Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You

Some Thoughts on Edumacation

A couple of weeks ago I read an article, maybe in the Times or Newsweek, that instead of delivering information, educators of this generation will be more responsible for directing their student’s efforts to acquire information effectively and efficiently. Rather than passing down knowledge, good teachers, the ones who leave lasting and useful impressions on the lives that they touch and teach, will be better equipping their students by directing them to find the information for themselves in a educated and purposeful manner.

There is certainly some truth to this, thank you world wide web. It does not take long for the new teachers at SBW to find out that nearly any assignment given as homework, will be turned in a few days later as a regurgitated forgery of internet sources, lacking independent thought and originality. The real challenge for me, has been to create assignments that inspire creativity and require student’s to come up with their own thoughts in their own time and still allow for the google searches that are so familiar and comfortable. Of course some of my assignments have worked better than others, and often I actually have appreciated the efforts of my students to research on-line.

The “post-modern” me understands how inseparable creativity and originality is from the internet at the present. So, needless to say, I have truly been stretched the past few months to figure out exactly what I’m teaching and what is the best method of making English enjoyable and applicable, while still maintaining the educational integrity necessary to overcome a temptation to “cut“ and “paste.”