by Kelly O’Connell Honn

With nearly 28 years of classroom experience, Kelly O’Connell Honn shares how she maximizes teachable moments on the fly with her 5th Grade ELA students at Hawthorn Hill Elementary School in the Lee’s Summit School District. Not only is Kelly an extraordinary educator, she is my amazing sister-in-law, mentor, and friend!

Every teacher has been told they need to be flexible. Fire drills, tornado drills, safety drills, assemblies, phone calls, meetings, band aids, and students being called out of class are a few of the daily reasons to be flexible. What we don’t talk enough about is when, in the middle of a well-planned lesson, a student asks a question or makes a comment that should take that lesson in a whole new direction. Those are some of my favorite moments! 

We all feel pressure to teach the given curriculum and all those standards. What we do with that curriculum is how we as teachers can provide our students with exactly what they need. While we all have plans for how our day will go, the best days are when that idea pops into our minds in the moment of how it can be better than anything we planned. 

A teachable moment can be something as small as a student saying, “I wish we could just snuggle up and read a book since it’s raining this morning,” and going along with that to show students that their voice matters. Current events can spur a teachable moment that will be sure to increase student engagement.  As we were in the midst of our space unit last year, my students were talking in a group about how cool it would be to talk to an astronaut. Hearing this spurred me into trying to figure out how we could do this. In sharing my dilemma with my principal, he stated that there was a professor he knew who was a former astronaut. I was able to contact her and she met with us on a Zoom meeting. The kids were mesmerized by what she had to say, and at the end of the year it was a highlight that they reflected on often.

Kids ask questions. So many questions. Why? They are curious! What more can we ask for? Kids who are curious want to learn. I try to let those questions be the teachable moments they are meant to be. I am fortunate enough to teach where every student has their own device, therefore the world is at their fingertips. When a student asks a question, I encourage them to find the answer. If it is a big question, we search for answers as a class. Some people may say that takes too much time and they won’t get their curriculum taught. I say you will teach so much more! When these moments happen, the kids are learning how to work together to find answers, they are using research and reading skills, and they are solving their own problems. 

It is wonderful when teachable moments just authentically happen, but sometimes we also need to create those moments. We can do this when we truly know our students and what they want to know. Instead of dreading the latest trend on TikTok or YouTube, use it! If all the kids are obsessed with something like the ‘Simple Dimple’, think about ways you can use it in their learning. Who invented it? What are other fidgets that kids like to use? Why were they created in the first place? When bottle flipping was all the rage, we did a science experiment with it and the kids wrote a report about their findings. These are the ways we can connect with our students and keep them engaged at high levels. 

One of my favorite teachable moments was when I was looking to purchase a new car. Of course, I shared this with my students. Out of the kindness of their hearts, they offered to help me decide what kind of car I should buy. Since I was so undecided, I took them up on their offer. This turned into a project where the kids were researching vehicles and their available options, safety ratings, reviews, and prices. Not only were they having fun and using numerous ELA skills, but they were also working on a real world problem. When they finished, they created presentations to convince me of which vehicle I should purchase. 

There are moments in each day that enable us to capitalize on the curiosity and excitement of the learners in our room. It is up to us whether or not we take advantage of those opportunities. When we do, we never know how far our students will go with them.