Why does it matter??

This is the main thing I got out of the reading this week! It just really hit me that if I can find ways to explain to students why the things I am teaching them are important they might actually take it more seriously and perhaps even enjoy it! I think it is so crucial to let students know how the information they are digesting is going to be useful to them, or matters to them in some way. For example, this week I did my teaching in my field experience and Keri came and observed me. I planned a really cool lesson that I thought would be really fun for them introducing African American poetry. They just completed a Civil Rights unit which they seemed to really enjoy so I thought they would have a lot to say about these poems about slavery and segregation. I think I missed one thing though...I didnt ask them why the poems really mattered. I don't think many of them made the connection that many of these poems made a huge impact on the Civil rights movement. I had them read the poems and analyze the meanings, but I didnt really give them any reason to find the poems important to them. Although the lessons that I taught went really well, if I could do it over again I would definitly find a way to answer this question for them...why does it matter? I think they might have been even more engaged in the lesson if I had. To look back at my high school experience, I know that this made a big difference to me when I was learning new information. If my teacher gave me a distinct reason why this info mattered to me I would give much more of my attention. I know that was only a small part of the reading this week, but I really thought about this a lot!