Why is that most elementary students go home and are eager to share their school day with their parent/guardian, but once middle school hits that same zest for school loses its appeal? In my main placement, my second grade students constantly tell me about dinner time stories. The other day one of my students spouts off, “Ms. Mauge, I told my mom about how we decorated pinecones in class yesterday and how I got green paint all over my face!” I appreciate hearing these stories from home because it signals to me that these students genuinely enjoy what they are doing in school. They are so fond of school, that when they leave and are at home in their own element they are still thinking about the classroom. So, why is that once they hit middle school these stories seem to disappear? Is it because the activities happening in class are not as exciting and students are not as engaged in learning? Or is it because dinner time is spent alone and not as a family anymore? Are there stories told at dinner, but teachers just do not hear about those stories anymore? It is probably somewhat of a mix of all these factors.
I know that once I reached the 6th or 7th grade, I stopped telling my parents what was happening in school because none of it seemed as interesting as the rest of my personal life was. Plus, all the hormones coursing through my body made things completely different. However, I constantly wonder how we can get older students to go home and tell their parents /guardians what is going on, regardless of their age and whatever else is going on in their lives. Maybe parents/guardians need to break through their teen’s image and get to the bottom of it. Or maybe what is going on in school needs to become more inventive, more innovative, and more imaginative so that these students want to share stories. If adolescent students become more eager to communicate about their school day, maybe parents/guardians will also become more enthusiastic and in turn their involvement in their child’s school will also increase.
I was one of the people who completely refused to create a Twitter account. Facebook was enough for me. I thought of Twitter as another social networking site that everyone updated minute by minute what they were doing at that exact moment in time. So, I was not interested. However, as a course requirement, I hesitantly created an account. I then did not return to Twitter for weeks. Once I did though, I decided to start finding professional educators to follow and in this search I happened to come across some really valuable information. I began to think about all that Twitter can offer. If you decide to steer clear of the irrelevant information and are particular with who you follow, then there is a lot that can be gained. Instead of searching numerous different sites and search engines for educators and information regarding education, you can simply go to one site, Twitter, and find it all there (or at least a lot). It is inevitable with any social networking site, that you will find a bunch of extraneous material. Yet, if you search for a specific purpose there will worthwhile evidence of brilliant thinking. And this evidence is current, considering that they whole basis of Twitter is to post information on a continuous basis. Post length is limited to 140 characters (called Tweets), so they are short and sweet. You do not have to read through mass and pick out select information. It is all found within a couple sentences.
Why is that most elementary students go home and are eager to share their school day with their parent/guardian, but once middle school hits that same zest for school loses its appeal? In my main placement, my second grade students constantly tell me about dinner time stories. The other day one of my students spouts off, “Ms. Mauge, I told my mom about how we decorated pinecones in class yesterday and how I got green paint all over my face!” I appreciate hearing these stories from home because it signals to me that these students genuinely enjoy what they are doing in school. They are so fond of school, that when they leave and are at home in their own element they are still thinking about the classroom. So, why is that once they hit middle school these stories seem to disappear? Is it because the activities happening in class are not as exciting and students are not as engaged in learning? Or is it because dinner time is spent alone and not as a family anymore? Are there stories told at dinner, but teachers just do not hear about those stories anymore? It is probably somewhat of a mix of all these factors.