When will the bell ring?

As is usually the case, the class saunter into the classroom. Taking their seats, they pull out their textbooks and fumble for a pen. It’s all rather laborious even though ‘learning is about to begin’. As a teacher, this is often more demoralising than the mountains of books one has to mark or the ‘delightful’ time spent explaining to parents why their son or daughter has not achieved 90% in his or her most recent test. The thought of needing to excite this class-full of adolescents before educating them can send even the most Mr Chips-esque teacher running for the hills. What should be more concerning for the said teacher is that what these kids will learn in his/her class comprises only a fraction of what they’ll learn throughout the day.

Children are sponges; taking note of their parent’s interaction with security guards at the proverbial northern suburbs residential estate, mimicking the school bully when they get home and their feigning injury on a sports field bears testament to the hours spent watching Portuguese footballers. Because of this chameleon-like character trait we need to realise the value and the significance of children’s interactions with everyday things. Media, people, ourselves as adults and then that nebulous mass in which they can find all the above mentioned…dum dum dum… THE NET! This beast has an added challenge, because while we can guard against losing our dignity with a telemarketer or beat the bullying out of them or even manage to explain to them that it is only Ronaldo who chooses to play football lying on the ground, we have no weapon to challenge their superior knowledge and adeptness when it comes to all things online. Where then does this leave us? Should we hide behind our fear of the unknown, or rather encourage their ‘known’ to be made equally known to us. Statistics released continue to leave us in awe of the interactions now available to teenagers online, we are in wonder as to the information that is at our children’s fingertips. These should not be seen as the unmapped depths of a cesspool, but rather an opportunity to build an even deeper relationship with the experts, our kids.

Mr Chips’ impact came from his ability to realise that he was but a stepping stone in the development of his students. He realised that should he, as the stone, not be there, his students would cross the pool by another means, a means possibly not as safe or beneficial. To mix metaphors, we are in the same boat, we cannot afford to believe that we can stem the tide of the internet. We can, however, direct it! In so doing we can not only develop a better relationship with our kids we can protect them through our knowledge and our presence. So, how do we enter the unknown? Simply, identify your Trojan horse, find the most subtle means to entering ‘their’ world…follow them on Twitter, ‘be a friend’ on Facebook, comment on a pic on Flickr. And if all else fails, play the sympathy card and befriend their friends, no one can ignore your ‘friend request’ on Facebook and then still pop in for a Mac and Cheese on Friday night!

Over the last couple of days I have been drowned in widgets, wikis, tweets and RSS feeds, not many of which made sense to me beforehand and all appear to be the same after the conference I attended. The intention of the course was to equip us with the skills to teach the digital natives (read: the kids) the usefulness of the net. I couldn’t help but be struck by the irony of it all; teachers being taught to teach kids about their evolutionarily-developed appendages; phones and pc’s. I expect to be greeted with the proverbial eye-roll, grin and even the odd ‘check-this-old-oke-trying-so-hard-to-be-cool’ snigger. My determined grip on my youth is slowly being prised from my fingers…Even more ironic is the fact that we need to petition the parents for permission to allow us to interact with their children in an environment they are as knowledgeable about as the kids are of actually conversing with another human being. It’s done, but only by others!

I wonder why there is such a desire to prove one’s ‘contemporariness’!? Why do I have the constant urge to need to be up to date with the latest movies, music and gossip? It would be understandable, if this desire were to be regarding the latest Eastwood, Spielberg or Scorsese flik, or possibly U2’s most recent rendering, however, my craving for ‘knowledge’ does meet these lofty heights, but rather is snagged in the cesspool of Gossip Girl, Keisha and any number of bullet-ridden, gold-jingling, smirk-wearing gangster rappers… my how the mighty have fallen!

In any case, irrespective of my lack of street cred, I have full faith in the children I teach. I believe that they will point me in the direction of the most updated oracle, whether it is Jen Su’s Twitter feed, MTV’s widget on their BFF’s Facebook page or simply being pushed into Mxit chatroom. I have the hope that they will drag me along and keep me just sufficiently in-the-know to ‘teach’ them about the merits of lowest common denominators, past participles and subjectivity!

And so it begins, these are my thoughts and experiences. Not all will be humorous or meaningful, and not all may catch your fancy. However, in the few years I’ve been teaching, I return home (almost on nightly basis) with stories I want to share with my wife. I think that I’ve possibly forced her saturation levels and thought I’d fling it out into cyberspace to pester others.

…here goes!