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Gen X teacher, Millennial students

Gen X teacher, Millennial students



October 31, 2016

gnex8.05 a.m.

21 of the 24 students hovering over their Samsungs struggle against my insistence that their beloved mobile phones can wait another 45 minutes or so. My Generation X work ethic wants to instill structure and direction in this first period lesson to 18-year-olds who confess to staying up till the early hours bonding with their squads on Whatsapp, Instagram and Snapchat.

And so begins the surreptitious veiling of their devices inside iPad covers, or artfully perched in the folds of their Michael Kors handbags, strategically placed between me and them. This is the millennium version of, “Hey teacher, leave them kids alone!”

In this article, the words in bold represent the defining characteristics of Gen Xers and Millennials as identified by social historians and media analysts. Do you recognize yourself or your students in these cue words?

Where once Y2K was the foreboding edge of our Generation X horizon, the future for Millennials is as clear as 16 megapixels. My colleagues and I, for whom 39 is a distant memory, are technologically savvy. We rely on our electronic devices to stay marketable, respecting our Gen X values of being highly-educated and having high job expectations. Our millennial students are extremely tech-savvy and totally attached to their gadgets. Their reliance on social media means they’re sociable and loyal to their peers. To their Gen X teacher, the constant need to stay in touch with their social groups often means that they’re not focused on the results-driven agenda Gen Xers have designed. But cynical Gen Xers could learn something from their millennial civic mindset. They’re more keen to follow forward-thinking social movers via Twitter and will take direction from those they perceive as heroes.

millThe consumer instincts of millennials mean that they’re eager to spend money and want careers that will provide them the cash to do that. Some of us who stumbled into ESL 20-something years ago, were motivated to seek work-life balance, i.e. work a little, travel a lot!

Millennials are not a generation that will be impressed with technology that will transport them to the past. But those of us who cheered for Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future wanted to believe that with the right tools, the world could be our oyster. We passed onto the millennial generation our desire to live, work and have fun. The millennials we’re teaching also want work-life balance, but they want to do it on their terms. The whole world is available to them from anywhere on their 5.1 inch screens.

Gen X teacher, our mandate was to channel our outcome-oriented work ethic to accommodate our millennial students’ desire for immediate results and their default preference to work in social groups. Every day we make our way across a generational bridge. Gen Xers are a confident bunch. At work, we’re competent and focused on results. We believe that with our Kahoots, Quizlets and flipped classrooms we make learning fun. Fun is highly valued by both Gen Xers and Millennials. As a bonus, Millennial students might acquire linguistic knowledge along the way and Gen X teacher, you will help them exit tertiary education. Smile – you’re going to be on all their graduation photos.  Altogether now… GenXers, Millennials say “Selfie”!

References

Howe, N and Strauss W (2009)   Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

Pink Floyd (1979)  The Wall   

 

 

October 31, 2016
Faculty Lounge
,
Shifa Desai

Shifa Desai

ESL teacher interested in the holistic development of professionals. She collects stories of teachers' accounts of the lows and wows of classroom life and the job of living.
Shifa Desai

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