Overview:
The gap between a teacher’s early career expectations and the reality of teaching middle school Language Arts in the age of social media, is vast. This article explores the challenges and adaptations required while affirming a commitment to fostering student literacy and creativity.
“Old” in my twenty-nine years isn’t much, I’ve gathered, yet when I think about the dreams I’ve had about my classroom environment versus the classroom I stand in today, you’d think it was a vastly different time, not a little over a decade apart. It is a vastly different time, I’ve learned. Vastly. Different.
With the rise of technology, we see the swell of social media. And even with schools taking the right initiative to keep phones and cellular devices at bay, the effects of social media are still prevalent and evident.
It’s in the written formal responses with the shorthand “ppl,” which drives a Language Arts teacher insane.
It’s in the speech that makes me feel like I’m on the other end of a phone call with their friend. It’s in the groans and complaints of having to take notes.
It’s in constantly making sure to repeat myself, yet a student asking me what to do after I’ve just said it a million billion gazillion times. We learn best through repetition — as I’ve told my students — but how many times do I have to repeat how to format Cornell Note sheets after weeks of doing it and with a sample plastered on my wall that I’ve moved closer for the eye to catch? Yet still, I’ve been faced with the same worn-out question… What side does it go on?
It’s in the low independent reading rates and bad scores despite making fun reading projects and planning trips to the school Media Center… because your students unknowingly blow the whistle on talking or texting friends during the wee hours of their bedtime.
Studies can be done to refute this so-called swell of kids spending their extra time endlessly scrolling through social media, but I notice the correlation. As a teacher, I like to think that we are born with an innate ability to notice the little things. I also think of all the editing I’ve done and how I have been trained to spot what needs correction (I’m a sucker for writing and editing work)!
It breaks my heart for our future generations, which is why I don’t let up in having my students take notes, write, read, and take trips to the Media Center. I can’t fight the waves of social media and what it’s done. I can only do my part in my middle grade classroom, where I half-expected and hoped to be an elementary school teacher instead… until I focused on wanting to just make my career chair Language Arts lavender only — if you can piece together what I mean beyond the essential oil I spread on my arms for a nice light gust of goodness throughout the school day. As much as I love science, math, and history, I know where I belong.
In a world where books and writing move me. It’s my mission. Writing and opening the door for creativity and a love of literature. Yet the picture does not look the same. Dang social media! It’s a spoiler for the brain in many ways.
So, just because the picture in my head of leading a language arts only elementary class does not match where I am right now, doesn’t mean it can’t be one day. I just know social media may never allow it to truly be what I hoped. It could pose as a problem where students would rather scroll than turn the page of a good book they don’t give any chance or second thought to… but then again there’s the age to consider, which means… less kids have phones in that primary stage of life…right? Hmm.
I don’t know. What I do know is that I stick around in the world of education because it’s my God-given mission for the time being, and because who doesn’t love working with their husband in the wing next door? Now because of that, my reality is MUCH better than the old picture I’ve had stored in my head.
I choose where I am right now in my education journey, any day, instead. And if a language arts-only elementary school role opens up one day, though I won’t hold my breath, I’ll have two questions in mind: do the majority of the kids have phones, and can I bring my husband with me?
Veronique Ostrander is an 8th-grade Language Arts teacher who LOVES to write. If she’s not working on a YA mystery filled with romance, drama, and suspense, you can find her writing a poem that glorifies my Savior Jesus Christ or you can find her writing an article about my teaching experiences!
