today. I’m wondering if you guys want to get serious about learning today so that you can prove all those people wrong out there who say you don’t have a chance.”

Some immediately raised their hands to receive a tie. Some couldn’t contain themselves and jumped up off the carpet begging for a tie. All of them were beside themselves. They so want to be taken seriously. And so each one of them, one by one, received a pre-knotted tie. After we tightened up the knot, they were instructed to turn to their peers and declare, “I’m ready to learn today.”

And they did.

These kids want nothing more than to be given a chance.

Filed under: education, hope, teaching