Tuesday, December 09, 2003
Coming up next on Biography:
So every Monday in my class I do an activity called "New and Good." The idea came from my aunt. Basically it's an attempt to foster classroom community and show that people, most notably their teacher, cares about their lives beyond the school. The rules are pretty simple...everyone has a chance to say something new or good that happened during their weekend. Nothing X-rated allowed, no side conversations allowed, and if you don't have anything to say you can pass. Generally the thing devolves rather quickly with people constantly chattering and only a few students even trying to say something new or good. Much of the time the only thing students have is football scores.
So:
Yesterday, I decide that I'm going to clear up the obvious response. I said that what was new with me was that the Eagles beat the Cowboys and that the game was fun to watch. (Honestly, I only watched part of the game because what was really new was the flat tire I got thanks to a combination of unfamiliar roads and slippery ice.)
Unfortunately, this proved ineffective: the ONLY comments other than mine centered around the Eagles.
When I commented on this, noting that I was surprised no one had gone out to play in the snow, one of my students (normally one of the brighter ones) explained to me how stupid that was. No one goes out to play in the snow, he said. And then he said something really amusing:
"You didn't go outside to play in the snow when you were our age."
Excuse me...HUH? Even if I didn't (which was not the case...I was generally pro-snow in high school, much more than now) how would he know? I wish I could say that such arrogance was surprising, but it wasn't.
"Ok," I eventually responded. "Since you know better about my childhood than I do, you win. You're right. Whatever."
And I tried to move on from there to teach about mixtures...to limited effect.
With minor things like this, it's no big deal, but that same arrogance wrapped in stupidity unfortunately characterizes a lot of my students. They all think they know better and they all think they can just get by with blind guessing and supposition. A bad combination in a science classroom.
I wish I could say I could see progress, but so far, not so much. Perhaps that perception on my part contributes to the problem, but I don't see a managable way to get around that barrier.
So every Monday in my class I do an activity called "New and Good." The idea came from my aunt. Basically it's an attempt to foster classroom community and show that people, most notably their teacher, cares about their lives beyond the school. The rules are pretty simple...everyone has a chance to say something new or good that happened during their weekend. Nothing X-rated allowed, no side conversations allowed, and if you don't have anything to say you can pass. Generally the thing devolves rather quickly with people constantly chattering and only a few students even trying to say something new or good. Much of the time the only thing students have is football scores.
So:
Yesterday, I decide that I'm going to clear up the obvious response. I said that what was new with me was that the Eagles beat the Cowboys and that the game was fun to watch. (Honestly, I only watched part of the game because what was really new was the flat tire I got thanks to a combination of unfamiliar roads and slippery ice.)
Unfortunately, this proved ineffective: the ONLY comments other than mine centered around the Eagles.
When I commented on this, noting that I was surprised no one had gone out to play in the snow, one of my students (normally one of the brighter ones) explained to me how stupid that was. No one goes out to play in the snow, he said. And then he said something really amusing:
"You didn't go outside to play in the snow when you were our age."
Excuse me...HUH? Even if I didn't (which was not the case...I was generally pro-snow in high school, much more than now) how would he know? I wish I could say that such arrogance was surprising, but it wasn't.
"Ok," I eventually responded. "Since you know better about my childhood than I do, you win. You're right. Whatever."
And I tried to move on from there to teach about mixtures...to limited effect.
With minor things like this, it's no big deal, but that same arrogance wrapped in stupidity unfortunately characterizes a lot of my students. They all think they know better and they all think they can just get by with blind guessing and supposition. A bad combination in a science classroom.
I wish I could say I could see progress, but so far, not so much. Perhaps that perception on my part contributes to the problem, but I don't see a managable way to get around that barrier.
