What It's Like on the Inside had a link to an blog entry on ASCD Inservice - Dumbed Down Generation expressing the view that perhaps the current generation is perhaps devoid of an intellectual spirit. What great timing! Just this past Friday, I was asked in my English class why I don't buy the our current novel on tape and play it for them during class instead of forcing them to read it.. I was promised they would be much more interested than the current napping pattern displayed. Or just show the movie and then it would be over in a couple of days.
The entry talked about a recent debate on the state of intellectual curiosity among teens. The teens did not come out good in this one. One of the comments in reaction to the blurb is from writer of the generation under discussion. In his post, he writes that there is a differing view point that the older generations are missing. I think as teachers it's important to evaluate these view points, if for no other reason then to combat them in our classrooms.
For example, we old-fogeys need to remember that, "Asking how something can be used in "real life" is the same as asking, "Why is it worth my time to learn this over something else I could be learning?" (That's opportunity cost evaluation.)" For many of my students, this translates into "this book is stupid and I don't need to read it to go work in the woods." Sadly, the fact that there are almost no jobs in the woods never seems to penetrate, but that's beside the point. The question for me becomes, how do I consistently show that reading the book is worth their time? Given the rather limited diversity in the area and for racial intolerance, you would think it obvious as to why students should read To Kill A Mockingbird. They will one day leave this area, go out in the world and attempt to find a job where they will have to work with others who are not just like them. In focusing on Atticus' advice to Scout to "walk around in a person's skin", I hope that they remember that advice well after graduation. Is that important enough to read an entire book? Don't they get that message at home or from TV? Would a movie be just as effective? Because the commenter continues, "If it is easy to find out, and hard to learn, it's better to know how to use it and where to find it then spend more time learning it, when it's liable to be forgotten before the next school term."
The other question I'm struggling with is the need to be an entertainer. Some days I feel like I need to sing and do a tap dance to keep students from shutting down. It seems to me that if a book doesn't include a death, car cash or some sort of shocking event within the first 5 pages, it's "boring". Any assignment that requires more ten minutes of work is "boring", even if the student choose the topic themselves. How do I make work fun? Or at least worth doing?
Maybe I'm just fighting a loosing battle. That like the character of Faber in Fahrenheit 451, I will wake up one morning to find all the books and teachers gone, replaced by sports and videos. No thinking required.
The entry talked about a recent debate on the state of intellectual curiosity among teens. The teens did not come out good in this one. One of the comments in reaction to the blurb is from writer of the generation under discussion. In his post, he writes that there is a differing view point that the older generations are missing. I think as teachers it's important to evaluate these view points, if for no other reason then to combat them in our classrooms.
For example, we old-fogeys need to remember that, "Asking how something can be used in "real life" is the same as asking, "Why is it worth my time to learn this over something else I could be learning?" (That's opportunity cost evaluation.)" For many of my students, this translates into "this book is stupid and I don't need to read it to go work in the woods." Sadly, the fact that there are almost no jobs in the woods never seems to penetrate, but that's beside the point. The question for me becomes, how do I consistently show that reading the book is worth their time? Given the rather limited diversity in the area and for racial intolerance, you would think it obvious as to why students should read To Kill A Mockingbird. They will one day leave this area, go out in the world and attempt to find a job where they will have to work with others who are not just like them. In focusing on Atticus' advice to Scout to "walk around in a person's skin", I hope that they remember that advice well after graduation. Is that important enough to read an entire book? Don't they get that message at home or from TV? Would a movie be just as effective? Because the commenter continues, "If it is easy to find out, and hard to learn, it's better to know how to use it and where to find it then spend more time learning it, when it's liable to be forgotten before the next school term."
The other question I'm struggling with is the need to be an entertainer. Some days I feel like I need to sing and do a tap dance to keep students from shutting down. It seems to me that if a book doesn't include a death, car cash or some sort of shocking event within the first 5 pages, it's "boring". Any assignment that requires more ten minutes of work is "boring", even if the student choose the topic themselves. How do I make work fun? Or at least worth doing?
Maybe I'm just fighting a loosing battle. That like the character of Faber in Fahrenheit 451, I will wake up one morning to find all the books and teachers gone, replaced by sports and videos. No thinking required.
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