The most boring book I’ve ever read
“Sir, this is the most boring book I’ve ever read!” I chirped my matric English teacher. “It’s got no relevance to us,” I continued as we plodded our way through another double period taking turns to read sections from “Shades”, our English set work book. The monotonous drone that was the tone in which most my peers chose to read their parts only exasperated the situation and drove home my point.
We were finding it a dull read. I’m not saying it is a dull book, (for those of you who haven’t read it, it isn’t badly written) but I don’t think it was suited to grab the attention of 18 year old boys living in the year 2004. Not only was it a dull read, but the whole classroom environment was dull. We were sitting in a bland classroom that had one lonely poster on the wall which had probably been left behind by the previous inhabitant judging by its faded appearance and dated look.
I almost think my teacher agreed with me as he half-heartedly defended why we were reading the book. There were so many other topics and themes we could be reading about that would engage us, I thought as I drifted off into a daydream and began developing a vision in my head of a utopian classroom that looked something like this:
Before entering the classroom there is a thought provoking message on the door that changes on a daily basis, perhaps an interesting quote or breathtaking image. Something to set the tone and get some inspiration flowing. As I enter the room, there is an explosion of colour as creative and interesting posters and murals adorned the walls and ceiling. The carpeted floor requires we leave our shoes at the entrance – one wouldn’t want to get mud on a pristine Persian rug now would you? The teacher, a leggy, blond, former swimsuit model strolls in (remember this an 18 year olds’ fantasy) and tells us she’s got some extremely relevant and interesting books to choose from for our set work. “This one’s about a drug addicts struggle to get clean and be accepted into society, and this one’s about the lives of the teenage children of New York’s rich and successful, purrs Ms McKenzie as she glances over at me and gives me an inviting wink.
Ok, so it’s a pretty far-fetched vision, but I was and still am convinced that if teachers can find more ways of relating to their target market then we’ll see an improvement in interest and therefore results. There is a big gap between teachers and learners, now more-so than ever. The things that interest children and teenagers now are very different to what they were as little as 5 years ago. I believe teachers should embrace this and tap into what makes the youth tick. Embrace technology and social trends and incorporate them into what you teach this generation to whom the words chip, boot, window and apple have completely different meanings to what they did to the previous generation.
Think like a business. You’re a teacher. Your ‘product’ is knowledge. Your ‘target market’ is your learners. In advertising, a business will do whatever it needs to do in order to make it’s product appealing to the target market. So package your knowledge enticingly. Make it colourful, and start thinking like a business.
Here are some more words that have taken on a completely new meaning thanks to technology. Use them in their new context to your class to “wow!” your learners.
Teacher's Monthly experience
Yes, Mike, I agree about the book – it is also one of the most boring books I’ve ever read. You can imagine how boring it is for a teacher to have to teach it. I don’t think it should have been set. But there were other options available – so your school /teacher made a bad choice. I also agree that, once the thing is there, the teacher can make a big difference, both by creating a classroom which is inviting in terms of its walls and in terms of how the book is handled.
Mike, I do not agree at all that this book was boring! In fact I loved this book! We also read it as our Grade 12 setwork book and I probably read it about 4 times during the course of the year! Maybe I was just a bit of a bookworm or maybe my teacher, Madame Burr, just taught it to us in a more engaging way, but I still recommend this book to people.
In terms of the learning environment,I do agree with you that it makes a big difference, especially in a language classroom as they are probably the subjects in which learners should be most inspired to think creatively.
Yes, you do sound like a bit of a book worm Miss de Jager:)
Maybe if I had been graced with Madame Blurr as my teacher for setwork than I would have read the book so quickly it would also have been a Blurr.
Cheeky!
Ha, a pun. Always love a good play on words.
Talk about a boring book Mike, that may be a bliss ’cause you may choose the other setwork or plainly stick it out just to pass the content. Now…imagine not the book behind the “boor” but your work, or rather work environment. How throttling can that be? Well…*frown* There were those type of books like an Afrikaans short stories bundel that I used to teach my learners. The title was “Kinders van die aarde” and it was unfortunately also prescribed.
When I compared this book to the previous one, “Om laaste te kan lag” it was really draining and mostly substance free. The latter, though old, it was relational and practical to learners everyday’s lives. But hey…I guess it’s always “die ruiter” rather than the horse that will make the difference in terms of interest.
I was also part of the unfortunate many forced to plough my way through Shades in grade 11. The brilliance and enthusiasm of my English teacher, no matter how great, could not overshadow the Shades of boredom with which I was faced when reading that novel. In fact, I continued to study English literature right through to third year level at varsity and it never ceased to amaze me the sort of boring rubbish they made us wade through. I am now officially reasonably “well-read” in terms of having studied epic poetry and prose written in drastically altered English grammar (such as John Milton’s “Paradise Lost” or ee cummings’ famous renditions) as well as other obscure authors (James Joyce and Thomas Hardy being but a few). Yes, I can understand having to go into detailed analysis of the inner workings, change and history of the English language at a tertiary level; but not at secondary level when the teacher is vying for the students’ attention and enthusiasm. High school students should be reading setworks that prepare them for the outside world or at least setworks set in the last century (leave the predated ones for history class). The reality is that very few of our students in South Africa are able to afford a tertiary education and often end up unemployed. Should we not be focussing on using English to prepare these students for the outside world and get their enthusiasm up rather than losing their interest on page 2? Just a thought.