So often Bethany and I spend drive time at the end of our teaching day on our cell phones discussing our latest theories about why kids in classrooms all over the country act as they do.
The other day we coined a new phrase about the level of inattention students today are demonstrating and tried to determine the cause -- Our theories ranged from -- too much computer time -- always looking at some sort of screen -- to media over-stimulation -- or maybe it's not enough adult conversation with the child in his (her) early years.
It is puzzling to both of us that you can give oral instructions to any class (k-12th grade) two or three times and they invariably will still ask you a question that you just answered!!! It's as if they were deliberately tuning you out. Kind of like those cartoons where the parent starts to talk and their speech just becomes a honking sound to the children who have turned deaf ears.
How to tell when your students are not listening:
> a glazed over look in their eyes
> the clueless expression after you finish talking
> the conversation that is going on around them is louder than your instructions
> they are fidgiting with something in their lap or jacket pocket -- sure sign they are text-messaging
> you can hear music coming from their head (you can't see the earplugs -- but you know they have to be tuned in to their i-pods or else their cranium is sending out radio frequencies)
Maybe I need to create long-distance learning lessons -- put myself on a screen and tune them into monitors -- and teach from a distance.
Same Stuff New Place
11 years ago
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