Shhh Listen

Maybe working with students isn’t about what we want:

Yet many teachers are not comfortable with their student’s media: they don’t listen to the same genre of music; they don’t play video games; they don’t watch the same TV shows or movies which appeal to their students. But they should. Allow me to elaborate.

When I would pick up my son from high school, my Smooth Jazz music was playing from the radio station I listened to in the car. He would invariably hit the button to go to the rock station. I would switch it back. This was constant. Until one day, I got the idea to try to listen to his music. So that’s what I did: he got into the car and his station was playing and it was playing a song from the 70’s that was remade for his generation. To top it all off, I was singing the lyrics. He was astonished that I knew the lyrics to “his” song.  Thus a door to communication had been opened.

Drop your expectations and listen to what students are saying.