The portion of chapter 2 that stood out to me was the section that detailed a teacher's experience attempting to implement a unit on irony. In this scenario we were able to witness what "wide awake" teaching is: an educator who is constantly assessing his or her own teaching and making the appropriate adjustments when needed. As we see, the initial method used was unsuccessful: a lesson presented in a more traditional teacher-oriented manner, with definitions, worksheets and the use of examples making up a large part of the lesson. Aside from testing the students' ability to memorize material this was a failure. This led to the teacher deciding that it was time for something different. The use of comics, poems and other short works was something I felt was a great idea. Using these works created an accessible platform and comfortable environment for students to build an understanding and working knowledge of the strategies needed to identify irony. Following this, the students were able to apply these same strategies to a text they originally had difficulty with, "Ozymandias." This unit was a success largely in part to a "wide awake" teacher who saw a lesson failing and realized that there needed to be a change. While it may seem like a clear and obvious technique for ALL teachers, sadly that is not the case. I believe there are many teachers who feel the students must conform to their "tried and true" techniques, techniques that may be outdated for the current generation of students. It's time to teach and adapt. Let's be innovative!
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