We love our technology. We love it even more when it saves us from having to listen to a boring teacher ramble about useless facts that aren’t even related to the class. This post is to give teachers a perspective of what the class looks like from the back of the classroom.
The Internet Socialite
Twitter. Facebook. Email. Five chat windows. It’s pretty common to see someone spend a whole 90 minute class period bouncing back and forth between an endless array of communication tools. Facebook seems to be a particularly popular way for the internet socialite to burn time during class. Scanning the Facebook “News Feed” allows one to keep up on all the gossip that one could ever want in their lifetime.
The Avid Sports Fan
For the statistic-loving, highlight-reel addict, class is a perfect time to go through the video and text recaps of each sporting event from the previous day. The knowledge gained from this activity becomes a critical part of the avid sports fan’s daily conversations with his or her friends.
The Hi-Tech Note Passers
The days of passing paper are gone. It’s always interesting to see how many people end up chatting online with each other during class. A typical conversation might look something like this:
tupac4life: yo
biggiesmalls: wasup
tupac4life: im really bored
biggiesmalls: ya..me too
tupac4life: the girl in front of you is a babe
biggiesmalls: i know for reals!!
The Can’t Sit Still Entrepreneur
This is me. I always seem to have a thousand side projects while I’m in school. Certain topics that I’m learning in class will spark an idea and I have to write it down or act upon it. In addition to thinking of new ideas, often times the day-to-day business operations will interfere with my ability to pay attention. Anytime that there is a lull in the pace of the class, my attention seems to be drawn into my business in one way or another.
The Tangential Learner
A teacher might make a side note of lyrical product placement in a marketing class. Not wanting to spend a lot of time on the topic, the teacher will move onto the next subject. The tangential learner will open up Google and start a separate learning adventure.
The Bargain Shopper
This is very common. While many females will check the latest sales on popular clothing or retail websites, males will tend to gravitate towards the “deal of the day” sites. Sites like whiskeymilitia.com and steepandcheap.com are among a few of the hundreds of such sites.
The Silent YouTube Watcher
I’ve always found this type of person interesting. I’m not sure what watching a video with no sound does for you in most cases but it happens quite frequently. In some cases, I have watched students successfully disguise headphones in the palm of their hand as they rest their ears against their hands.
