Back to the Future
I was asked to be the substitute teacher for a grade 11 class because the regular teacher was sick and there are no real qualified subs out in the community. I was it. The first session involved watching portions of the Last Lecture a presentation by Randy Paucsh. The lecture from this dying professor is about realizing your dreams. I have only seen part of this lecture previously and I thought that perhaps a few of the senior kids would also find it of interest, but that would be a NO. In a second class I was to show a video clip narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio on the topic of global warming. It was a documentary from the 11th hour.
I would describe the student response to the videos in this way. Sad.
Of the eight students in attendance several were texting during the viewing, several more had their heads down during most of the presentation and saw nothing and probably heard nothing as well. I had tried to discuss each topic in way of a little intro prior to the viewing, but there was no evidence of curiosity or any level of interest whatsoever. No questions, no comments, no understanding, no insights, no care.
One girl did not respond when I spoke to her. Another just got up and left the room never to return. Most laughed when Stephen Hawkins spoke through his voice synthesizer. They did not know who he was. I asked.
Another healthy girl got up said she wasn’t feeling well and left the class.
On either topic these students have no base line knowledge and no context with which to put larger world events into. They have such a narrow realm of understanding and they may not even know it and if they do they do not care.
I give you the future.
(Teaching in a school rated 588th in Alberta)
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