Any teachers here?

the most of them probably know the answer, it's just nobody wants to answer it.
it's seen as 'uncool' to willingly answer/ask a question and it's easier to just look up everything online.

>everyone is a native english speaker

amazon.com/Children-Fail-Classics-Child-Development/dp/0201484021
highly recommend reading this user

People talk about radiation all the time. It's in movies. It's in the news. There's a sense of awe and terror inspiring power to it in popular culture. I don't understand how people wouldn't find this at least marginally interesting. At least it's better than differentiating between different kinds of rocks.

Can confirm.

Because it is not connected to anything substantial for the kids. It is not something they can touch or see. All you are showing them are representations of a phenomenon. Abstractions. And that is where the problems lies. Abstractions are built from physical examples. If you do not give them direct physical examples then they will not learn nor be interested.

it's the teachers fault for not ruling them with fear

that's the only way these snot nosed shits will even bother to listen or do anything

they have a slave mentality and should be treated as such

Most kids don't understand why they are in school, they do as their parents and peers command them.

Also most material isn't applicable to children and teens outside the class room. Teach them plant biology, how to enhance soil, and I guarantee you at least three of those tykes will get into gardening in the summer.

Or explain to them how taxes work.

Stop treating them as inferior, but know that they are inexperienced.

Honestly the education system in North and central America needs a lot of revision. I'd even dare to say in most places, but I haven't been to most places.

Ask yourself why you think they dont pay attention in class. If you can't come up with a solution then you are doing something wrong.

Honestly, I feel bad for everyone who ends up as a teacher. I love to explain shit and I love to think about neat ways to illustrate concepts, but having to deal with an unwilling audience such as high school kids must be fucking torture. I mean, teaching at university can be ungrateful sometimes, but high school kids are a whole different level.

Then again, I know the people who study here to become teachers, and they are mirror images of the stupid ass kids they have to deal with later on. They always do only as little as they possibly can, they always act like entitled bitches when they fuck up eventually, and even the trivial shit they have to do instead of actual physics is way beyond their understanding. It feels like some kind of universal justice, even though it seriously scares me that the people we send to teach get more retarded by the year. I mean, not even just stupid, just legitimately weird people, like the sort that creeps you out on a night train. I don't know how that happened.

This.

Nobody wants to speak up because its considered cool to be a silent dick or a loud asshat, but the moment you're seen to be "into" a lesson or school or anything academic they'll tear you apart like a pack of wolves.

>force people who are fully capable of individual thought and in the prime of their sexual reproductive phase to attend boring ass lectures about mathematics, language pecularities and the nature of the natural universe instead of spreading their genes and founding families like their natural urges tell them to do
>wonder why they have to force themselves to pay attention

top kek as they say

Kids are known for their short attention span. They don't "turn their brains off", they are just too busy using them to think about videogames, sports or TV shows, because that's all kids at that age are about.

everyone wants to "stand up to the man"
You could incorporate that into your lesson.

>lesson about radioactive decay
>hold up small uranium pellet
>tell the class if they all get an A you'll swallow the pellet
>proceed to prove it's an actual uranium pellet and explain why it's dangerous and how it's going to kill you once it enters your body
>sell the story (school lesson) like a gieger counter or /diy/ cloud chamber so they can see/hear what your talking about
>kids think they're killing their teacher, but they're really learning about radioactive decay

If they actually do manage to get all A's, just use slight of hand to switch it with another small rock before swallowing.

LMAO at trying to "entertain" students in the age of the social media and video games.

also, if you wanna see who's paying attention you don't ask "who wants to answer this question"

You say "who DOESN'T want to answer this question." Then you pick somebody with their hand down.

You contributed far less to this conversation than he did.

>not going full chinese rote learning on the students

puberty, mostly.

I agree with the user who said that kids at that age don't understand why they're in school. I also think parents and teachers don't make much of an effort to explain it to them. "Get good grades in school or you'll end up working at McDonald's" is no more convincing to a kid than "keep making that face and it will stay that way". Yet that's all the explanation you get when you're that age. It's all I got, anyway.

sciencefriday.com/educational-resources/build-a-cloud-chamber/

i bet something like this would have worked great.

I have to agree with this.

Social atmosphere of schools is extremely anti-intellectual - it seems to be cool to goof/play around, cheat, get the lowest grades that allow you to pass the course and use the smart kids for this purpose - and moreso the older kids get. In college(aside from freshmen) you'd get a far, far more active level of participation because intellectualism is actually valued there - you're bound to get a response within 1-3 times asking some question.

or just dont use sleight of hand

Are they black?

You're teaching them some abstract concept that they have no immediate use for so of course they're going to shut their brains off.

It's usually the students' faults for being idiots. You're an American aren't you?

>it's not yet applicable
So? Neither is Pre-calculus and history but they better learn it because it will be important later in life.

Well here is the thing. Kids aren't smart. As one of the kids sitting in those classes I will tell you this. 99% of the time I too feel as if I am surrounded by brain-dead idiots. Guess why we feel like that? Because we are. Its true. Brain dead idiots. Teachers aid you say? Get used to the for the rest of your career. And no, I don't feel bad for you. You're the one who signed up for this bullshit.

I intend on teaching high school math and physics, hopefully with a focus on precalc and above, teaching the above average students in a suburban school sounds cozy as fuck.

>become teacher so i can focus on eleitist attatude

really boils my bunions

Bro I'm trying to be an educator can't do that with kids who don't want to learn. I'm not into the self-sacrifice thing.

You don't get to choose. At least not for the first few years. You will be forced to do alg 1 and geometry.
Have fun being a baby sitter for edgy teens for the first few years.

Thats ok i guess. I dont really understand though.

You dont think the other kids deserve it?
You dont want the stress?
You only want success stories?

Like it's my life to decide what you should do with it though. I'm really over reaching i just think the education system is a huge fuckball of fuck so maybe giving a hand up to the kids you can be sure will utilize it is the best anyone can do.

Deserve is not something I think about, I think all students by virtue of being students should have good teachers. Unfortunately, even if people say this, they don't act in a way that warrants having good teachers. Teachers are paid like shit unless it's in an uppermiddle class neighborhood, Administrators don't treat educators like they're valuable, and thus valuable people don't become educators. There are people out there that derive meaning from helping students who are more or less left behind, I just know (after having been educated with many of them) that it's not for me.

>stress
That's definitely a factor, but at the same time even though I call it cozy, I do expect a stressful yet ultimately rewarding career. The only thing that seems easy to me is knowing the material, everything else (dealing with students, admin, parents, deadlines) seems like it'll be much harder and not something that I'll ever get optimal results from.

But yes, I don't want the stress of teaching kids who don't have any desire to learn. If there's any desire within them to learn I will gladly work my dick off to cultivate that, but there's definitely something to be said about not trying to kindle a spark that isn't there.

However if I am put into the situation where I have to work with kids who don't want to learn, I don't want to make it sound like I'm just going to give up and not even try and laze around, I will put effort into it, but I don't want to act like a savior.

>success stories
Nah this isn't really something I'm into, just want to teach material to kids who want to learn it, or at least are willing to put the work in. I'm fine with not being able to reach kids, like I said I'll still try for them.

The education system is fucked, but the issue is that it's been built to be fucked. That's why I want to teach HS desu, in elementary and middle you're basically a surrogate parent, at least in HS I can be an educator instead.

>spend ten years in school
>don't even know or care what nuclear decay is
>nobody raises an eyebrow and just start finding someone to blame
Yet the kids that played an instrument, played chess, or did gymnastics for that long are masters at what they're doing. Conventional schooling is trash.

>reddit spacing
>/pol/ posturing
please leave

No it won't.

>dumb everything down and pamper during the age of prosperity
>WELL THE THING IS KIDS AREN'T SMART

As someone who got his education and career before culture bottomed out, and is comfortable coasting in a mid-tier position at a successful science consulting company, it pleases me greatly to know that kids today are 5-10 years behind where I was when I was their age. That's fucking job security right there. I don't need to strive to climb the ladder if the kids coming out of school today don't even understand the basics.

Looking forward to hiring white people as manual labor when I get older, it's so much more pleasant.

Underrated

I hated being told this when I was growing up

This tbqh

There is no reason for the mediocrity of our system

I don't agree with this. From personal experience the reason you might not be able to answer such a question is usually because you don't understand it well enough to communicate it, meaning you won't remember much either.

Trying to cram radioactive decay into one lesson is massively retarded because of the many points of failure. Do they even start out with a good understanding of what an atom is?

This is the equivalent of instructing someone in the basics of boxing and then hit them with a punch to see if they learned their lesson.

I remember getting turned off science classes around mid high school. Something about it all being intensely dull and only really interesting to autists? In the past most people didnt go to college because nobody cared, now we all need a degree to get a job in Starbucks.

>first article is beating off "guns germs and steel"

into the trash it goes

>In college(aside from freshmen) you'd get a far, far more active level of participation because intellectualism is actually valued there

LOL

>hopefully with a focus on precalc and above

good luck

had 2 high school math teachers who were cool

one taught all the advanced classes, one got fucked over and the only actual class he got to teach was geometry and the rest were remedial classes

that teacher seemed like he hated life, and can you blame him, do you know the kinds of kids who have to take remedial pre-algebra ?

Studying is essentially pointless in a world moving towards universal basic income and unlimited entertainment. Way to go blaming students for not enjoying doing something pointless you are forcing them to.

Swallowing non radioactive rocks is also bad for your health.

>that teacher seemed like he hated life, and can you blame him, do you know the kinds of kids who have to take remedial pre-algebra ?

nogs?