Introduction: Every Generation Has Its Own Classroom
Every generation has its own unique characteristics, values, style, and foundational environment. Perhaps because of the power of technology, access to information, blurring of lines between fantasy and reality, and realized existence of places that are simultaneously virtual and tangible, the Millennial Generation is having a tremendous impact on how learning occurs in our classrooms.
“This is a generation that has had access to cell phones, personal pagers, and computers since they were in diapers. While the Xers were the first to jump on board the personal computer, Millennials can brag about being able to take it for a joyride on the information superhighway. Through the Internet, they have visited virtually every corner of the globe and have been able to choose between hanging out at the local mall or the virtual mall.”-- When Generations Collide: Who They Are. Why They Clash. How To Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work by Lynne C. Lancaster and David Stillman, (28)
The thoughts and conversation captured in this article, presented in a multi-genre format, reflect the year we spent teaching (and, just as importantly, learning) together in a high school classroom. During that time we presented with our students at a variety of educational conferences including Courage to Risk and The Colorado Language Arts Society Spring Conference, and wrestled with the idea of a “flatter classroom,” a place in which the role of the teacher is evolving and the ways in which our students are learning is dramatically changing. Our objective is to share a big idea and support it with three specific strategies. The Millennials not only have arrived, but their impact is already being felt in the arenas of politics, economics, and education. Teachers, in fact, have begun to go Millennial themselves, and Travis enjoys grappling with the strengths, weaknesses, ramifications, and clash points associated with being a Millennial teacher facilitating the education of Millennial students while sharing the space with an Xer, Philippe. And according to Jeff Verkooten from TeachingLife.org, the next generation, the “Hypers,” are close behind.
Dear Reader
A quick note from the Millennial author
This paper’s goal is to leave teachers and students with three tangible strategies that enhance the learning environment. As always, take what works for you, throw on a dash of your personal spice, and toss the rest to the wind.
Poetic Interlude
By the Generation X author
“That Government Is Best Which Governs Least.”
Henry David Thoreau, background lesson to Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild
And Charlie says that’s like this punk band I know
Making cultural connections Hirsch hasn’t heard;
Thoreau wrote his walking essays, his civil disobedience, the problem
With tax and toll.
And Charlie says the punks pen lyrics to two-minute riffs of rebellion
Against those in power, of nonconformity, of the problem
With racism when we are all created equally.
Thoreau tended his garden and Walden Pond
The punks preach in city clubs to straight-edge youth
Thoreau spent his night in jail
When he felt “freer than the free townfolk”
The punks sleep at a rest stop off I-25
In the van living the Black Flag dream.
And Charlie says can you imagine the punks quoting Walden and
Thoreau in a mosh pit?
The Critical Event: I felt the classroom move under my feet (with apologies to Carol King)
The day after Charlie’s insightful “text to text/text to world” comment during our classroom discussion connecting the historical references of Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild (Thoreau and Walden Pond) to lyrics and music he listens to (Black Flag), another event happened that has impacted my thinking about education ever since. It helped that I was reading Thomas Friedman’s The World Is Flat at the time; my mind was primed for finding connections between Friedman’s predominantly economic perspective and examples, and my daily reality of the classroom.
While we were reviewing the previous night’s reading, the word alma mater came up in our discussion in relation to Chris McCandless, the book’s main character, and Emory College. I quickly offered a student-friendly definition and continued with the review. At the end of class, while the students were finishing their exit slips, Charlie raised his hand. “Mr. Ernewein, I was curious where the words alma mater came from; so after you gave the definition, I looked it up on my phone at dictionary.com.” I automatically gave Charlie my teacher stare because cell phones are not permitted to be out during class. He quickly added, “Actually what I found was really cool. It comes from Latin and means ‘fostering mother.’” And with that comment I felt the classroom move under my feet. Standing in front of the neat rows of desks with students eager to be dismissed, there was a figurative leveling of the classroom floor.
Information no longer rolls down from the teacher’s podium into the open minds of students; some teachers have long known this. For Millennial students specifically, the learning process is collaborative and transactional. Charlie’s actions made that abundantly clear.
This flattening does not mean that information should no longer be presented and shared by the instructional leader of the classroom, the teacher. It does suggest that the way new material is introduced needs to be adapted to our new audience. There is an opportunity for a more collaborative and interactive approach to the presentation of new concepts in the classroom. My students have taught me about the importance of collaborations, critical thinking, and allowing for a variety of ways to show what they know through projects, pictures, musical compositions, artwork, videos, and website. The access my students have to information (unfiltered, sometimes reliable, sometimes not) has made me prioritize the direct and explicit instruction of critical thinking skills while still seeking a balance with the introduction of new content and skills.
Journal: Monday, 9:27 AM
“Mr. Macy, I need to use the teachers’ phone to call my mom. I’m sick and I’m going home,” grumbled Micah, an 11th grader whose cell phone had been confiscated by Mr. E. 10 minutes earlier.
After the entire class, including the teachers, read silently from their books of choice as we do at the beginning of each class, my co-teacher, Philippe Ernewein, had initiated a lesson in which our 13 high school students would have their final practice for a group presentation. Entitled “The Classroom Is Flat,” the presentation would be given the next day at the Colorado Language Arts Society Conference. Philippe would kick it off, but the students were the main event. “OK, Micah,” I replied, turning away from an overflowing inbox of eager-to-be-graded Algebra II projects. “Let’s go for a walk-and-talk.”
At 9:27 AM on March 6, 2008, three quarters into my first year of full-time teaching, I took stock of what I knew. Mr. E. would be just fine in the classroom without me for a few minutes. He was a darn good teacher, and I was lucky as a lottery winner to have stumbled upon a teaching position working with him (and to have gained employment in a school that supports first-year teachers by placing them in the classroom with experienced masters — an ideal training environment). I knew Micah was not sick. He was, however, a 17-year-old struggling with motivation, peer drama, stress, extreme mood swings, and a half-dozen other typical teenage challenges. Micah had come to our school, Denver Academy (Colorado), at the beginning of the year with a backpack full of past behavioral issues. I knew that, like those of most of our students, his cognitive profile would probably not be described as “normal” in a medical setting. Most importantly, I knew Micah owned real estate in the world of technology (where Philippe and I rented space but were clearly still immigrants), that Micah was of the tech-savvy, highly-motivated, hyper-productive Millennial Generation born between 1981 and 1999. My chances of convincing him to stay in school that day, catch up on his history homework by staying after school, buy in to our presentation the next day, and achieve success during his remaining year and one quarter in high school were less than zilch if I approached the upcoming interaction in a traditional “I am the teacher, you are the student, so you better learn from me and do what I say” manner.
Micah had reached a flashpoint, and spiraling out of control was a significant possibility. So was real, tangible success. As I reflected on the exchange and conversation, I realized that effectiveness in this interaction, as in the daily instruction of Micah and his Millennial peers, would require constant, intentional application of all I had learned about the Pillars of a Flatter Classroom. I listened, asked questions, empathized, and set goals; in short, there was time for Micah to process information, reflect on the situation, and remain at school to have a successful and productive day.
The First Pillar of a Flatter Classroom: Teacher as Facilitator
Knowledge is everywhere, but wisdom is not. If knowledge is defined as “Acquaintance with facts, truths, or principles, as from study or investigation,” it is the investigative tools and study strategies that teachers must bring to the classroom.
Three Actions of a Teacher as Facilitator
- Create a Web Presence
Teacher websites are becoming as common as posting the homework on the chalk or dry erase board in the classroom. Along with posting daily assignments and project guidelines, a website can also be used to continue classroom discussion, and to direct students to further and specific information for research and celebrate student work. For communication with parents, students, and the larger school community, it is also the best way we have found to streamline information about due dates, events, scheduling conferences, and staying in touch with former students. While we obviously cannot control all the content on the Internet, teacher websites can offer a safe and educationally valuable neighborhood in cyberspace. - Journal with Every Student Every Week
Exchanged at least once a week (and often more), a journal discussing topics from classroom literature to college planning to teen struggles through handwritten letters between student and teacher provides a cornerstone in building a flat classroom. Teacher and student undergo a journey together as the journal purveys wisdom in both directions through a non-hierarchical relationship. - Seek Feedback
Asking students for feedback about the teaching process instills freedom and choice and generates better teaching. Teachers may create numerous avenues for deriving feedback based on comfort, ease, and effectiveness: daily/weekly reflection forms, exit cards at the end of a class period, group discussion, journaling enquiry, direct confrontation, conferencing, test questions, and others.
Exemplar: Friday’s Weekly Reflection Questions
- One objective I mastered this week was…
- My level of engagement this week (1 = least, 10 = most): 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
My reason for this rating is:
- A question I still have about this week is…
- The most memorable moment in our class this week was…
A Thesis: With Thanks to My English Teacher
According to Mrs. Tenney, the Millennial author’s ninth and 10th grade English teacher, every effective paper includes a powerful, concise, accessible thesis statement.* You see, the document you are looking at was at one time our Fourth Quarter Writer’s Workshop project. Two feeble authors faced a panel of 13 discriminating readers, who pushed us, draft after draft, to produce the best paper possible. Through group and one-on-one conferencing, written and verbal feedback, and, more than once, hard-nosed declarations of poor writing, our editorial panel provided instrumental input on this paper. After multiple reads from Micah and his classmates — they were the editorial panel — we decided on this thesis: As seen in theoretical discussion, classroom application, and real-life stories related to the tenants of a flatter classroom, generating a flatter classroom proves to be an essential best practice of teaching.
* By the way, thanks, Mrs. Tenney — Susan, as you would probably be called at this point in my life — thanks for teaching me to write. Although your classroom was slightly intimidating, incredibly structured, and extremely challenging (I now realize as a teacher that these are all positive attributes), you found subtle ways to flatten the classroom. In a time before the language to identify flat worlds and flat classrooms even existed, you effectively utilized student choice and other ideas described herein.
Conclusion: Think Millennial
The most beautiful part of education for us is that it is very much a process. Education is constantly in motion; hopefully always evolving and improving. It is not news that every generation is unique; what is newsworthy is how the Millennials have impacted education. The role of the teacher is more important than ever. We are now less the gatekeepers of information and more directors offering tools, modeling reflection, and helping to foster a safe and engaging environment where critical thinking is encouraged and high expectations are maintained.
In a flatter classroom the teacher’s role has multiple facets. The role of facilitator of learning, thinking, and wondering is critical to having success with students of the Millennial Generation. As stewards of the institution of education, it is our responsibility to think about what’s next: What is downloadable? What’s not? How will an increased wireless environment benefit or impede the learning process? What are the ramifications of storing your life in “The Cloud”? What do we need to be thinking about today to prepare our students for tomorrow?
Journal: Monday, 4:03 PM
Micah finished that day in school. Philippe and I had invested significant time and energy over six hours of journaling and discussions, with a primary focus on the relationship power base. We knew Micah would be successful the next day in the metacognitive, student-driven presentation given for an audience of teachers, and we were confident that continued application of the Pillars of a Flatter Classroom would engender success for Micah and his peers for the remainder of the year and into the future.
Resources
Howe, N. & Strauss, W. (2000) Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation. London: Vintage.
Lancaster, L. & Stillman, D. (2003) When Generations Collide: Who They Are. Why They Clash. How To Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work. New York, NY: Collins Business.
Verkooten, J. www.jeffvankooten.com