The Books I Have Taught series is a personal reflection on the books I have taught in my classes. Their experiences often reveal interesting truths, not about the themes necessarily, but more about the outcomes and interactions I had with my students and the various paths it led me down. I hope you enjoy my reflection on the books that I have taught.
When I was at university studying to become a teacher, I had a particular tutorial teacher by the name of Malcolm McInerney. He was brilliant and if you are a teacher of the humanities, then he is a valuable resource that you can learn from, not just as a teacher, but how important the humanities are. I remember that one of his key messages was how to give students an experience without having them read a textbook and answer questions. He told stories of a teacher having students make sleds out of old tires to re-enact Mawson’s expedition or even brought in other teachers who told us stories of how to use simulations. This one teacher told the story of how he replicated the smell of a corpse to give his students the full experience of what life in a World War One trench would have been like. This inspired me to do my own simulations, and I certainly tried. I once had my year 7/8 class move large metal tables from our courtyard to the oval and once, they had finally travelled all the way out and they put them down, I told them to put them back. Some groaned, for the simulation of how a Nazi concentration camp broke the will of its victims was working, while others cheered, because they were just happy to be out of the classroom. The reason I started with this story is because The Wave by Todd Strasser takes this idea to the ultimate extreme. While I am an author and that is my passion, the creative side of me enjoys creating new experiences for the classroom. Now, they are not all large-scale simulations, especially since I moved from a small school where the burden for planning rested entirely on my shoulders, but I enjoy creating experiences, nonetheless. A few of my students asked me if we could re-enact The Wave for real, to which I laughed, genuinely believing this would be impossible. Not because it is so unrealistic for teenagers to follow social norms blindly, so to fit in, but because if there is one thing guaranteed from a student, it is the desire to rebel against what the teacher wants. It is a natural conflict; all people push the boundary to know what is allowed and when you add into the mix students who do not want to be at school, rebellion is natural. Still, I found this text interesting more for me as a teacher than a writer, causing me to reflect on my own practice. Even though the large-scale simulations have decreased in my class, I still have the desire to do them. I have this one idea to have hundreds (or probably tens) of miniatures and use them to do battle re-enactments, allowing my students the opportunity to use their critical thinking to plan troop movements. I came close to doing it, but I gave my students the choice of what topic they would like to study and they steered away from war and straight into Greek Mythology and Ancient Egypt. That is the way of teaching, your interests as the teacher do not always line up with the students, but if it makes it more engaging for them, then I would happily sacrifice my own wants. Though one day, I do hope to do my battle re-enactment.
I would study The Wave again; it is a solid text and great for a 7/8 class. I think it is also worth doing to inspire your own practice and you do not even have to be a teacher. Maybe think about the next training you have to run, what could you do to make it more engaging, more fun and for your own sake, make it a little bit yours.
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