What’s the big picture?

Your students are wired. 24/7. Whether they are on social networking sites such as twitter or facebook or elsewhere students more than ever want to know: What’s the big picture? How do I fit into all of this?

As an influential teacher – every lesson no matter how local it maybe has a bigger picture behind it. Can you show them that? Can you give them a glimpse, a peek at how it relates to them?

In a high school economics class, a teacher could talk about the value of a tweet or a facebook like. What revenue models are being utilized. How are brands engaging these channels?

In an English class, a teacher could provide perspectives on how twitter impacts our language and communications skills daily (for better or worse). When discussion centers on poetry a great question to pose would be: Is twitter the haiku of our age?

An influential teacher magnifies the lesson. What seems so dispersed at first now becomes engaging and relevant.