Technolandy

Day 38 (of SOL 2025) Dear @shanesafir & @sjeducate 6/10 “spoilers” of toxins in Pedagogy of Voice – containment

Dear Shane and Sawsan… in Pedagogies of Voice, you bring up “10 Toxins” carried in the form of signature practices and dscourses – here is a thought on:

6. Containment

Looks like:

• sit and get modes of instruction
• Banning movement in the classroom
• Sending students out of class who get up and move about
• Absence of field trips, field study, and/or land based learning

Sounds like:

• “Stop moving around the room! You’re distracting the class”
• “No, we can’t go outside during class. That’s what lunch is for.”
• “We need to put your son in an intervention class for ‘at-risk’ learners”
• ”We’re not discussing that here (intellectual containment is as real as physical…)

Feels like:

Confined learning spaces – regulated by artificial timelines and bells… trying to work out who said when recess/lunch times for free play (unless you are retained for punishment/work detail)… even Finland uses a 45/15 model (45 minutes of work/learning with a 15 minute free time break regardless of how much work was completed)

Bell-regulated attention spans? Play as a reward rather than a right? 

Kinda like this blog…  is this a safe space for movement, exploration, and even controversial thought — or is it a tightly sealed container?”

Is it a safe space where ‘controversial topics’ can occur?

Is it disguised as “classroom management/structure/control”? 

Extensions:

1. Intellectual Containment

Not just about physical space — we contain ideas too:

• Avoiding controversial topics to “keep the peace”

• Only discussing historical oppression in the past tense

• Limiting readings to those that reflect dominant voices

• Shutting down hard questions with: “That’s not appropriate right now.”

Containment is also when we curate curiosity out of the classroom.

1. Sensory + Cultural Containment

Containment can look like:

• Asking for “indoor voices” when excitement breaks through

• Dismissing cultural expression that’s too “loud” or “different”

• Expecting every learner to sit in the same chair, in the same posture, at the same time

There’s trauma in being taught your way of being is a disruption.

Learning doesn’t thrive in sealed containers.

It breathes. It moves. It wanders.

Can your classroom can’t hold complexity, curiosity, and controversy …?