In a memorable TED Talk, Apollo Robbins describes pickpocketing as the art of focusing attention. He says,
I have to play with techniques to exploit this,to play with your attention as a limited resource. So if I could control how you spend your attention, if I could maybe steal your attention through a distraction.
He can use that control of others’ attention to pickpocket them – take their wallet, their watch, their phone.
It’s a little of what we do as teachers. We also seek to control our students attention – make it flow where we want. And the best teachers can bring students’ attention to one thing and then reverse pickpocket them: slip new knowledge into their pockets while they are focused elsewhere.