Above: Slightly cramped quarters in a computer class
TVs, video games, and iPods aren’t the only things that can keep a teenager’s attention. Collapsible camping bowls, headlamps, and backpacking stoves, when presented by a stranger and when shown within the close confines of a school classroom, also can do the trick.
I visited another high school in New Jersey on Wednesday. I spoke to five classes in a row–three were computer or co-op classes and two were accounting classes. I’m working on designing projects for both types of classes that touch on issues raised in their respective curricula.
Above: Me with the tent. It can be used outside as a tent and inside as a mosquito net.
So far, with the accounting classes, the New Jersey teacher and I have been talking about doing a project that aims to explain global currency and why certain currencies are stronger than others. I’m going to try to find the same ten products in each country I visit so I can record their prices and send them back to the kids.
With the co-op class, a class that is designed to help seniors work part-time jobs in fields they’re interested in, I’m going to do a Youtube interview project in which I’ll interview and videotape teenagers in other countries and ask them questions about their work lives. Questions will be about salary, job aspirations, working hours, etc. and will elicit answers that, hopefully, will help students back in America gain some perspective on their own working situations. Likewise, I’d like the students in America to interview and videotape each other and ask work-related questions. My students on the road can then watch their videos.
Above: I speak with my hands a lot.
Again, the kids seemed interested and focused on my presentation. I can’t begin to explain how much confidence these first presentations in New Jersey have given me. At the moment, my Powerpoint presentation is not as strong as I’d like it to be, yet still the students are paying attention to it. The Powerpoint will be much more interesting after I start riding simply because it is currently lacking trip anecdotes and pictures. Once I beef it up, I really think kids will enjoy and remember it. I hope.
If I spoke to your class on Wednesday, thank you!
Posted in School visits
