You might be worried that I've been kidnapped by Willie, but never fear. Here I am, safe from further stalking by Mr. Wonka. We did happen to see two owls while walking the dogs in the neighborhood this morning, but Willie was nowhere to be found.
To be honest, I've been watching YouTube videos. Hundreds of them. When you're an end-of-the-boomers baby boomer, it's vital to TRY and stay current when teaching Gen Z college students. It means my old school brain needs to keep up with the ever-evolving way of the world... and ever-evolving brains of the younger generations.
Hundreds.of.videos. This is no exaggeration. My eyes are blurry and my floaters are floating at warp speed. From the environment to healthcare, stress to relationships, I am desperate to stay relevant.
As I'm watching these videos--this round humorously enough about aging--I realize how old school writing and blogging really is. Gen Z is making TikToks, not whining in writing. So, I have to think in a much different fashion when creating the assignments. (I'm always relieved when there are a few "non-traditional" students in the class, because I feel like at least one or two people understand my humor.)
During the video search, I have to keep in mind is the date the video was created. If a video was created before 2018, I don't even look at it. It's too old. All the fabulous videos I currently use were created between 2015-2020. You would think that'd be fine. That's only a few years ago....
Oh, how dated I look.
I also have to keep in mind the length of the video. Three to five minutes is perfect. Anything longer, I've lost my audience. Every once in awhile I throw a TedTalk in, with the disclaimer that "this is a 14 minute video" and that I hope they try to watch the entire thing.
Gen Z has its own memes (of which I do not understand), its own sense of humor, its very different means of social media use, its foreign-to-me set of concerns and beliefs. Old school teaching is just that. Old school. We're trying to teach people who have NEVER in their life been without a tablet or smartphone in their hands and we're asking them not to have a tablet or smartphone in their hands during class.
I'm pretty sure Gen-X Educators are in the same boat. Dated, getting further out of touch, pining for the days of the overhead projector and days without active shooter drills.
I love that the current students are all good with gender-neutral pronouns, embrace diversity in general, ooze their skepticism about the US being the leader of the free world and crush use of the electronic world without missing a beat.
I'm proud that I use the social media platform that they use the most (YouTube) but kinda sad that I've never TikTok'ed even once. (Don't tell them.) I don't have the app nor am I going to get it.
I worry about their feeling of depression and stress. I can't tell you how many posts I've read about these two topics. It borders on heart-breaking when they talk about how stressed they are. (I don't tell them stress is going to follow them wherever they go, lest they implode into a little pile of dust.)
For the record, looking for appropriate, relevant, educational-yet-interesting videos is a fast track down the rabbit hole. I start out looking for one thing and then see twelve other things that are of interest to me and have NOTHING to do with making class assignments. I've watched many fabulous videos, all of which I enjoyed and non of which I can share. Willie Wonka is certainly ashamed of me.
Videos on the environment are especially difficult. Old white men screaming how climate change isn't real is a whole lot different than what the majority of Gen-Z students believe. I'm quite tired of watching supposed environmental videos of no redeeming value.
Thankfully, I found enough relevant, woke AF videos that throw shade on those non-climate believers.
God help me when Gen A gets to college--I best be long gone before they get to the college classroom. I can't even imagine showing them a PowerPoint lesson....
...that would be Power Pointless.
***************************************************************
I'm off to watch a few videos for my own enjoyment. Longer than five minutes and as old as ten years old. Then, I'm going to find a blog to read and some old-person social media to peruse, followed by a search for Willie Wonka.....
No comments:
Post a Comment