“DrWarren I Got It! I Got My Dream Job!” Engaging Screenagers
“DrWarren I Got It! I Got My Dream Job!” Engaging Screenagers
“DrWarren, I Got It! I Got My Dream Job!” said my engaging Engaging Screenager as she was blocking me from entering the train.
One morning when I was taking my son to Disneyland, and as we were changing trains at the Kowloon Tong (literal translation is Nine Dragon Pond) Train Station, my student (Athena was her name) was, I’d say, more than a little excited to see me.
After a second she hopped out of the train doorway as we entered, but she was so excited to see me she got back on the train to thank me for how I had helped her in her life.
After she hopped back on the train, she started to tell me what happened.
She said she got her dream job because an exercise she engaged my Mass Communication class she attended.
You see, based on what I had learned about learner relevance when I taught Dale Carnegie courses, I wanted to bring that value to any classes I taught.
In my classes I tried as often as possible, to relate the learning content to the students lives to make it more authentic and interesting for the students.
In her class I gave the students a task to think of their “Dream Job” and describe to their (fictitious) boss how they would apply what they had learned in class that day.
I asked them to do this 6 times during the semester, and each time they were asked to write 200 words or less.
As I was focusing on relevance and authentic learning, I had hoped they would be more engaged learners.
And it worked, as their grades were better than they had ever been in the previous semesters, and they seemed quite interested in how they would explain the content to someone else.
In Hong Kong there is a strong “Rote Memory” culture (junk engagement) in the traditional schools, so although they resisted at first, they told me they appreciated the exercise later in the semester (optimal engagement.)
It’s interesting how the engagement we resist at first can make the most positive impact on us later.
In fact, I was talking to a few students after class one day and they told me they had never had a teacher who cared about their career as much as I showed care.
Although I thought that was nice, I had no way to know the impact of making the course relevant and authentic would have on their lives.
That is, until I saw Athena that day, but then I knew.
Athena told me that in my Mass Communication class she had written how her dream job was to write a fashion article for a local newspaper.
She told me she wasn’t exactly doing her exact dream job, because she was writing a daily article on business and finance, but she said it was far more than she ever thought she could do.
When Athena attended my class she was not exactly in the top of the class, and in fact 2 semesters after she was in my class she dropped out of university to go find work.
That day she was on her way to work at the newspaper where she worked, and the reason she was so excited is because the “Dream Job” exercise kept reminding her of her life goal so often.
I had no idea the impact that a relevance and authentic exercise could influence my students that way.
Stephen Covey tells us to “Begin with the end in mind,” but that end was out of my imagination.
The last I had heard of Athena she had quit her job in the newspaper to return to university to finish her degree and get an even better “Dream Job.”
In life you never know the impact for good you can have on someone as Zig Ziglar writes.
Based on that exercise, I tweaked most every exercise, quiz, term paper, etc., so students could relate the learning to their interests.
That is why participants in my training courses have told me, their bosses, and their friends about their learning and how it has helped them look at and do their jobs with more enthusiasm and spirit.
That is why I got into training, because so many years ago I had a few people who helped me do more than I thought I could do.
Make learning interesting you’ll fly beyond imagination.
Remember, come join tomorrow to see more Improving Your Engagement with Screenagers and others inspirational experiences and ideas for Optimal Engagement in the ScreenAge.
Remember to engage tomorrow.
Following with you.
Keep it simple.
All the Best, Warren
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