Question, Research, Experiment, and Write

These days, it seems far more likely to find your teen glued to the computer screen than to the latest literary release (Harry Potter books aside). – Garrett, Rose

Remembering back to the time when overhead projectors, resembling an ugly swan with wheels, was the newest source of technology within the classroom, it’s hard to even realize web based communities.  Today it’s harder than ever to stay up to date on every new piece of technology hitting the market and what it may have to offer.  However, staying current may prove to be more valuable than you previously thought.

For a second here close your eyes and think back to your high school years, the teachers, the things you remember learning…  A majority of everything you remember learning about or even being taught was done so in a way that made it unforgettable.  Of course as a teacher our goal is to make each lesson unforgettable for our students but what are those magic ingredients that stew together to create the perfect unforgettable lesson?  One small fraction of that stew I find very important is making a lesson relate to that generation of students.  It’s impossible to have excited and engaged students in a lesson if they can’t relate to anything you are teaching or how you are teaching it.

For instance I can recall an extreme case in which I dreading every single day of my sophomore English class.  It wasn’t the material that I hated but rather how the teacher presented the material.  Every single day we would start class by copying down the teacher’s outline from the overhead projector, keeping in mind we only had so much time per overhead sheet to copy the information.  Halfway through the class period, my hand, feeling as if an elephant had sat on it, was beginning to scribble whatever information I could.  Finally when you thought to yourself that class was almost over our teacher started placing two overhead sheets on the projector at a time.  At last the bell rang and English was over, or at least for that day it was.  Obviously I recall this teaching process not because it was successful but rather because it was one of my worst experiences within a classroom.  I can’t recall one thing I wrote down for that class the entire year let alone tell you anything I learned, except maybe how to copy down notes really fast.  I’m not saying this technique won’t work because for some people in that class it may have been there learning style, but it’s hard to say, even if you are a visual learner, whether or not you had enough time to process what you were writing.  I believe teaching is an art form, a sculpting technique, in which it’s a perpetual learning process for the teacher each year.  The teacher must be willing to adapt and more importantly be wanting to adapt for the sake of their students.

Today the classroom is different, students are different, it’s a new generation with a new set of techniques.  It is up to the teacher to find a way to relate to their students, remembering that teaching is as much a delivery process as it is an observation process.  Having said that, it is wise for teachers to keep an eye out for new and exciting ways to relate to their students, which is exactly what Rose Garrett has done in her article, Join a Reading Community… Online! Garrett has found communities of book worms stationed online ready to share their interpretations.  Whether it is Shelfari.com, Bookcrossing.com, Bookmooch.com they all have something very vital in common, a way for teenagers to share ideas and communicate with one another about literature.  In other words a way to accommodate the next generation of learners via the internet.

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Garrett, Rose.  Join a Reading Community…  Online!.  Education.com:  High school Reading.  Sept. 22, 2008