Last week (on Friday to be precise) for my Media Literacy Education class we finally
got to go into a high school classroom and teach a lesson. That might not sound
very interesting; and granted, for most (even those students in the class) it
really isn’t grandiose special. But it has been the first step in the culmination
of all the work done this semester. As I went through the experience I tried to
catalogue some of my impressions into a kind of comprehensive expression of my
time in the classroom.
First, and
foremost is, I think it might be pertinent to explain why I am in a high school
classroom in the first place. The class I am taking involves going into a
classroom environment and trying to teach to these students some tools on
making an audio documentary a la This
American Life, All Things Considered,
etc. Their documentaries have to constitute of a 3-5 minute story about an
issue that is being addressed in the current election season. This issue can be
about the general presidential election, or the more community centered
political game. Either way, their documentaries have to try and take the larger
issue and focus it upon their community. All well and good right? Well, let’s
not celebrate just yet.
I believe
that I should serve the reader well to know that I don’t think I am a very good
teacher. Now that doesn’t mean that I can’t be professorial as hell, I think I
could expound and discuss for a little bit before someone figured out that I’m
clueless. But, I feel that I have a hard time trying to maintain self
confidence in my lesson when the average student’s desire to be in the
classroom ranks somewhere between having to go to work and waiting in line at
the DMV. I don’t want the reader to think that the class is made up of ingrates
who’d rather be engaged in mindless acts of conceit. In fact, I found the
students expressed a great deal of enthusiasm and I think that their projects
have the potential to be very informative for them as well as us as, sort of,
guest lecturers.
The one
problem I have is with myself. Really, it stems from having been semi instructor-ly
for a college class. I can see it in a person’s eyes when their interest starts
to shift elsewhere. At least for the high school students it shifted to a class
mate or their paperwork, rather than a college student who might immediately
whip out a smart phone or start clacking away at a laptop. At any rate though,
I cannot help but feel a little angry at myself that I cannot capture a student’s
attention for a full 5 minutes let alone 90. Yet this made me desire to try and
work harder and do better next time I am in the room with the students. I want
them to connect with their issue and to start to become more critical of not
just their views, but of the views of the prevalent culture, the minority
culture, and the orders of power that are prominent throughout their lives. It
might be foolhardy to hope for such a thing, especially within an educational
structure that has modeled their behavior with education for the majority of
their lives; but I feel like I have to at least make a sincere effort in making
a dent in the American Educational pedagogy.
So that way
day 1 of 4… I think I may just survive this yet.
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