The class before the class
Or, how to create a magical portal
Since 2015 I’ve been a practitioner of The Class, a movement method that blends several different modalities and feels like a cross between Jane Fonda aerobics and an exorcism.
One day I was stretching on my mat before class at the NYC studio and chatting with my neighbor. When she learned I lived in the Bronx, she marveled at my commute, up to an hour each way for a 1-hour class.
“I don’t mind it,” I replied. “It’s the class before The Class.”
That hour I spent on the subway to The Class was my time to prepare for what I was about to do. Anyone who has taken The Class, whether they love it as much as me or not, will probably agree: it’s like entering another world, an experience of somatic freedom and release that is transformative and merits preparation. An hour on the subway was that time for me. I read, listened to music, slipped into daydreams, stared off into space, hydrated, rested, breathed, and connected.
How we enter a space matters. When we are harried or haphazard in our transitions to important gatherings—be they exercise, 7th grade ELA, or a PD workshop–we miss an opportunity to open ourselves to all the possibilities awaiting us. And grand, magical, enthralling possibilities await us in any learning experience, no matter how mundane or mandatory they might technically be.
I wrote about this in the book I co-authored about educator burnout (I was speaking about student classrooms, but all of this is true for meetings, trainings, and workshops where adult educators gather too):
What if we treated time in class with our students like the precious moment in time it is, an hour or less when a group of people come together to be transformed, a period of time that will never come again? As Tom Wayman writes in one of my favorite poems about teaching and learning, “Did I Miss Anything?”:
Contained in this classroom
is a microcosm of human existence
assembled for you to query and examine and ponder
A question I love to ask teachers I’m coaching is, “How will students be different at the end of this lesson than they were when they walked in the door?” Students come to class to learn, and learning is a transformative process. So, what transformation will students experience as a result of their time in class today? When we don’t think of our classrooms as transformational spaces, much of what happens there can feel stiflingly transactional. So, what if instead we thought about classrooms as places where great change happens every single day, assemblages of humans brought together to question and explore and dream, where on any given Thursday at 10:06 in the morning, a young person will suddenly see something in a new way that will change the course of their life?
When we think of our classrooms, meetings, and trainings this way, lesson plans and agendas become treasure maps and doors become portals to wonderlands. And those are transformative experiences worth preparing for.
Last month I wrote about embracing your Summer Self, and I don’t want any of us to stop doing that. But if it feels like your Summer Self can handle it, what if you started thinking about these questions?
How will your student or adult learners be transformed by their time with you this coming school year?
How might you create a portal to the wonderland of your classroom, meeting, or workshop this fall?
What is the class before YOUR class?
Three ways to put these ideas into practice:
If you have 5 minutes: Share a comment with your initial response to any of those questions. First draft thoughts are welcome!
If you have 10 minutes: Buy or borrow Priya Parker’s The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters. No other book has had a more powerful influence on how I design and facilitate transformative learning experiences for kids and adults. Learn more about Parker’s work here.
If you have 30 minutes: Take some notes about the transformative potential of your class, meeting, or workshop for this fall. You might consider:
Homework or pre-work (the class before the class!)
Physical entrance (the magical portal!)
What participants see, hear, smell, or do when they enter
What they bring with them
How you greet them
How they greet each other
What they know—and don’t know—about what they’re going to experience
How they’ll be different when they leave than they were when they walked in
Getting Schooled
What I’ve been seeing and thinking about in my recent work with educators
School’s out, but I’ve still been coaching school leaders and teachers this summer, and they are working their behinds off to get ready for next year. If that’s you too, please remember to rest at some point. You might even get reacquainted with your Summer Self.
Know a teen writer? Encourage them to enter the New York Public Library’s Teen Voices Magazine Contest by August 14. Creators of the 25 pieces selected for publication will each be awarded a $100 gift card.
Field Tripping
What I’ve been doing and experiencing on my weekly field trips (2 hours alone with my lifelong learner hat on)
I took 4 (very Summer Selfie) field trips in July:
I walked part of the Historic Union Pacific Rail Trail in Park City, Utah.
I lay in bed reading The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner.
I read Class by Stephanie Land on a flight from Seattle to Miami after taking workshops with her at the Port Townsend Writers’ Conference.
I planned and cooked dinner for my parents for the first time in YEARS. I made black bean soup and crispy polenta from here, an orange and avocado salad from here, and these peanut butter chocolate cookies:
Want to try a field trip of your own but not sure how to get started? Schedule time on my calendar and let’s brainstorm together.
Reading Recs
What I’ve been reading and ruminating about
I finished 9 books in July:
The Book of Difficult Fruit: Arguments for the Tart, Tender, and Unruly (with recipes) by Kate Lebo
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro
Road Home by Rex Ogle (the newest book by my favorite memoirist for middle grade and young adult readers!)
No Meat Required: The Cultural History and Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating by Alicia Kennedy
Committed: On Meaning and Madwomen by Suzanne Scanlon
The Breakaway by Jennifer Weiner
Now We’re Getting Somewhere by Kim Addonizio (which includes one of my favorite poems ever–a sonnet I wish I’d read with my high schoolers alongside Shakespeare’s: “To the Woman Crying Uncontrollably in the Next Stall”)
Bukowski in a Sundress by Kim Addonizio (possibly the best memoir title of all time)
Class: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hunger, and Higher Education by Stephanie Land
Ambition Monster by Jennifer Romolini
Have thoughts on what I read this month? Planning to read any of these titles? Got other recs for me?
What’s next?
I help educators stay connected to their passion and purpose so they can provide all students with joyful, enchanting, empowering learning experiences–without burning out.
I work with teachers, leaders, teams, schools, districts, and other organizations to find the intersection of effectiveness and sustainability.
I’m currently booking engagements for the 2024-25 school year, and I’d love to talk about how we can partner.
Interested in instructional or leadership coaching, curriculum or literacy consulting, or thought partnership?
Looking for a PD makeover to provide teacher support that promotes effectiveness AND prevents burnout?
Want to grow sustainably—or ensure your teachers and leaders do?
One more thing about cocoons
Earlier this month I got to spend a week at the Port Townsend Writers Conference working on my next book. While I was there I realized it’s been exactly 1 year since I wrote this essay about the end of my marriage through the lens of the Barbie movie.
The essay is a time capsule; I can see I was laying the groundwork then for where I am now. Part of my life was dying (“A divorce is a death,” as I quote a friend in it), and I could not clearly see the transformations underway yet, but I already sensed they were happening.
I was in my cocoon for sure.
I know some of you are too, and I see you.
Thank you for reading this issue of The Cocoon. I’ll see you on the last Tuesday of next month.
Also, don’t forget to help save the world!
Coming up in August: how to give your PD, trainings, and meetings a glow-up this fall
Love Priya Parker! Concept of a Class before the Class also resonates (although I don't know what The Class is and I'm gonna stick to my 10 min at-home HIIT workouts on youtube... :) ) Talk soon.