Dementia in Adolescence?

OK...here is my first rant. I educate (or at least attempt to) high school adolescents. I also teach an advanced placement elective, in which many of them enjoy. However, over the last few months I have found that my planning and preparation has been all for not.

Simply reading the textbook (resource for every educational institution) is a difficult task for many. Now, I know that textbooks are not the most fun to read, however, when an assessment relies on, not only the educator being the expert in the field (which I can be considered) and presenting it in a way students understanf, but also on the information presented by the text...you would think that they would catch on. (I have given assessments in which I have taken the practice quizzes DIRECTLY from the textbook.) UGH...will they ever learn?

Now...in talking with many of my colleagues abou this, it seems as though dementia has set in earlier than expected; I am not the only one having this problem. The frustration with me is hearing students say, "I was absent yesterday...what did I miss" my response is "NOTHING...I stopped class beacuse you weren't here" (and I really say this). To which the students response is "No, really what did I miss?" (thinking that I am just being the teacher with a sense of humor, that I usually can be).

They tend to forget that I have repeatedly said if you're out or miss class for ANY reason to check my website, check the absent folder, check with another student...all options before asking me the $25,000 question. Ah, the memories...remember that game show, the $25,000 Pyramid? "Tardies, late work, ditching class..." All things that happen at MY school.

Now, I am the first to say, "don't come to me with a problem, unless you can offer a solution!" So, my solution...do what I can to spoon feed you even more than you get at home? Show movies everyday and have you guess what the material is about? Provide workbooks that you can fill in instead of reading and thinking critically? Spend even more time creating a class that is fun, engaging and informative? OR Continue doing what I am doing and expect that you are going to meet MY expectation to succeed. Yes, I like that one the best, don't you?

So, the case that dementia is running wild in today's youth....is just a MYTH! We need to stay strong and remember that if we lower our expectations, that they will bend to meet them.