Reflections [Feb. 28th, 2008|02:19 pm]

Sorry Data Diva, but I can't remember the exact assignment, I just know it had something to do with what we have come to discover we do well.

Right now, I feel like I yell really well. I can really work that diaphram. I also get annoyed very well. I know it's that time of year, but I don't feel like a very good teacher right now. I want to be, but I'm just so tired. . . But enough moping. I will pretend to be happy, and perhaps it will come true.

One of my co-teachers called me a digital translator after I expressed a way we could relate a concept to the kids. I started thinking about it, and that is something I do well on a daily basis. I take the boring concepts we ahve to teach, and my brain goes into overdrive to find something we can relate them to that the kids will get.
I don't know where I learned this. I know it started when I was a teacher's aide. My students cracked up when I explained Europeans displacing American Indians as "These white guys were hatin on the Indians". Murray kept chuckling and saying "She said 'hatin'".
See, you have to make it personal for these kids. Get them to see the concept as a part of their life. Josh totally didn't get why the Indians were mad they had to move to a reservation, until I asked him how he would feel if "Some guys moved in next door and told you you had to leave your house, it was theirs now". I thought he was ready to go fight his neighbors right then and there.

Since I have come to my current school, the focus of what I translate is a little different. I talk a lot more about myspace, text messages, and google, but the point is, you still have to relate it something the kids not only know, but care about.

Maybe I am a Digital Translator. I hope the ability to connect with my students doesn't disapear as I get older. Or will my digital native language skills just grow stronger with time? It should be interesting to find out.