Photo by Lukas Blazek on Unsplash

In my first year of teaching, time was then not my friend. I worked way too hard, and eventually developed some serious eye bags. I spent hours and hours online to make sure that I bring my A game for my students every single day - not for one subject, mind you. Besides that, I was juggling my university assignments and other deadlines. Rounds of restless nights and caffeine boosts, losing weight and gaining weight only resulted in poor health and emotional conditions. Even recalling it now scares the h^ll out of me!

"Why are you working so hard, Cally? You are not getting paid a lot anyway!"

Image Source

Honestly, I just simply love what I do at work, and I just want to give my best in every way that I can. I seek to be the best teacher that I can be for my students. Typically, it is true that many teachers worldwide do not get enough to even measure up to the things that we truly do every single day, but passion and personal callings overruled. Plus, I pretty much patterned after my parents - we are workaholic. I can now probably blame it on the genes. :D

We all have 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 12 months a year. The reality is that we (teachers) truly are hardcore workers. I am saying this with no intentions to put down other professions, please don't get me wrong. There are different pressure points in each profession - and time may just be one big factor for you too. Here is a quick outlook of our daily, weekly and monthly schedule to reinforce our reality.

Image Source

Above everything that we have at hand, I believe we (teachers) strive to do our best to ensure that our lessons are meaningful, significant and engaging. We continuously seek ideas to galvanize students' curiosity and excitement to learn at school. It forms an invitation for students to learn and explore, and the more effortless it is, the better. Taking on the role of a facilitator, it goes beyond reading textbooks and note-takings. It is not about spoon-feeding answers to students, hence limiting their curious minds and thoughts.

Inviting students to learn and inquire requires powerful provocations. It simply means to set up new experiences for their AH-HA moments while making new learning connection and understandings. Ultimately, it is to deliberately PROVOKE students' thinking.

While Pinterest is definitely one of the easiest go-fors for us, I will be sharing some ideas of the provocations that I have done. While these may seem to be suitable for educators, please feel free to adapt these ideas into your respective professions. After all, a little dose of inspiration is harmless, hey. :)

Chatterboxes & 'Would You Rather' Questions

This was my provocation done for a lesson on the Earth's natural resources. Fold some chatterboxes and use keywords related with the said topic on the flaps. To make it more interesting, the numbers indicated in the chatterboxes will lead them to answering 'Would You Rather' questions. Some of the questions listed for this were, 'Would you rather be a rock or waterfall?", "Would you rather have unlimited supply of oxygen or WiFi?" and "Would you rather build your house with rocks or woods?".

Real-Life Simulations

Imagine walking into a classroom that looks like this... with the sound effects of earthquake as the background 'music'. This was my provocation done for a lesson on natural disasters. They were absolutely shocked to see that things were messy, especially their iPads. I asked one of my colleagues to paint some blue bruises on my arm and face too that morning, and pretended that I just survived an earthquake.

Mystery Boxes

This is one of my personal favourites to provoke students' interest and thinking! This was done for a lesson on trade, specifically on items that are involved in trading. I took some sugar, salt, spices, silk handkerchief, and few other items and hid them in a box under a thick scarf. They were only allowed to touch the items without taking them out until it was revealed at the end of the lesson. Some were a little brave to taste it after they touched it - and was able to guess sugar of course! :D

Cover Puzzles

This was another provocation done for a lesson on advertising. I selected an Evian advertising poster as the provocation image for this task. Use your cut or crop tools to give partial hints about the selected image. First, only the bottom left portion of the image was shown and they made predictions to what it may be. Then, bottom half was revealed and they then again jot down their new thinkings. Finally, the full provocation image was shown. They were completely blown away and no one was close to even guessing it right. One of them guessed that it was a scene from Harry Potter's movie. LOL!

Guest Speakers (Unexpected)

Image Source - Instagram @fullofheartscally
I helped one of my colleagues to be their surprise guest speaker as her students were learning about storytelling. I came in with a self-made Dr. Seuss hat and read a story for them. Of course, one simple story from Dr. Seuss for a first grader classroom! They were having their snack time and I came to entertain them. That very same day, they pulled their parents to me at dismissal just to tell them that I was the Mrs. Seuss that visited their classroom. Fascinating indeed - how simple provocations like these can spark a fire of vigor!

Other provocation ideas include:

1. A mysterious Skype interview
2. Scavenger hunt
3. Recorded videos
4. Soundscape
5. Picture albums
6. Craft items or materials

Thank you for reading another snippet into my teaching life! I hope you liked it!
Special shout-out to @zord189 for the newly-designed border :)