A reporter for the local newspaper interviewed me recently for a piece he was planning on the future of print. During the interview he asked what it is like teaching college English these days. Are students interested? Can they look away from their iGadgets long enough to participate in a class? The generalized answer is an overwhelming Yes.
I have been at this teaching gig for not quite six years, so I'm still learning (may I always be learning), but what I've noticed of today's students, compared with students of my era, is that they are less likely to accept rules and paradigms on face value. Likewise for assignments. They see right through make-work projects. Every activity in the class must be justified. The purpose must be clear. In this way, most students are partners in the instruction. This generation has access to facts and dates like no prior generation. For the most part, they don't need their instructors to provide content solely -- at least in the Humanities. There is, of course, room for this "banker's" model of education. The instructor has to determine what is important and is often called upon for the contextualization of facts.
Mostly, the instructor is a guide and a coach, showing students how and where to find what they need, how to interpret the information critically, and how to organize the information for a reader.
The classroom is now a level field and it's tremendously exciting.
No comments:
Post a Comment