Part I: Sometimes, it is Best to Trust the Students
As many of you know (or probably all of you, since I think you all know me), I am a high school teacher. Much of my day is spent filtering through the thoughts and questions of teenagers, determining what should be heard or ignored, and finally responding to a lot of inquiries per hour. My students are constantly trying to get me to watch, listen, or read about things that they find funny. Just to prove my overall hipness, sometimes I oblige and laugh politely when I realize that I am painfully getting old and not finding teenage humor that funny anymore. However, there are rare occasions, like today, when they actually stumble upon something that makes me laugh as well.
After a few minutes of giggling, I overhear, "just ask him, ask him, he'll do it..." Intrigued, I give in and ask what they are babbling about. Their instructions were simple: Go to YouTube and type in "Scarlet Takes a Tumble". Following their directions, I come across this piece of internet hilarity:
Being the good teacher that I am, I immediately progam my tv to show my computer screen and attempt to turn this into a learning experience. As we watch the video, students actually start to sing along with the Aretha Franklin wannabe. As Scarlet gracefully slides into her high heels and mounts the table, we are all sure that it is going to end poorly. Eventually, the hilarity ensues and we are left laughing for a little while. Browsing through YouTube, we find SEVERAL remixed versions of Scarlet's love ballad...now that's entertainment!
So...the real question is, "How in the world can public schools justify this as an educational opportunity?"
Did you forget that I am really good at my job?
I quickly lecture the students on mass media and how it contrasts with the oral storytelling traditions found in the novel that we are currently reading, Things Fall Apart. What kind of impact might YouTube have on Nigerian tribes? Additionally, how would we operate if we did not have media outlets such as YouTube?
Needless to say, the student led discussion was interesting and further proof that sometimes kids know best...
Part II: Sometimes Kids are Idiots
During another class, I was assigning a short essay for students to complete about the novel 1984. When I explained that it would be short, probably 2 complete pages, a student piped up, saying, "WOW, you are waaaay easier than your mom!" You can imagine the laughter and entertainment. My question is, should I be offended?
Ahh....teaching. Perhaps this blog will transform into my daily interactions with the lives of America's youth. Perhaps that would only serve to be depressing...
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4 comments:
The "you are waaaay easier than your mom" comment has already made it through a couple of classrooms...all of the kids think it is very funny. At least we can provide some comic relief to the students as well:)
i think you should have told the kid "you're not"
Re: technical glitch of the day:
Go to statcounter.com, create an account, and follow the instructions. You'll have to copy their code into your blog layout (go to "Layout" on your Dashboard, click to add a gadget, choose "HTML/Javascript" from the "Basics" menu, then copy the code into the "Content" box. You can then go to statcounter.com to see how many visitors you have, how often they come, what they read, where they're from, and all sorts of other fun stuff.
I always knew that Liz was my favorite!
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