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Throughout the UK, learners have been calling out the phrase ““six-seven” during lessons in the newest viral trend to spread through classrooms.

While some educators have opted to calmly disregard the craze, different educators have incorporated it. Five instructors explain how they’re dealing.

‘I believed I’d made an inappropriate comment’

During September, I had been talking to my secondary school class about preparing for their qualification tests in June. I can’t remember precisely what it was in connection with, but I said something like “ … if you’re aiming for grades six, seven …” and the entire group burst out laughing. It surprised me entirely unexpectedly.

My initial reaction was that I’d made an hint at something rude, or that they detected a quality in my accent that seemed humorous. Slightly annoyed – but truly interested and aware that they had no intention of being hurtful – I persuaded them to elaborate. Honestly, the explanation they offered failed to create much difference – I still had no idea.

What might have made it especially amusing was the weighing-up motion I had made while speaking. Subsequently I discovered that this often accompanies ““sixseven”: My purpose was it to help convey the process of me speaking my mind.

In order to eliminate it I aim to mention it as frequently as I can. No approach deflates a trend like this more effectively than an adult attempting to get involved.

‘Feeding the trend creates a blaze’

Being aware of it helps so that you can prevent just blundering into comments like “indeed, there were 6, 7 thousand unemployed people in Germany in 1933”. If the digit pairing is unavoidable, possessing a rock-solid student discipline system and requirements on pupil behavior proves beneficial, as you can deal with it as you would any different disruption, but I haven’t actually needed to implement that. Guidelines are important, but if pupils accept what the learning environment is doing, they will remain better concentrated by the online trends (at least in lesson time).

Regarding sixseven, I haven’t sacrificed any instructional minutes, other than for an infrequent quizzical look and stating “yes, that’s a number, well done”. Should you offer oxygen to it, then it becomes a wildfire. I address it in the equivalent fashion I would treat any additional disruption.

Previously existed the 9 + 10 = 21 trend a while back, and there will no doubt be a different trend after this. It’s what kids do. When I was youth, it was performing television personalities impersonations (admittedly outside the learning space).

Children are unforeseeable, and In my opinion it’s the educator’s responsibility to react in a way that steers them toward the path that will get them where they need to go, which, with luck, is completing their studies with academic achievements rather than a disciplinary record a mile long for the employment of arbitrary digits.

‘Students desire belonging to a community’

Students use it like a unifying phrase in the playground: one says it and the others respond to demonstrate they belong to the same group. It’s similar to a call-and-response or a football chant – an common expression they share. In my view it has any specific meaning to them; they just know it’s a trend to say. No matter what the current trend is, they desire to be included in it.

It’s prohibited in my classroom, though – it results in a caution if they exclaim it – just like any different shouting out is. It’s particularly challenging in maths lessons. But my students at year 5 are nine to 10-year-olds, so they’re quite compliant with the regulations, whereas I recognize that at secondary [school] it may be a distinct scenario.

I have worked as a educator for 15 years, and such trends continue for a few weeks. This phenomenon will fade away in the near future – it invariably occurs, especially once their younger siblings commence repeating it and it ceases to be fashionable. Subsequently they will be focused on the next thing.

‘You just have to laugh with them’

I first detected it in August, while instructing in English at a foreign language school. It was mainly boys uttering it. I instructed students from twelve to eighteen and it was prevalent within the junior students. I didn’t understand its meaning at the time, but I’m 24 years old and I understood it was just a meme akin to when I was at school.

These trends are always shifting. ““Toilet meme” was a familiar phenomenon back when I was at my training school, but it didn’t particularly occur as often in the classroom. Differing from ““67”, ““the skibidi trend” was never written on the board in class, so students were less able to pick up on it.

I simply disregard it, or periodically I will smile with the students if I inadvertently mention it, striving to empathise with them and understand that it’s merely pop culture. In my opinion they just want to experience that feeling of togetherness and companionship.

‘Humorous repetition has reduced its frequency’

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