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Around the UK, learners have been shouting out the phrase “sixseven” during classes in the newest meme-based phenomenon to spread through educational institutions.

While some instructors have decided to calmly disregard the trend, different educators have embraced it. A group of instructors share how they’re coping.

‘I thought I had said something rude’

Back in September, I had been talking to my year 11 class about getting ready for their secondary school examinations in June. It escapes me precisely what it was in connection with, but I said a phrase resembling “ … if you’re targeting grades six, seven …” and the entire group started chuckling. It surprised me completely by surprise.

My first thought was that I’d made an allusion to something rude, or that they detected an element of my pronunciation that sounded funny. Slightly frustrated – but honestly intrigued and conscious that they had no intention of being mean – I asked them to clarify. Honestly, the explanation they provided didn’t make much difference – I remained with minimal understanding.

What might have made it especially amusing was the considering gesture I had made while speaking. I later learned that this typically pairs with ““67”: I meant it to assist in expressing the act of me speaking my mind.

With the aim of kill it off I aim to reference it as much as I can. Nothing diminishes a trend like this more emphatically than an grown-up striving to get involved.

‘Providing attention fuels the fire’

Understanding it aids so that you can steer clear of just blundering into comments like “for example, there existed 6, 7 million people without work in Germany in 1933”. If the number combination is inevitable, having a rock-solid school behaviour policy and standards on pupil behavior really helps, as you can sanction it as you would any different interruption, but I rarely had to do that. Rules are one thing, but if students accept what the learning environment is doing, they’ll be less distracted by the online trends (especially in instructional hours).

Regarding sixseven, I haven’t sacrificed any instructional minutes, other than for an periodic eyebrow raise and stating ““indeed, those are numerals, excellent”. If you give oxygen to it, it transforms into a wildfire. I address it in the identical manner I would handle any different disturbance.

Earlier occurred the 9 + 10 = 21 craze a few years ago, and certainly there will appear a new phenomenon following this. It’s what kids do. During my own growing up, it was imitating television personalities impersonations (truthfully out of the learning space).

Children are unpredictable, and I think it’s the educator’s responsibility to respond in a way that guides them in the direction of the course that will help them to their educational goals, which, with luck, is graduating with certificates instead of a disciplinary record extensive for the employment of meaningless numerals.

‘They want to feel a part of a group’

Young learners employ it like a connecting expression in the playground: a student calls it and the others respond to indicate they’re part of the same group. It’s like a call-and-response or a football chant – an shared vocabulary they share. I don’t think it has any distinct meaning to them; they merely recognize it’s a trend to say. Regardless of what the latest craze is, they want to feel part of it.

It’s prohibited in my teaching space, nevertheless – it results in a caution if they exclaim it – similar to any other verbal interruption is. It’s particularly challenging in maths lessons. But my pupils at fifth grade are pre-teens, so they’re quite accepting of the rules, whereas I understand that at high school it might be a different matter.

I have worked as a educator for a decade and a half, and these phenomena persist for a few weeks. This trend will fade away soon – they always do, especially once their younger siblings start saying it and it’s no longer fashionable. Then they’ll be engaged with the subsequent trend.

‘Occasionally sharing the humor is essential’

I began observing it in August, while educating in English language at a foreign language school. It was mainly male students repeating it. I instructed ages 12 to 18 and it was widespread among the younger pupils. I was unaware its meaning at the time, but I’m 24 years old and I understood it was simply an internet trend akin to when I was a student.

Such phenomena are always shifting. “Skibidi toilet” was a popular meme during the period when I was at my training school, but it failed to exist as much in the learning environment. Unlike ““67”, “skibidi toilet” was never written on the whiteboard in class, so students were less equipped to pick up on it.

I simply disregard it, or sometimes I will chuckle alongside them if I unintentionally utter it, trying to empathise with them and understand that it is just pop culture. In my opinion they merely seek to enjoy that sensation of togetherness and friendship.

‘Playfully shouting it means I rarely hear it now’

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