Following is my reply to a Blog for an assignment in an online course I'm enrolled in called K12 Learning 2.0, designed to to help teachers learn new tech tools for better teaching. The blog is entitled "Students 2.0," and this entry is published by Arthus Erea on December 16, 2007, and its great content can be seen at:
http://students2oh.org/2007/12/16/teaching-brevity/#comment-1324
Thing 4: Blog Reflection
Being an English teacher, and loving language, the thought of brevity almost sends chills down my spine; however, I realize that in this age of news briefs, sound bites, YouTube, Twitter, and just plain information decay, perhaps we can't expect students growing up in/bombarded by the information explosion to think and ponder in the long mental silences it takes to maintain the kind of attention-span needed to write long, exploratory, thoughtful essays (especially with headphones growing from their ears). This sounds so fuddy-duddy, even to myself, and it always does to my students who want to sit in class when composing their essays while Lil Wayne sexes up their synapses:
"Now I was bouncing through the club
She loved the way I did it but
I see her boyfriend hatin' like a city cop
Now I ain't never been a chicken but my fitty cocked
Say I ain't never been a chicken but my semi cocked
Now where your bar at?
I'm tryna rent it out
And we so bout it bout it
Now what are you about?
DJ show me love
He say my name when the music stop
Young Money Lil Wayne
Then the music drop
I make it snow
I make it flurry
I make it out back tomorrow don't worry
Yeah
Young Wayne on them hoes
A.K.A. Mr. Make It Rain On Them Hoes (Young Money)"
Sometimes you just can't fight progress; in other words, if I can't beat 'em, then am I just to give in to brevity? If my job as a teacher of English to seniors is to prepare them for college work, even in teaching them the importance of conciseness and the power in fewer words at times than more, am I doing them any favors by NOT teaching them the power of an essay of four to six pages done really well? To fail to remind them that the formula 5-paragraph essay just isn't going to cut it anymore because college work will require more from them? Brevity may have its place, but, when the information highway is already so full of shortcuts, maybe our job as educators should be to try to slow the machinery down for our students occasionally so that they can once again learn the joys of writing. Word play. Language ARTs.
http://students2oh.org/2007/12/16/teaching-brevity/#comment-1324
Thing 4: Blog Reflection
Being an English teacher, and loving language, the thought of brevity almost sends chills down my spine; however, I realize that in this age of news briefs, sound bites, YouTube, Twitter, and just plain information decay, perhaps we can't expect students growing up in/bombarded by the information explosion to think and ponder in the long mental silences it takes to maintain the kind of attention-span needed to write long, exploratory, thoughtful essays (especially with headphones growing from their ears). This sounds so fuddy-duddy, even to myself, and it always does to my students who want to sit in class when composing their essays while Lil Wayne sexes up their synapses:
"Now I was bouncing through the club
She loved the way I did it but
I see her boyfriend hatin' like a city cop
Now I ain't never been a chicken but my fitty cocked
Say I ain't never been a chicken but my semi cocked
Now where your bar at?
I'm tryna rent it out
And we so bout it bout it
Now what are you about?
DJ show me love
He say my name when the music stop
Young Money Lil Wayne
Then the music drop
I make it snow
I make it flurry
I make it out back tomorrow don't worry
Yeah
Young Wayne on them hoes
A.K.A. Mr. Make It Rain On Them Hoes (Young Money)"
Sometimes you just can't fight progress; in other words, if I can't beat 'em, then am I just to give in to brevity? If my job as a teacher of English to seniors is to prepare them for college work, even in teaching them the importance of conciseness and the power in fewer words at times than more, am I doing them any favors by NOT teaching them the power of an essay of four to six pages done really well? To fail to remind them that the formula 5-paragraph essay just isn't going to cut it anymore because college work will require more from them? Brevity may have its place, but, when the information highway is already so full of shortcuts, maybe our job as educators should be to try to slow the machinery down for our students occasionally so that they can once again learn the joys of writing. Word play. Language ARTs.
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