“Engage Me or Enrage Me”
WHAT TODAY’S LEARNER’S DEMAND
By: Marc Prensky
“Yesterday’s education for tomorrow’s kids.” This is what Prensky stated in this article and it is true. Students resent us for wasting their time in school. I agree that many students who don’t pay attention in school don’t do so because of their attention spans. I agree with Penky in the fact that they are simply bored. They go home and spend hours on their computers or playing video games. I know that some times I’d rather be playing video games than teaching, if I just got a new game. The same can be said for books as well though and I don’t think that a large portion of today’s students submerge themselves in books.
At home they find something that engages them. They are engaged because they are good at what they are doing or maybe they like the feeling of competitiveness it gives them. Compared to this, school is boring to them. At home, they can choose to do what interests them, but at school they can only do what we tell them to do. Maybe we should offer choices for assignments and give them more project-based learning.
Prensky suggested continuous challenges that test their capabilities, constant important decision making, taking in multiple streams of data, and being given goals they aren’t sure they can reach. I know that the students need goals that are relevant to them. As a math teacher, I like to use peer teaching, where students sit in groups of three to four. Sometimes we have contests between the groups of students. I have found that this simulates students to want to work and learn more. And believe it or not, high school kids love candy! Bribes work well, but an intrinsic motivation would be more productive for everyone involved. Not to mention cheaper and healthier.
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