Oh, the things educators do to keep their students awake! Engaging students are a critical part of teaching. What we teach shouldn’t just be comprehensive and relevant, but also interesting to the children. However, there are some terrible methods out there for attempting to bring students out of their slumber.
Take this scatter-brained idea from Germany for example:
Few things rile a teacher more than seeing a pupil chewing gum in class, but a primary school in southern Germany is now actively encouraging them to do so — in order to improve their grades.
Not allowing students to chew, but encouraging!
“Chewing gum is good for the children’s health and improves their cognitive performance,” said Wolfgang Ellegast from the education ministry in Bavaria, home to the Volkenschwand school where the new pilot project is being run.
School headmaster Siegfried Lehr agrees: “The prerequisite for learning with fun is that kids come to school without fear and that they feel happy… Therefore we are encouraging them to chew gum in break and in lessons.”
Does anyone else think that this idea is just plain loopy? Do they honestly think that by encouraging their students to chew in class they will suddenly get happy and engaged learners?
I am not in favour of restrictive rules in the classroom, yet my school doesn’t allow chewing gum in the classroom, and I stand by that rule. Chewing gum is messy, distracting and not at all likely to bring about positive outcomes in the classroom.
There are so many bad ideas out there in a bid to get students onside. For example, the teacher that gives her students a 5-minute break so they can make text messages.
What’s next? Allowing kids to kick their feet up on the desk for comfort?
Here’s an idea. How about engaging students with interesting and exciting lessons instead of gimmicks like text breaks and chewing gum?
Tags: Education, life, News, Opinion, Parenting, School, Teachers, Teaching
Topical Teaching 
December 3, 2010 at 12:07 pm |
Interesting idea. The point I’m getting is that nit-picking about chewing gum and playing with a pencil when the teacher is talking etc, are a waste of time for teachers to bother about. Personally I have bigger fish to fry than if someone is chewing gum. I wouldn’t allow gum in grades K – 3 because you are right in suggesting they cannot handle it, but I wouldn’t object to junior grades (4 – 6) and over. After a while the novelty will wear off and most teachers would scarcely see students chewing it in class anyway. Kids are interesting that way.
December 3, 2010 at 5:42 pm |
Sounds like an invitation to acquire TMJ and while I love many things German and can understand a possible correlation between the kinesthetic activity of chewing gum while in class being used as a learning reinforcer I would still side with you on it not being the greatest of options. Engaging lesson plans and frankly just having the educator not burnt out on their own subject matter have been key attributes for my involvement in a course, all the more if I become inspired to think of something in a new way or to do more research outside of class (not because it was required but because I was intrigued by the way something was presented). I think another think that has perpetuated a lower level of engagement is that while high % of a students interactions are likely to be diverse and fast-paced by nature of technology and the social media world our modern education system still hasn’t quite been able to keep up for a number of reasons, the majority of which don’t seem to have much to do with teachers and their lesson plans as much as the limited framework teachers are provided to work within. It seems a daunting challenge and I am wholeheartedly impressed by those who answer the call each day.
December 4, 2010 at 10:57 pm |
Thank you teacher and Angela G. for your terrific contributions. I just don’t think encouraging the chewing of gum in order to keep kids alert and engaged is a good look.