The Neglected Child
Right now my teaching schedule includes 3 sections of English 12 (seniors) in the morning. I was talking to a colleague the other day about how I didn't really like teaching the same thing in a row three times, and don't think I could handle a job where I only taught one class five times a day (some people like that, but I'm sure I wouldn't). When I first started teaching at Wabasha-Kellogg, I had five preps for six classes. (What that means, for the non-teachers, is that I taught five different classes in six periods, with one repeat.) I did that for two years. At MCW I teach five classes a day, and usually have three preps, sometimes four, and rarely only two. One of my afternoon classes is called "Mass Media" and I struggle with it. The concept behind the class is studying different types of media (newspapers, radio, TV) and the goal is to have the students become "better consumers" of media. I've taught the class a couple of times before, and tried to spice it up as best as I could. (I use a lot of the stuff that one of the other English teachers -- the one who usually teaches this course -- used, and frankly, a lot of isn't what I would do, so I have had difficulty adjusting to it, and tried to come up with more of my own material.) Right now we're two weeks into our five-week newspaper unit. Every kid in class gets a copy of the Star Tribune every day and I try to figure out ways to get them to delve deeper into it, but beyond the sports page and/or the comics, most of them are completely uninterested. I think a huge part of the problem this time around is that 14 or 15 of the 17 students I have in that class come from the bottom end of the academic scale; to them, it's an English credit and they don't want to do any more reading or writing than the bare minimum to get past. (Two of the other students are on the very high end of that scale; one will be the salutatorian this year.) Any suggestions or ideas that anyone has would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to dread getting to this class at the end of my day every day for the next four months.
posted by Kootch | 6:35 PM
3 Comments:
Newspapers? I don't like reading newspapers either. I tend to glance and read only if something really grabs my attention. Why pick Star Trib? Why not some smaller, weekly paper that struggles to survive against the mega corps? Or comparing/contrasting them? How are they they same, how are they different, kind of thing.
When it comes to radio, stay away from War of the Worlds broadcast -- it's soooo boring. Check out the BBC radio -- still some of the best radio broadcasting in the world (bbc.uk.co).
Why newspapers? Considering your background, that many people in your family are teachers, it should come as no surprise to you that I don't always have a choice as to what I'm supposed to teach. Curriculum is often set for me. Such is the case here.
Why the Star Trib? In many ways, it is "Minnesota's newspaper" (my phrase). In my experience and opinion, it's also the best newspaper available. A smaller, weekly paper? Lots of them around here. Talk about boring.
And I do like reading the paper. I read it daily. I have a subscription. I seldom have the time during the day to read as much of it as I'd like to. I get most of my news from the paper and from MPR. I don't watch news on TV.
Mo, thanks for the ideas/suggestions. I also "wouldn't let on" to the students that the media is biased to the left. But in my case, it's because I believe the exact opposite, for the most part.
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