TeachingTeenagers Gordon Lewis 2007

Teens get bad press!

Who’s a Teen? 10-12: Tweens

Young Teens physical changes social pack animals longer concentration span than primary children abstract thinking Think they’ve figured things out Black and white thinking believe what they think and what everyone else thinks is essentially the same. they have one foot in the adult world and one in the world of their childhood.

Middle Teens physically they are adults clear attraction to opposite sex more independent, less group behaviour. individual relationships grow in importance accept that there is more than ONE answer to a question. differentiated world view.

Be friendly, but don’t expect to be your students’ friends Classroom Management Treat Teenagers with respect Do not condescend or “teach down” BUT Do not pretend to be a teen or act “cool”. You are an authority figure In other words: Be friendly, but don’t expect to be your students’ friends

How do we motivate teens? Challenge them to think! Language Awareness Activities engage teenagers by creating language awareness activities which foster an understanding of and interest in how languages function. Critical and Creative Thinking Tasks encourage logical thinking and reasoning generate new ideas. Teenager Topics focus on topics and themes that are important to teens. set up contexts and let students provide the content.

Language Awareness Activities The Archeologists Unearthing students’ language skills. i.e. give opportunities for them to see what they can do already / Elicit as much “raw material” as you can from students, which you then use for activities. / Get Students to explore their own capacities (mind-mapping, find everything you can to do with...) Repair English Applying language skills: Students apply all the rules they know already in an attempt to make English a more easily learnable language: e.g. produce easier grammar rules, spelling rules.

Critical and Creative Thinking Glass Half Full What if…? What Would Inanimate Objects Say? Writing a first person narrative

Teenager Topics Teen (or teacher) Alphabet Book Anti-rules

Technology and Teens GOAL: Invisible technology Great for Differentiation Forget about why or should we. Stop seeing technology as an add on. Remember for teens, technology is as common as the telephone. GOAL: Invisible technology

One Internet Framework Communication Web Search Web Creation

Internet is a Third Learning Space

Pbwiki (or other collaboration sites pbworks.com wikispaces.com Online tools resource page: http://onlinelearning101.pbworks.com/