Bubble Wrap Appreciation

District Strategic Goal #3: Create Comfortable and Productive Teaching Environments

When I saw “Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day” on a Google list of interesting national holidays, I chuckled. Who creates a national holiday for the packing material? On a whim, I started collecting ‘copious’ amounts of bubble wrap in anticipation of this day. As I spent time in the teachers’ lunchroom ‘decorating’ for the celebration of this day, I’d be remiss as to not share the metaphor that came to me regarding this simply packing material. Bubble Wrap in and of itself protects shipped merchandise, gifts, and items from one location to another. We do that for our students as we wrap them in our ROYAL environment.
Bubble wrap can engage people in one of two ways:

1. When presented with bubble wrap, you can engage in a monotonous and repetitive popping action

OR

2. You can have FUN! Run across the bubble wrap covered floor, take a moment to rejoice in the simple pleasures, and laugh.

I think this represents two different ways we can approach our work with our students. We can

1. Engage with our students in a purposeful, but regimented manner in which our instruction serves its primary purpose but lacks passion

OR

2. We can have FUN! We can laugh, engage and be present in the activities and instruction in our classroom. We can create environments that promote active learning, energy and excitement. We can create learning environments that are memorable and foster creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking.

So the next time you see bubble wrap, think about what environments you want to create for your students. Do you want them participating in the monotonous actions that popping bubble wrap over and over would create or do you want them to have FUN and engage in learning at high levels? #gobearoyal