Energy in science can neither be created nor destroyed. What about energy in your classroom?
Energy in a classroom can be created—by you. How do you do it? Energy is an illusive quality.
Still, it is one of the primary things that distinguishes a good class from a poor one. A class with good energy is almost always a good class. A class without energy is, well, dead.
Energy is elusive but we know a few things that work…and you control them all. Here are some of the elements:
I use my recovery times to provide the opportunities for rider questions and conversations. They are always cycling related. I really enjoy it when my riders share their experience with one another, the rest of the group and me after they’ve completed a work effort. I ask them to share what they did, how they felt, what they saw, what worked, what did they change and they now do that without me even asking any longer. New people are taken back a bit but it has opened my riders to meeting and making new fitness friends. Sharing of strategies, technique, impressions, thoughts, feelings, data and freedom to ask questions is a valuable piece of for optimum leaning to take place. It is another way they have learned to evaluate their work, recovery and fitness improvement.
Most of the time, that kind of discourse during recoveries is welcome in my class, when they aren’t having their own semi-private conversation! Everyone benefits from it. I had one or two in my clinics this past winter who would often ask a question or make a comment about their effort after a hard interval, and it engendered some good discussion.
Thanks for pointing that out!
Hi Renee, I am almost always in favor of conversation that is directed to the whole class. They usually contribute to class cohesion and unity. The “energy killers” are the ones that are really private conversations being conducted in public. I really like your idea about asking those kind of questions at the end of class. It creates a real opportunity to bond, and to teach. Great idea.