Boston, MA – The school year has started up again and students have returned to the classrooms where they will be educated in attempt to create a better future for everyone. However, most students spend their time in class playing games on their phone, posting comments on YouTube about how “Justin Biebz has no swag and is fufu lame,” and doing anything else on their phones to avoid having to actually learn something. Over the last few years, teachers across the country have found it impossible to get their lessons through to their students. One professor at Boston College has come up with a very simple solution, though.
Dr. Roberta Wallace has been a professor at BC for over three decades now. The Maine native grew up in a time where students didn’t have cell phones and had nothing else to do but pay attention in class and actually learn something. Over the last free years, she’s seen a massive decrease in focus in her classroom and has tried many approaches to get students to focus.
“I’ve tried everything,” the history professor told us. “Last week I tried something new that had incredible results.” The professor stood at the front of the classroom, completely silent, and mass texted her students a lecture on Civil Rights. “None of my students knew who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was or Rosa Parks,” Wallace told us. “I couldn’t believe it. But I texted the class the lecture and in no time, they knew everything. Not only that, but they started responding to the mass text asking questions and starting actual discussions. I couldn’t believe it. I went home that night and the conversation kept going. The point of learning about our history is to learn from our mistakes and not repeat them. All it took was a simple text message to get my students to learn.”
Wallace has worked with all of the students’ phone providers to make sure they all have unlimited texts. Since the incredible realization, Wallace kicks back in her classroom and texts back and fourth with her students. Other teachers at BC have caught on and have already had extreme success. The innovative approach will soon be making its way to colleges and universities across the country.
