A couple days ago I realized how infrequently I read any more. Like, I skim nonfiction / editorials all the time, but if I am taking something big in, I don't feel like I discovered it through reading. Usually, I get an idea from something I've been watching and then follow it around until something else catches my eye. When I thought about how I find new topics, I thought about my students. I started wondering if I should be giving my students' frequent complaint more credence. Is school - especially reading heavy classes - really, actually, boring? It seems like I see it in class, a lot: we watch a documentary, the kids are rivited. Deliver the same content via words on a page, and bleh.
If we have the ability to make school less boring, how would we do it?
Or, is taking steps to make school more pleasant feeding an instant-gratification monster?
Something in the middle?
I'm a highschooler. I read a book every 1-2 weeks. You will have to cater to your students to understand the speed and efficiency at which they gather information and which learning methods benefit them the most. Students should learn how to cope with reality, where they will have a job that won't allways put them in the most pleasant of sitĂșations. While it is necessary for parts of class to be boring, ultimately the energy of the teacher is reciprocated by the class, and the teachers effort poured into the classroom results in the classes feelings about the class.
I replied to the wrong thing. Please disregard this comment!
A lot of my recommendations center around the physical environment. Cracking down on weed/vaping. I don't want to smell that musty **** when I'm just trying to get to my next class. Some schools still have lead pipes/asbestos and mold problems. I would push for water fountain filters above all. Also, the administration needs to cut down on the amount of people who cut the lunch line.
As far as the education goes, I don't have too many complaints. Teachers mostly try their hardest. I just wish we had more paper assignments rather than virtual ones. I think that people should always look to improve what can be, but realistically there isn't much that the higher-ups are willing to do about it. As a kid with a bad home life, I love it when teachers get to know me better. I typically make a small effort, like gifting teachers the tomatoes I grow. If teachers take interest in that or comment on my dialogue, it makes me feel special. That's what I'd like teachers to do more.
Hey so I know for me at least, reading is incredibly boring but stressful at the same time. I have so much other homework to do yet I have to read for school. It takes me a lot longer than others to read something and actually get something meaningful out of it. I often find myself having restless nights because I had to read and then do my other homework. My brain just doesn't pick up information when I read it. I have to reread pages constantly. It makes me super frustrated not being able to finish my work at home or in class as fast as my peers. Whenever I have to read multiple pages for a class, my brain is completely fried afterwards and I'm bored to death (it doesn't help that I usually get 4 hours of sleep because of the reading). So yeah that's just my experience with reading for classes.