Mr. F and I are not night people–when left to our own devices, we are definitely asleep by 11pm, no later. But we made an exception for the midnight showing last night of the latest Harry Potter film, and it was definitely worth this morning’s sleepiness (and caffeine fixes all anyway).
Professor Snape and I share the same personality type, but I wouldn't say he's my role model for teaching...
Being me, I couldn’t just enjoy the movie, but I had time before the start of the show to observe my fellow film-goers, most of whom looked to be about 16. I’m not around this age group very much–my students are in the next age group up, and there are significant differences. So in a way, I was getting a preview of the coming attractions I’ll see in my classroom a year or two from now.
For starters, you might imagine that a group of teens, with very few “adults” in sight, might be a rowdy bunch. Not so. They were opinionated–a preview for the next Twilight film produced both cheers and jeers, but you could have heard a pin drop when Harry began. The movie was relatively long by current standards–we exited the theatre at about 2:45–but it held the audience in rapt and polite attention.
The message I took away was that attention is not a problem for these teens. Making education as fascinating as Harry and Ginny might be another matter, but if we can move in that direction, I think they’ll meet us at least halfway.
1 Comment
Stephmena · November 11, 2009 at 5:26 pm
I find your idea of attention teens very interesting. I also have been in a theater with teens and its so funny when you watch them. Before the movie even starts they are chattering about what the movie is going to be like, what Sarah is saying about it and how much Jimmy loves it. But once the movie starts every single person is quiet. Their attention is drawn towards something they love and they don’t want to ruin it. Further more I think that they teens feel comforted to have others who share the feelings about the book or the movie. As a result thye don’t want to ruin it for the other individuals in the theater. I think that if teachers applied fun and interesting thing to their lectures students would feel more inclined to learn and listen just like in the movie theater.
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