Transform Your Classroom by Unlocking Your Rubber Room

January 2010 Vol. 7 No. 1

COVER STORY

Transform Your Classroom by Unlocking Your Rubber Room

By Perry Binder, J.D.

Rub•ber Room (noun) A confining mindset where thoughts and possibilities bounce around but never turn into action

At whatever level you teach, K-12 or college, the continual cliché to “Have a positive attitude” is intended to keep you inspired and refreshed in the classroom. Drawing from hilarious or serious lessons as a teacher and former student, this article digs down below that cliché with examples of what makes us tick as people, so we can in turn be better teachers. It is an exploration and celebration of our childhood motivations, passion to teach, and the special quality that fires us up to walk into a classroom each day.

LESSON: Figure out if you are a “Touch Wet Paint” person

What kind of child were you growing up? The kind that respected a wet
paint sign, or one that found it so irresistible that you had to touch
it? The decision to touch or not touch highlights whether you are a
curious person or someone who believes everything you read. Or
someone who just acts on impulse.

I was showing a video in class and the students wanted me to turn out
the lights in the front. Not knowing how to work the lights, I hit
all of the switch buttons. Nothing worked. I had no clue. Finally,
I saw a switch which was covered over in white adhesive tape, with the
obvious implied message that cried out: “Don’t touch this, you
idiot!” I did. The overhead projector and everything else electric
in the room suddenly went dead.

Take Away: Curiosity will liven up the class and shut it down at the
same time!

LESSON: You need to exaggerate to illustrate

Learning and retaining dense information isn’t all about laughter,
though it helps. For class, I comb the internet each day for wacky
law cases. After a while, I can sense which stuff gets the best
laughs. Like a comic working in a club testing out new material, I
constantly work on delivery, timing, and audience engagement.
However, the use of exaggeration in a classroom or boardroom is not
about telling jokes. In fact, I can recall telling only one joke in
class:

“What’s the only thing worse than biting into an apple and finding a
worm?”
“Finding half a worm!”

And that’s why I stay away from joke telling.

Exaggeration is the secret to effective learning. It requires me to
plant a picture so implausible and outlandish in the learners’ minds,
that they can’t help but remembering the concept. For example, I use
this hypothetical to discuss the legal concept of self defense:

You: Well hello there, Mr. Limping Crazy Man wielding a lumberman’s
axe. Your blade looks mighty sharp and shiny, even from 100 yards
away.
Him: Why yes, better to slice you to ribbons.
You: Hang on a second as I record this scenario on my video cell phone.
Him: Did they give you a rebate on that phone? Hey, by the way, my name
is Johnny. Heeeeeeeere’s Johnny!
You: Great. Come a step closer. And by the way, say hello to my
little semiautomatic
friend!

Take Away: I believe that storytelling is a learnable skill, as
demonstrated in the movie, Reservoir Dogs. In a few scenes, an
undercover detective tirelessly trains a colleague on the fine art of
spinning a tale. The key, he explains, is in remembering and
exploiting the story’s rich details.

LESSON: Never crush anyone’s dreams

I never dreamed of being a college professor. Does anybody? In fact,
I always gave my teachers fits in school, as evidenced by grade school
report cards:

-   Second Grade: Improvement needed in self control
-   Fourth Grade: Perry needs to exert more self control
-   Sixth Grade: Perry needs to exercise better self control

As a little kid, I dreamed about playing professional basketball. I
played and played for hours. In third grade, we had to write an essay
on what we wanted to be when we grew up. I wrote that I wanted to be
6’10” and play in Madison Square Garden. When the teacher handed back
my paper, she laughed out loud and said “You can’t do that!” That was
the first time someone had crushed my professional dream. Why would a
teacher be so unthinking? She may have been right about the 6’10”
part, but this molder of young minds lacked the understanding of what
negative reinforcement can do to little kids. She also lacked the
understanding that height isn’t everything for a basketball player.

Teachers, especially in the impressionable K-12 years, are my personal
heroes. But they need to be dream builders, not dream destroyers.
It’s healthy to discuss rational backup career plans, but why spoil
youthful exuberance which could flower into the unexpected?

Take Away: Your words can stay with a student for his or her entire
life.

LESSON: All of your students stay with you forever

When I participate in graduation ceremonies, I often imagine
delivering my own speech to the graduates, as if I were the
commencement speaker. Here’s a portion of that speech:

To me, the greatest barriers to success, however you define
that, are a fear of the unknown, a fear of change, and a fear of
failure. You need a game plan, and hopefully you can lean a little on
what you learned in school to figure out that route. No matter what
you do in life, you always will have your education.

To quote Franklin D. Roosevelt, “We are not prisoners of fate,
but only prisoners of our own minds.” Graduates, each of you must
unlock your mind – your rubber room – and blaze a path built on reason
and purpose. Life is too short to spend it bouncing around like a
random and aimless ball in a game of Pong.® And whether you are 20,
30, 40, 50, 60, 70, or 80 years young, it is never too late to test
the boundaries of your dreams.

Finally, I want all of you gathered in front of me to please
lose the title of “former” student, because you will be my students
for many years to come. And I expect in return that I can become your
student, as I learn about your professional successes, trials, and
tribulations.

-   Every one of you is special.
-   Every one of you is a productive member of society.
-   Every one of you is what inspires me – because…
-   Every one of you has a story to tell.

What will your next journey be?

Take Away: All of your students stay with you forever.

Excerpted from Unlocking Your Rubber Room: 44 Off-the-Wall Lessons to Lighten and Transform Everyday Life by Perry Binder http://www.YourRubberRoom.com

c 2009 Perry Binder LLC

Perry Binder, J.D., is a legal studies professor at Georgia State University and the author of “Unlocking Your Rubber Room: 44 Off-the-
Wall Lessons to Lighten and Transform Everyday Life.” His Crazy Classroom blog is http://yourrubberroom.blogspot.com .

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