Writing About Writing

Ok, I'm going to start from the end of the conference and work my way backwards. I'm not sure why, but I just have this urge. I think maybe it goes from the one that made me think most of all to the one that was less but still very interesting.

The last break out session I attended was my favorite because it convinced me that I didn't want to be a teacher. It was a bunch of interns talking about how they enjoyed their experience in the field, and what it was like, and I realized that it definately wasn't for me. I'm not saying that this suddenly changed my mind, but I think it helped to make my decision. But it was a great session. They had so many handouts, and so many resources that it really enriched my experience. I really got to look into what teaching was going to be like, and what interning would be like, what to expect, and what to be brutally prepared for. It opened my eyes.

One of the middle conferences that I attended had to do with applying technology to a school setting; however, it wasn't the spiffy one that everyone was raving about. It was an intern sharing her current experiences with everyone. She incorporated music into her history lesson. And also modern day occurances to get them to relate. The thing that really woke me up in this presentation though was a point that she made about cirriculum. She said that when you're teaching something, you might have to skip the bare facts, and go with the general idea. She was teaching the constitution, and she basically skimmed to the right of life and speech. That just seems like cheating to me. But you have to make your lessons relatable, so in the end, I guess it does make sense. It'll help the students to learn, and help them enjoy what they are learning.

A part of me wants to write about the keyntoe speaker, and his rant about incorporating technology into the classroom, but I think it's an overworked topic now, concidering that we've been learning from the GVSU king all semester. I think as future teachers, our generation is only inclined to incorporate technology into their teaching practices. Or maybe it's just me. But I think as enthusiastic teachers, we are going to want to relate to our students, so what exactly is going to get them excited about what they are learning? Definately not general lectures, reading, and writing. Students need things from their daily life to actually make them wake up from their educational fog. We need to give them something worthwhile and make them enjoy coming to school. Otherwise our jobs are going to be just as dull. I'm not saying you need to have a trick up your sleeve every single day, but enthusiasm isn't going to be the only thing that will motivate the students. They need to know that you care, and that you are wanting them to relate it to their lives. It's enthusiasm through relatability and technology.

What a question... I AM going to be a teacher.. very very soon. But how can you really predict what your classroom is going to work like? A person can go into with a perfect foolproof plan, but in the end, it gets destroyed by millions of little things that can easily be overlooked. How does one really prepare for that? I know what I want it to work like, but I highly doubt that that's how it's going to actually go.

I'd love a class where students just can't get enough of what they are reading. I want a class where I can motivate students to keep going, to delve deeper into the ideas of the text. I'd love a class that comes to me with ideas, a class that raises their hand when they think something could make sense in a certain context. But how do you do that? Can you really reach every single student? I want to motivate my students. I want them to love what we're doing. And if they don't love it, I want them to atleast enjoy coming into my classroom. It would be nice to atleast open their eyes to some of the different contexts.

I think one of the flaws in my learning was not being able to connect to my reading. I want to atleast see students understanding what's occuring. To believe that the text could relate to them, or atleast some idea they hold. I want it to connect to everyday life by bringing in technology, or modern day occurances. Why not? Why isn't reading like that now? It's how it should be. Things are not written simply to be written, they are there to make a person thing, to connect, and to entertain. I want my students to be entertained. I want them to relate. Discussion will be encouraged. And so will projects.

I think with reading comes writing, and writing gets monotonous if it's the same concept over and over. What do you think? What were some main concepts? What was your favorite part? Those are all great ideas for a journal, but really, you can give them an assignment to write a paper on that. It's going to be a dull paper that has very little content. I liked the idea of podcasts because it's outside the box. Students can enjoy putting it together. Or script writing and acting. Or even making a movie. Learning can be fun, not just monotonous.

Should there really be a fixed group of books that restricts what an adolescent reads? I don't think so. I think having teenagers simply reading is a miracle in itself, whether it be magazines, newspapers, websites, novels, short stories, or the Bible. Students reading is something to rejoice about, and motivation is the key. It's not particularly about what they are reading, but how you motivate them. I think that it's easier to motivate them to read something that they are interested in or can relate to.

When you have them find articles in newspapers or magazines that they enjoy, it motivates them to read more, and to find more articles like that. With the same sort of motivation, you can give students the want to read novels that are relatable. Stories with young characters, about their age, and going through similar problems might be a good start. It's what a lot of Young Adult literature is structured around. A character that is going through its own struggles, that a teenager can grasp. Oftentimes, students can't relate to literature that is profound or is trying to spew theories at you. They don't want to read something that can easily bore them. They need something that is intriguing, and something that evokes the senses and the imagination.

So what books are those and how do they find them? I think that a lot of books that we choose for high school students to read can go both ways. A lot of them are "classics" and you can enjoy them; however, there are a lot that go completely the opposite way and just don't catch the reader's attention. And when you are teaching students, you can't expect for all your students to get involved with the reading, that's nearly an impossible task, unless you are God, or the best motivator in the world, but there are always exceptions. But when you are teaching students, it is important to prepare them for the future. They may run into references to certain classics such as Shakespeare, The Great Gatsby, or Catcher in the Rye. All these books are classics that are often referenced, and are often enjoyed by a large range of readers. I think once you teach students to appreciate the classics, you may get them motivated to read them.

If not, maybe you can get them motivated to read future classics using books that are more relatable and more modern. It's hard to tell, but, like I said before, when ever students get excited about reading, you know it's the right literature for them.