As well as being the home of queuing, the UK is also a big fan of politics. Indeed, recent production rates of politics have been at all time highs, as you might have noticed.
One of the more niche bits of politics of the last week has been the recording of an online meeting of a parish council (i.e. the very lowest tier of local government). Actually, of a sub-committee of the council.
In what has been a shock to anyone who has failed to anything to do with local politics, this particular meeting was filled with more, um, drama than most.
I’ll leave you to watch at your leisure, and to check out the endless memes and gifs it has spawned, but it’s a good example of how we can connect Fun Things Happening On The Internet to our work as educators.
For some, the meeting was an opportunity to discuss the application of rules on council meetings, in a legal context.
For me, it was a great moment to share with my negotiating students, to consider multiple aspects of the theory and practice that we had been covering through last semester.
To take a non-exhaustive list, we might watch and consider: the issue of gender and engendering in negotiations; the practice of online negotiating spaces; the role of technologies; and, that old chestnut of dealing with difficult people.
Even in the more lurid scenarios I have created for my classes, I’ve never been close to something like this (and I’m not sure I’d like to have been, either), so having this kind of (legitimate) access is a godsend for enriching our materials.
And this isn’t an isolated case.
The more we can help make connections for students to Stuff Outside The Classroom, the more chance we have of putting them in a position to become critically engaged with their environments, applying their learning and making actual use of it themselves.
This doesn’t have to be about providing the answers, but about asking the questions that stimulate reflection and debate.
And if you don’t think this example is good for your class’ needs, then there’ll be something along before you know it.