The search for Imagination: Residency Day 1

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In October of 2018, I did a master class with a high school. The drama teacher told me that kids today are different. She said that they spend far too much time scrolling through things on their phones. They walk with their phones, they use them instead of having conversations, and that their social skills were suffering because of it.




I squirreled that little piece of info away for a later day.


In January of 2019, I was out in Arizona. The principal of one of the schools took me aside and told me he was amazed at his student's behavior during the program.

He proceeded to tell me that they'd had problems with their last assemblies. The students couldn't sit still. They were restless and unattentive. I told him I don't usually have that problem. I attribute it to the way using stories hooks into the brain of listeners.

Apparently, in an effort to let the parents know that he was concerned about the student's behavior, he had a meeting one evening. As he spoke to the parents, he was struck by what he saw. Most of them couldn't go more than a few minutes without looking down at their phones and scrolling through whatever was in front of them. They didn't focus on much of anything more than about three or four minutes. They couldn't even stay off of their phones long enough to get through the short meeting.

The principal said, "It was obvious why their kids are the way they are. If this is how plugged in the parents are, imagine what they let their kids do?"

I filed that away for a later date.

This week, I am in residence.

I don't often teach residencies.

I don't often teach below the fourth grade.

I don't particularly like residencies, and I teach as few as possible.

So, you might ask, how did you end up teaching a second grade residency this week?

The answer?

I have absolutely no idea.

I'm pretty sure when I agreed to this we weren't talking about second grade...but here we are.

Two weeks ago, when The David told me to pick up the phone, I discovered I was talking to a curriculum coordinator who informed me that the school decided that second grade was the best grade for the residency.

Now, it is only three days long, so it isn't like I am going to be here for three weeks, but that is not the point.

It has been years...and I mean years...since I worked with the second grade. Their abilities and habits are completely foreign to me.

Not to worry, I said to myself, it isn't like I don't perform for this group all of the time. I could adapt to this, no problem.

Second Graders love Fortnite

That was my first mistake.

I obviously don't know anything about second graders. Nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. Bupkis. Less than bupkis.

My first day was a disaster.

I started teaching an activity and realized in the first five minutes that the kids could not do what was needed. They did not have the skills. It was odd.

Second graders can put sentences together, right?
Second graders can use imaginative language, right?
Second graders can come up with a single sentence that is related to a sentence that came before, right?
Second graders do still have use of a creative play, right?

Apparently, not...at least not the ones I encountered on Day 1.

I went to plan E as I deduced quickly that plans B - D were probably not a good idea.

I took the teachers aside and asked what the heck was happening.

They informed me that their children have trouble because they spend so much time plugged in that they don't seem to have good social skills, don't know how to hold conversations, and really do not know how to control their emotions.

Their parents use technology as a babysitter. Instead of teaching their children to learn how to control their anger or upsetness, they just give them the Ipad.

This makes for miserable behavior, lack of cooperative learning, and poor reading skills amongst lots of the kids. During creative writing time, they struggle. They often can't come up with anything but storylines from video games, and they don't have as much interest in anything that isn't electronic.

The librarian informed me that when kids come to her house to play with her son if she doesn't let them play on the computer or play videogames, they tell her they are bored and want to go home.

What the heck am I going to do now?

Day 1 of my residency - VIDEO HEAD STUDENTS  - 1
                                        STORYTELLER - 0


Happy Teaching


The Search For Imagination - Day 1
Digging For Buried Treasure: Day 2
A Mixed Bag of Failure, Confusion,Success  and storytelling: Day 3