‘It’s impossible not to smile’: a quintet of UK instructors on handling ‘six-seven’ in the classroom

Across the UK, school pupils have been exclaiming the phrase ““67” during classes in the most recent viral phenomenon to spread through educational institutions.

Although some teachers have opted to calmly disregard the phenomenon, different educators have embraced it. A group of teachers share how they’re managing.

‘My initial assumption was that I’d uttered something offensive’

During September, I had been talking to my secondary school students about preparing for their secondary school examinations in June. I don’t recall specifically what it was in reference to, but I said words similar to “ … if you’re aiming for grades six, seven …” and the entire group erupted in laughter. It caught me completely by surprise.

My initial reaction was that I had created an hint at an offensive subject, or that they’d heard something in my speech pattern that seemed humorous. Slightly frustrated – but genuinely curious and aware that they weren’t mean – I got them to clarify. Frankly speaking, the clarification they provided didn’t provide much difference – I continued to have no idea.

What could have caused it to be especially amusing was the weighing-up motion I had performed during speaking. Subsequently I found out that this often accompanies ““sixseven”: My purpose was it to assist in expressing the process of me thinking aloud.

With the aim of kill it off I try to mention it as often as I can. Nothing reduces a trend like this more emphatically than an grown-up attempting to get involved.

‘Feeding the trend creates a blaze’

Knowing about it aids so that you can prevent just unintentionally stating comments like “for example, there existed 6, 7 million unemployed people in Germany in 1933”. If the numerical sequence is inevitable, maintaining a firm classroom conduct rules and expectations on learner demeanor really helps, as you can address it as you would any other interruption, but I rarely needed to implement that. Guidelines are one thing, but if pupils embrace what the learning environment is doing, they will become more focused by the viral phenomena (at least in lesson time).

Concerning six-seven, I haven’t sacrificed any teaching periods, other than for an periodic quizzical look and stating ““correct, those are digits, good job”. When you provide oxygen to it, then it becomes a blaze. I treat it in the equivalent fashion I would handle any other disturbance.

There was the mathematical meme trend a few years ago, and certainly there will appear a different trend following this. This is typical youth activity. When I was childhood, it was doing comedy characters mimicry (truthfully out of the school environment).

Students are unforeseeable, and I believe it falls to the teacher to respond in a way that steers them back to the direction that will help them where they need to go, which, with luck, is graduating with qualifications instead of a conduct report lengthy for the employment of arbitrary digits.

‘They want to feel a part of a group’

Young learners employ it like a connecting expression in the playground: one says it and the other children answer to show they are the identical community. It resembles a verbal exchange or a football chant – an agreed language they use. In my view it has any specific meaning to them; they merely recognize it’s a trend to say. Regardless of what the latest craze is, they desire to feel part of it.

It’s forbidden in my classroom, nevertheless – it triggers a reminder if they shout it out – identical to any additional calling out is. It’s particularly tricky in numeracy instruction. But my students at year 5 are nine to 10-year-olds, so they’re fairly accepting of the rules, whereas I appreciate that at teen education it might be a different matter.

I have served as a educator for 15 years, and these crazes continue for three or four weeks. This craze will die out in the near future – this consistently happens, especially once their junior family members begin using it and it ceases to be fashionable. Then they’ll be focused on the following phenomenon.

‘Sometimes joining the laughter is necessary’

I first detected it in August, while teaching English at a foreign language school. It was primarily young men repeating it. I instructed students from twelve to eighteen and it was widespread within the less experienced learners. I was unaware what it was at the time, but being twenty-four and I realised it was simply an internet trend comparable to when I attended classes.

Such phenomena are continuously evolving. ““Toilet meme” was a familiar phenomenon back when I was at my teacher preparation program, but it failed to appear as frequently in the learning environment. Unlike “six-seven”, ““that particular meme” was never written on the whiteboard in lessons, so learners were less equipped to embrace it.

I typically overlook it, or periodically I will laugh with them if I accidentally say it, striving to empathise with them and recognize that it’s simply youth culture. In my opinion they simply desire to enjoy that sensation of belonging and companionship.

‘Playfully shouting it means I rarely hear it now’

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