Translation: See you later, gator!

The second essay deals with the feared generation gap. What I found interesting in this essay was the different ways to deal with engaging your students when dealing with multi-media sources. I was concerned because of the idea of the 'implied teacher' and the concreteness of those who wish not to change. I recall the episode about the CD exchange and I thought it was a great idea. Get the students (granted they are older that middle and high school) engaged in discussion about the use of advertising in media. This is an excellent way to garner the attention and thoughts of your students. Take Ray for example: "Ray was a class leader for the first time: For the first nine weeks of the semester, he had sat in the back of the room...However, when Margaret asked students to bring their favorite CDs to class, he volunteered to bring in his own CD player" (109). The fact that the students were encouraged to participate in a subject that piques interest is what educating is all about. But when the discussion led to the conventions of teaching these materials, "conversations became less open, less speculative, more rigid, and more authoritative" (110).

This struck a chord with me. I realize, though this essay, something that I knew all along. Teachers must be able to keep the students interested and be able to educate without being boring, which sadly happens to pretty much everyone. This causes anxiety in my heart, because this way of thinking, this text first then maybe some other source of information, is firmly entrenched in the public education system. But I feel that when enough future teachers have this new wave of thinking and modes of educating readily equipped for battling illiteracy and ignorance, that students will hopefully want to come to school prepared to participate and ultimately learn something for once.