Resonance Practice in English Classrooms

English teacher Matthew McCann presents at the 2024 National Council of Teachers of English.

Eagle Hill School English and Guitar teacher Matthew McCann recently presented at the 2024 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Conference in Boston, the largest English conference in the country, with over 30,000 attendees.

McCann partnered with his former academic advisor, Dr. Katharine Convino an English professor at Fitchburg State University, who he credits for inspiring his decision to become a teacher. He also noted that Dr. Convino had once expressed excitement at the prospect of collaborating with her students in the future, a statement that six years later became a reality.

Resonance practice in a classroom: refers to a teaching method that aim to create a deep connection between the learning material and the students' personal experiences, emotions, or prior knowledge.

Their 40-minute presentation, titled “Using Resonance Practice to Build Empathy and Human Connection in English Classrooms,” explored innovative methods for fostering genuine connections among students through the tool of resonance practice. Their central research question explored how resonance practice influences relationship-building, community, and connection in English classrooms.

During the 2024 spring session, both McCann’s and Dr. Convino's classes created artwork, which was shared anonymously between the classes, allowing each student to hear reflections from others on their work. Data was collected on how students felt about hearing feedback from their peers. Their study revealed compelling evidence of resonance practice's ability to foster empathy, connection, and a sense of belonging, by promoting deeper, human-centered learning.  

As McCann puts it, "You can teach students how to write grammatically correct sentences, but what is more important is that we teach them to grow as kind human beings."