Fortuitous intersection: I discovered through my English IV Honors students that those of them in AP Psychology were studying Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory just as freshmen in English were in the middle chapters of Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. (In these pages, the young girl must find her way back to emotional and psychological wholeness after a brutal sexual assault.)

Quicker than you can say “Self-actualization,” I’d talked my colleague Alice Meyer into springing a few of her psych students from class so that they could come play teacher to my froshies. I gave the five who’d eagerly volunteered–Jacqueline, Liam, Lucy, J-J, and Maddie–a little instruction by email, telling them I trusted they’d be just great and that I’d see them in Room C the next day. (The trust was well-founded: two had been my advisees, three were current students in that English course–and I’d watched every one of them on stage and field and court, in arenas and in dormitories for 3.5 years, the last half-year as bona fide school leaders.)
What I witnessed the next day affirmed what I’ve learned over the years: in certain situations, it’s best to turn class over to the experts and let some new voices fill the room. Professional and prepared, the seniors spoke knowledgably and specifically about Maslow’s principles as they seemed to find expression in the memoir. It’s understatement to say they had a rapt audience; I’d never seen such focus and furious note-taking at the table. In the days following, my 9th graders referred often to what the seniors had explained; one even quoted one of Jacqueline’s assertions in his analytical-personal response essay the following week.

As for the reciprocal–that is, what the exercise did for the seniors–I’m not sure. I am well aware (from Alice, of course) that retention rates vary widely: 5% from information conveyed by lecture, 10% from reading (lower or higher via Kindle or Nook? I don’t know), 20-30% from audio-visual presentation and demonstrations, 50% from discussion groups. Practice-by-doing boosts retention to 75%.

Teaching others averages around 90%.

So if it helped on the psych final exam those five are sitting for today, I’ll selfishly count that as my thank you to them, who are, in my book, well on their way to the top of that pyramid.