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Jun. 4th, 2006 09:53 pmTeaching teenagers is always unexpected, especially when the age range is 13 to 16. I rearranged the group round the table so that like-aged peoples were clustered, friends got to work together, and loners worked in their comfort zone. I was a bit stricter with the giggling boys than with the more sensible older kids and it all worked out. It especially worked out when I confiscated the spinning chair. I know it worked out because two of my students spontaneously said how they had enjoyed themselves. Two students asked anxiously if I minded if they only wrote some of their story in class because it would take lots of time and they wanted to work on it more at home. One of them had me check her pages for historical accuracy. And there were lots of smiles. I even got encored when I recounted some bizarre deaths from thirteenth century coroner's reports. The uses and abuses of belt knives were explored. One student has entirely turned off the Middle Ages because, as he said "No chips, no chocolate, no tomato sauce."
Teaching teenagers is a lot more emotional effort than teaching either younger or older groups, but they are so wondrously responsive it's worth it. Each student and group came up with very individual responses to what we were doing. I particularly loved it when one student did a gorgeous topographical town map and I asked whether she thought three dimensionally and she smiled at me and said 'yes'. She told me some of the difficulties of squidging three dimensions into one map and I complicated things further for her by adding the underlying topography to what the town could do to maintain economic viablility. Very bright lass - when I told her a bit about medieval mining techniques she instantly spotted the implications of an exposed seam being mined out. So she started off with a rather nice granite outcrop and ended up with the tragic story of a doomed town. Did I say how much I like teaching teenagers?
Unless the Conflux program changes, I only have a very small amount of Medieval stuff in the next few weeks and no reason to bring The Map to Conflux at all. I will miss explaining about maidens and middens and saddlers and encroaching cemeteries and the particular industries patronised by the Bishop of Winchester. I am on one Medievalish panel and one worldbuilding panel. Great panels, but more of the anti-chastity belt crusade than the stuff my own history is made of. I promise I will hunt out some cool anecdotes, though. The feast at Conflux is going to be solid fun, but I will just be an audience member on the night, so it only counts in terms of having a good time. And that some of my other students have kindly tested recipes recently to make sure I didn't recommend idiot dishes.
All this makes it really, really good my class today finished on a happy note. Keeping ten teens learning and amused and interested and asking intelligent questions for three hours and deciding they had to take stuff home so they could do more work there is rather cool. It will help get me through Medieval withdrawal.
Teaching teenagers is a lot more emotional effort than teaching either younger or older groups, but they are so wondrously responsive it's worth it. Each student and group came up with very individual responses to what we were doing. I particularly loved it when one student did a gorgeous topographical town map and I asked whether she thought three dimensionally and she smiled at me and said 'yes'. She told me some of the difficulties of squidging three dimensions into one map and I complicated things further for her by adding the underlying topography to what the town could do to maintain economic viablility. Very bright lass - when I told her a bit about medieval mining techniques she instantly spotted the implications of an exposed seam being mined out. So she started off with a rather nice granite outcrop and ended up with the tragic story of a doomed town. Did I say how much I like teaching teenagers?
Unless the Conflux program changes, I only have a very small amount of Medieval stuff in the next few weeks and no reason to bring The Map to Conflux at all. I will miss explaining about maidens and middens and saddlers and encroaching cemeteries and the particular industries patronised by the Bishop of Winchester. I am on one Medievalish panel and one worldbuilding panel. Great panels, but more of the anti-chastity belt crusade than the stuff my own history is made of. I promise I will hunt out some cool anecdotes, though. The feast at Conflux is going to be solid fun, but I will just be an audience member on the night, so it only counts in terms of having a good time. And that some of my other students have kindly tested recipes recently to make sure I didn't recommend idiot dishes.
All this makes it really, really good my class today finished on a happy note. Keeping ten teens learning and amused and interested and asking intelligent questions for three hours and deciding they had to take stuff home so they could do more work there is rather cool. It will help get me through Medieval withdrawal.