I enjoyed both of these videos. In the SNL skit, I think that it demonstrates what not to do as a teacher. Is it weird that I was thinking Where is the opener? They are so lost because he didn't have an opener! Granted it is an SNL skit - there is a such thing as limited time, being funny, and getting to the point. I enjoyed how it showed that students are waiting for the teacher to give the right answer instead of trying to use their prior knowledge to come up with answers (even if they may be wrong). Another part that made me think a bit more was when the girl just kept on saying "You said we didn't need to know dates." I've had teachers say this to me before and when they started talking about a date I almost tuned them out. Our words have huge impacts on our students - especially if we say something that allows them to not have to do something. Maybe we should be more conscious about what we say our students need to know vs. what they don't need to know. Why are we closing doors to learning? What if a student really does enjoy learning dates? If we aren't testing over it, does that mean that we should tell a student they don't need to know it? Lastly, did anybody like the question that the girl asked in the very last part? She wanted to know more about what the teacher originally wanted to talk about. I may just read too much in this skit, but even though it seemed like the class was going no where, there was a student who was finally interested to know how it all tied together. I see that as a light to what seemed to be a difficult class period.
The second video is also enjoyable because it allows me to be reminded that there are so many rewards to being a teacher. His dramatic quality doesn't bother me; I actually appreciate it because it shows his passion for what he does. I'm not even a teacher yet, but if he is still loving his job then it truly shows that there are so many rewards to it that we haven't even experienced and those who don't have our job will never be able to.
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I've talked a lot in one of my other classes about NCLB and the near necessity of "teaching to the test" b/c of the stakes. However, I think that even in just general classes, we teach to the test. We have somehow fostered in our students the idea that if it isn't on the test, it isn't worth knowing b/c all that really matters is getting a grade. We have stripped our students of any desire to actually "learn."
I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to make this not what happens in my class. How can I really engage students and make them want to learn? How can I conduct my class in such a way that students rarely even think about the grade? How do I GRADE so that the grade isn't so important? I don't really have answers to this yet, but your comment about knowing dates has me thinking about it all over again.
Suggestion for your next post:
"Simon says..."
I agree. I think that test have long been the standard we use to see if students are learning what we teach them. How do we avoid making school mundane, a pain in the butt, a hassle? A good question to be asked to help understand our view of school is what is the purpose of school? Is it to just to teach students discipline with in class work or homework? Is to fill kids heads with knowledge?
I enjoyed both videos also, and I was also going where is the opener. I know this is a major extreme over the top situation, but I'm sure we will be standing up there going....Hello... once in a while with our students like this too.
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