‘It’s impossible not to smile’: a quintet of UK teachers on coping with ‘six-seven’ in the educational setting

Throughout the UK, learners have been calling out the expression ““six-seven” during instruction in the latest internet-inspired craze to take over classrooms.

While some instructors have opted to stoically ignore the trend, others have incorporated it. A group of educators describe how they’re dealing.

‘I believed I’d made an inappropriate comment’

Back in September, I had been speaking with my secondary school students about preparing for their GCSE exams in June. I don’t recall precisely what it was in connection with, but I said words similar to “ … if you’re aiming for marks six, seven …” and the whole class burst out laughing. It caught me totally off guard.

My first thought was that I might have delivered an reference to an offensive subject, or that they’d heard an element of my accent that seemed humorous. Somewhat exasperated – but truly interested and mindful that they weren’t trying to be malicious – I got them to elaborate. Honestly, the description they offered failed to create significant clarification – I continued to have no idea.

What could have made it extra funny was the evaluating motion I had executed while speaking. Subsequently I learned that this typically pairs with ““sixseven”: My purpose was it to help convey the act of me speaking my mind.

With the aim of end the trend I try to mention it as frequently as I can. No approach diminishes a craze like this more thoroughly than an adult striving to get involved.

‘Providing attention fuels the fire’

Understanding it aids so that you can steer clear of just accidentally making comments like “well, there were 6, 7 hundred people without work in Germany in 1933”. If the numerical sequence is unavoidable, having a rock-solid school behaviour policy and requirements on pupil behavior really helps, as you can address it as you would any different disturbance, but I haven’t actually needed to implement that. Policies are important, but if students buy into what the school is doing, they will remain less distracted by the online trends (especially in instructional hours).

Regarding 67, I haven’t sacrificed any instructional minutes, except for an infrequent raised eyebrow and saying ““indeed, those are numerals, excellent”. When you provide focus on it, then it becomes a blaze. I treat it in the same way I would manage any other interruption.

Previously existed the mathematical meme craze a few years ago, and undoubtedly there will emerge a different trend after this. It’s what kids do. Back when I was childhood, it was performing comedy characters impersonations (honestly out of the classroom).

Students are spontaneous, and In my opinion it falls to the teacher to respond in a way that steers them toward the path that will enable them toward their academic objectives, which, fingers crossed, is graduating with qualifications rather than a disciplinary record extensive for the utilization of arbitrary digits.

‘They want to feel a part of a group’

Young learners utilize it like a unifying phrase in the schoolyard: a pupil shouts it and the remaining students reply to indicate they’re part of the equivalent circle. It’s like a verbal exchange or a football chant – an common expression they possess. I don’t think it has any particular significance to them; they merely recognize it’s a phenomenon to say. Regardless of what the newest phenomenon is, they want to feel part of it.

It’s prohibited in my teaching space, however – it’s a warning if they shout it out – similar to any other shouting out is. It’s especially challenging in maths lessons. But my pupils at primary level are children aged nine to ten, so they’re fairly compliant with the rules, although I understand that at secondary [school] it could be a distinct scenario.

I have served as a educator for a decade and a half, and these phenomena last for three or four weeks. This craze will die out soon – it invariably occurs, notably once their junior family members begin using it and it ceases to be cool. Subsequently they will be focused on the subsequent trend.

‘Sometimes joining the laughter is necessary’

I first detected it in August, while educating in English language at a international school. It was mainly boys saying it. I taught teenagers and it was common within the junior students. I had no idea its significance at the time, but as a young adult and I recognized it was just a meme akin to when I was a student.

The crazes are constantly changing. ““Toilet meme” was a familiar phenomenon at the time when I was at my teacher preparation program, but it didn’t particularly appear as frequently in the learning environment. In contrast to ““sixseven”, ““the skibidi trend” was never written on the whiteboard in class, so learners were less prepared to pick up on it.

I simply disregard it, or sometimes I will smile with the students if I unintentionally utter it, attempting to relate to them and appreciate that it is just youth culture. I believe they simply desire to feel that sense of belonging and camaraderie.

‘Playfully shouting it means I rarely hear it now’

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