Hi everyone!

Hope that this blog finds you all well?

I have added another layer to the blog as, the Travelling Teacher. I have now been teaching in Australia for 3 months and have been able to observe and take in all that is around me as a relief cover teacher in schools across Melbourne. This blog will be written when I have gathered enough notes on a topic, judged in my humble opinion and is purely based on observations & experiences. Please feel free to challenge, ask or comment about anything I write and you do not need to be involved education to do so. I have started with a topic dear to all of our hearts…communication! As you read this you will see that I may seem quite the hypocrite making use of social media to promote my story but you will hopefully agree with the method to my madness!

Are you even listening..?

Today after a day teaching in a secondary college I got home and had to lie down. So I did, and instead of lying, ‘idly scrolling’ and running the risk of dropping my smart phone on my face (you have all done it!) I read a book…yes a real book with pages and printed words!

Words

We all live in a world where we see and hear words all of the time, probably more than ever before. By the way I am not going to add in any ‘googled facts’ or figures I am sure you can all do that in your own screen time…
So I have spent the day in a Secondary College in Melbourne teaching Physical Education and Health to a bunch of teenagers. Lets just say that this school was one of the better public schools I have been to. There is so much I have to say about teaching out here in general, but the topic today is communication and asks; “Are you even listening?”

Eyes

When you have lunch with a friend how often do you check your phone look down or just click the middle button to see if you have a notification? Unless you are friends with my dad, who still has a Nokia 3310 then I am sure that you will have experienced and or done this from time to time. I have noticed that it is now harder than ever to get eye contact, and harder still to maintain that contact as you speak to kids when teaching but also adults. If young people are not being spoken to by friends and parents with eye contact then they will not expect it nor give it when its so badly needed!

Ears

Now, if you are still reading, thank you as you have not responded to your brain’s urge to click on another link, read a message that has floated from the top or bottom of your screen or check who has your last instagram post. The art of listening, and I mean actually listening (now as I write this my phone just beeped, and again, I am fighting the urge not to click!) has been lost. Most people now listen with intent to respond with their wee piece, their opinion or even worse something they have just remembered that they wanted to say from another topic already discussed and closed. Our ability to maintain focus on one single topic at a time with the compassion and support for the person speaking has dramatically decreased. We crave constant attention for our every thought as our brains have become conditioned and spolit by the attention we receive at the click of a button. When we have to concentrate and listen to only one person we are experiencing an act of modern selflessness, as I now find myself feeling great when people actually stop and listen.

So what?

Well as my observations have become to much for me to just ponder over on my own, I took the opportunity to talk and listen with some senior pupils about the topic above. I am in a very privileged position in that I can turn up to a school as a cover teacher; observe, take notes, judge till my hearts content and then leave with my findings. Today my routine was no different, but to my surprise the content of my findings on the overuse of technology (especially that of social media) surprised me.

What happened?

Well it started out with the usual chat as a new cover teacher;

Class: “Miss where are you from? ”

Me: “Scotland!” I reply, in my thickest of accents (cue the class trying to copy my accent).

Then the conversation turns to the work to be completed which I was told (with no way of checking) was all complete and they had finished assignments due for tomorrow…
Ok, so now onto my burning questions for the pupils who are all sitting with, a laptop each, phones out on the table and one ear phone in. This (to my teacher friends) a very common scene from senior pupils in a classroom nowadays.

I asked; “So do you actually get much work done with laptops out all of the time, or do you just have your work and lots of other tabs up at the same time?”

“Eh yeah (Auzzie accent) if we are honest there is so much to distract us, and we don’t do that much work in class”, they reply.

What happens when they don’t get the work done? Well, they now earn a Saturday* detention for 3 hours! What, so teachers come in on the weekends? They do, and they supervise pupils during said detention. If you have worked in a school, or ever or been a detained pupil you will know the likelihood you turning up is pretty slim, especially on a Saturday!!

*the introduction of the Saturday detention is a copy cat move from public schools, wanting to build similar prestige to that of the private schools in the area.

The root cause

We all know that the use of an empty threat has a limited shelf life and having worked with children you know not to make that mistake if you are seeking for any sort of credibility. So what did the pupils think was the cause of the problem, why did they choose distraction over work…?

They had a couple of reasons, one being the fact that in Australia they have only 1 shot at exams to gain credits at the end of 12 years of formal education and this didn’t seem fair or achievable for some. The second and most staggering one, was that they were adamant that phones were the root cause. They were incredibly articulate about the cons of smart phones outweighing the pros. When I asked them if they wished that they had grown up in a different time they all (unanimously) said they wish they knew a time before smart phone technology!

They gave examples of times with friends, out for dinner at footie matches and parties when everyone is capturing the scene on their phone instead of living in the moment! They said that they find it difficult to connect with people and talk to new people they meet as there is a communication barrier.

Now what?

I managed to persuade the class to rein in the negativity and give me some hope and solutions. They asked what was different back home in PE and I told them about PE in December in Scotland! ‘Social Dancing’ was ‘youtubed’ and they looked at me in disbelief that both boys and girls are up dancing and not only is the dance floor filled, they are dancing together and holding hands!

One boy remarked; “They all look pretty happy, I wish we had to do that!”

Then it hit me…these kids are missing out on the pure joy and delight of being outside their comfort zone, socially and emotionally (2 of the factors impacting on performance) that they have gone to social media for the kick. Now there is too much of a fear of failure, and that failure being recorded for all of the world to see, that young people are paralysed in a distracted and disconnected mess!

Who’s actually listening??

Now don’t get me wrong, I am well aware that young people will never have it the way we did growing up and getting your first mobile in your mid-late teens. With digital literacy starting as young as 3 in formal education with iPads in nursery, they will be the most tech savvy generation to have ever lived up to now,.

Refreshing to hear from these teenagers, that they still want the real life experiences that we grew up with and still hold dear in our memories! For some, these images they see of people ‘living life’ have been seen online, but never physically experienced. Today I listened and I felt some real uncertainty when they spoke about the future as they have access to so much information, they fear what is around the corner and if they will ever have jobs or need to drive a car!

I believe it is our job as educators, and one day as parents to prioritise the importance of building strong and sustainable relationships, and be true role models for them to learn how to connect in a human way. One boy said, that his mum has started a habit with her friends of putting all of their phones in a bowl when they come over. These are the types of habits that will be copied and allow our young people to use their senses to live and feel real life through their minds and bodies, not through a screen. I also believe that teaching leadership and interpersonal skills to young people is needed more now than ever as they enter a time of rapid change, and will need to maintain a strong base of support around them to feel safe and secure in their life choices. Learning about new technology will obviously be needed in order to be competitive in the job market, but this should not be at expense of real people skills and ability to connect on a human level.