You don’t have to convince Rock Springs music teacher Weston Lamb-Costantino that laughter is learning with some stodgy scientific study. That’s because he’s already seen it firsthand in his own classes by giving it a hands-on try.
The Rock Springs elementary school teacher has made a name for himself by wearing a steady stream of goofy costumes that have a serious aim — getting kids excited about coming to school and learning.
“There’s so much more learning that happens when the kids are excited about it,” he told Cowboy State Daily. “Particularly since moving to like primary, K-3 elementary, (I’ve been) doing the fun, exciting things like dress-ups, or silly days, or silly songs — anything that’s engaging for the students.”
That has had him donning some pretty funny costumes over the past several years. And not just on holidays. For Costantino, any excuse is good enough to wear a funny suit to school.
Like the Mr. Monopoly Man suit, complete with tuxedo, top hat and a giant Monopoly Man head.
Or how about his American flag jumpsuit? The party suit has straps up top, so he paired it with a matching Stars and Stripes shirt underneath and a bandana. Bam! Mr. America, at your classroom service.
More recently, he showed up to class with a No. 17 jersey, channeling his inner “Josh Allen,” a former Wyoming Cowboy who is now the Buffalo Bills quarterback. He even made that costume part of an informal social media campaign to catch Allen’s attention.
“Come on, Wyoming,” Costantino wrote on the post. “Let’s see if we can get Josh to see this post. My students would go absolutely CRAZY!!!”
Costantino isn’t above wearing his costumes in public, either. Crazy hair at Walmart or the doctor’s office? No problem. An American flag costume at the coffee shop? Yes, please, with a latte to go.
While it might bring some weird looks from the adults in the room, he’s OK with that. He figures it means he’s going to be a hit with the right people — the kids in his classroom.
One-Upping Last Year
Costantino’s costume habit started about five years ago, when the principal, Jennifer Palacios, proposed starting an “ABC” countdown to summer. The idea behind that campaign is to get and keep student attention to the end of the year by giving each of the last 26 days of the year a different theme based on a letter in the alphabet, starting with “A” and ending with “Z.”
Costantino was all in from the start. Some of the days weren’t official dress-up days, but he wore a costume anyway.
Not only did his kids love it, but he noticed all the energy it brought for the learning. He was onto something here, and that just encouraged him all the more.
“The students enjoy it, and they have kind of come to expect it,” he said. “So, I’m always trying to one-up what I did the year before, to do something a little more creative.”
This year, Costantino combined his annual costume campaign with another campaign, a national contest to choose America’s favorite teacher. He didn’t win, but came close to making the finalist round from among hundreds of teachers across the nation.
He liked the campaign and hoped it might help people better understand what teachers are doing in school districts everywhere across America.
“I think a lot of people don’t really know what teachers do,” he said. “What teachers do now is completely different from what teachers did when they were in school. We just assume that things are always the same, but boy, has education changed since I was in school.”
Costantino said he sees some of the changes lately as pushing students to achieve at very high levels.
“That’s awesome, but there also has to be an outlet of joy and creativity and excitement with it,” he said. “So, doing dress-ups, doing the fun concerts and the silly things — it definitely makes school more enjoyable for the kids.”
Enthusiasm Is Catching, And Catching On
Costantino’s enthusiasm has been catching on lately. He’s seeing more teachers at other schools trying out ideas like the ABC Countdown and a silly dress-up day or two, to see if it juices up the learning for their students.
“Our job is not just to educate kids,” Costantino said. “It’s to make kids excited about learning. Anything we can do as teachers to make that exciting.”
Making the learning fun is something he believes most teachers are more than willing to go over-the-top for, even if dressing up isn’t their preferred mode.
“Where I go over the top with costumes, other teachers do it with storytelling or art or classroom themes,” he said. “Everyone has their own kind of niche. But I think that’s what makes teachers so special. They use their own personal strengths to bring joy to the classroom, to make it an amazing experience.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
