Weekly Blog #3: Combatting Senioritis

Weekly Blog #3: Senioritis

“You must lash out with every limb, like the octopus who plays the drums” – The Sphinx

            This week has been rough, the first week of the post-prom era. Prom was held very early this year, before April even ended. This information, by itself, no doubt sounds inconsequential, but the reality is that the disease known as Senioritis kicks in with its most serious symptoms. The real problem is that it isn’t only the seniors that have Senioritis this year, it goes down as far as sophomores, who are already a handful usually. The lack of motivation for these last few weeks is going to be a big battle, one that seems impossible to win. But the highlight of the week comes from this attitude, this Senioritis plagued school population is still able to learn, even though they are sure that they cannot. This week, it was a comparison between the Holocaust and the genocides of Rwanda and Armenia that managed to grab even the most unmotivated student. Some of the students that I have had the most trouble reaching were intrigued by the idea that genocide on a massive scale has occurred even though the UN swore that it would be impossible. The students then took it upon themselves to research the more recent genocides, finding information about the victims, the perpetrators, causes, and outcomes. The truth is, students were so intrigued by the lack of the UN teeth in their resolutions that they took the next day’s discussion down a totally different road. Though it wasn’t explicitly part of the curriculum, it was a welcome break to encourage freethinking and refocus students on learning, even if they didn’t know it.

            This whole event really shifted my views on students. For one, it is too easy to write students off for the year because they seem tuned out. But the truth is, maybe teachers don’t really think enough about how to engage the students in a meaningful way to them. High school students are on the verge of becoming full functioning, independent members of the community, and whether they realize it or not, serious issues matter to them. The goal shouldn’t be to try and find a way to make them learn, but to let them learn based on meaning. Students are fully capable of learning without realizing explicitly that they have had a lesson. This is why CWP classes are the envy of the school, because everything you teach is relevant without trying to force it to be relevant. The truth is, students may seem tuned out, but the reality is that they just need to be engaged on a slightly different level.

            This leads into my changing views on teaching. Perhaps the big challenge is trying to figure out how to make students digest the information that I want them to. Looking at this week retrospectively, the challenge is finding a way to teach students to find meaning in what is being taught.