What has motivated me - me! - to start a blog...yikes!

There have been changes going on in the world that have made life difficult for me as a teacher - difficult in ways that I didn't foresee. I sense students' frustration with the material and with my methods. I feel that students are constantly questioning whether there is value in what I have to offer them, and I feel like I have no resources available to help me change this. Essentially, I want to give them what they need and don't know how. It's strange that there is such a clear generation gap between my students and myself - a young-ish teacher...how do the older teachers feel? I listened to an excellent podcast this week when I was at the Y. I listened to it again with Rick when I got home. It was a lecture by Mark Federman on TVO's Big Ideas entitled "No Educator Left Behind." His words made me feel much better about my troubles in the classroom. We are truly at the beginning of a new age, and his talk (about the vastness of the current generation gap, and how we find ourselves at the most tumultuous phase of a great cultural shift) has empowered me in a couple of ways. For one thing, I am thrilled that he has given me some terms to label what it is I am experiencing. I'm sure others have also described this change, probably differently, but Mark does a wonderful job putting our current situation in the context of western civilization as a whole. Furthermore, I have been inspired to explore the world of my students in new ways, one of which is this blog. Finally, I think that part of the solution to me problem is tho help the students guide me. I know I cannot change the fact that the education system will continue to push content down students' (and teachers') throats, and so I must do my best to help the students take home something useful and enduring from their time in my classroom. They know best how it is that I can help them. This will mean giving up some control and collaborating more, I suppose. A final thought: my favorite quote from the lecture - from Einstein, originally? - is “education is what remains after you’ve forgotten everything you’ve been taught.” Amen to that.