The Curious Case Of Sleeping In Class.

So you wake up in the morning, take a bath, brush your teeth or postpone the brushing (well...you know), dress up, eat breakfast or not and drag yourself to school in anticipation of what those long hours of school will bring. For some people, it’s an exciting time to show off all they studied through the night and remind every teacher that walks in to mark their homework while for others like me, it’s time to continue gisting from where we left off the previous day, play pranks on fellow students and meditate deeply while a class is going on. Now in the club of school haters, the word “Meditate” means “To sleep off while reading or listening in class.” Notice that when we woke up to go to school, we never planned to sleep during class; sleep just came on us through the instrumentality of boring teachers. Part of the reasons I hated school was not because of school itself but because we had more boring teachers than we had exciting ones. 

I had a teacher once who will wear her make up in class and ask us to copy our textbook into our notebook. I had another teacher who will spend time telling stories in a calculation course because he didn’t know how to solve the questions in the text book he wrote. I even had one that will give you a mathematical answer at the beginning of class and spend the remaining minutes trying to figure out how he reached that answer. I wish you saw the one that will seize your snacks and eat the snacks in class in front of you and the one that will come to class to nap and ask us to copy our notes or read a chapter in our text book. Now you know why I preferred to sleep in class. I shared a special bond with sleep that even when I didn’t plan to sleep; it just had a way of whisking me away in class. To sleep effectively in class, there were many sleeping positions, some were preplanned (i.e. You already planned the sleep before the teacher started teaching) and some took the “sleeper” by surprise (i.e. You thought you were listening and answering questions in class not knowing you were doing that in your dream). Before you start pretending that you don’t know what it means to sleep in class, take a look at the pictures below and take your pick because I know you sleep in class and other learning environments.

John-bull my son i sent you to school to learn not sleep!

I am trying so hard to keep this eyes open but they won't let me

Hey dude! Class is over

A typical meditation position. Thumbs up guy

Sleeping during punishment...now you are gonna make the teacher mad

My favorite position in Igbo class and other boring classes

  

Now that's what i call  beauty sleep...c'mon girl, this a'int no spa

Chairman! i hail o. Executive position for backbenchers who are above the law

The reason I chose to write on this issue is not to condemn sleeping in class which is my favourite sport but to put an end to excuses. Excuses of failure simply because you didn't have a good teacher. I am tired of hearing people tell me even in their old age that they hated maths because of the teacher they had. I remember talking with a 40 year old that proudly told me he cursed his teacher for making him not excel in English till date and I was shocked. Shocked because I kept wondering what he has been doing to rectify the problem the teacher supposedly caused. This is 2013 and in case you haven't noticed, the triangle approach to learning which involved your school teachers, physical books and students is fading fast and the responsibility of learning  in the 21st century rests on you. imagine saying you don't know what azonto is because your teacher didn't tell you. That's is so not cool. 

Here are at least 3 ways to fill in the gap created by boring teachers.

1.     Make friends with non sleeping students: you see those guys that never sleep in class and have a way of understanding boring teachers, get friendly with them and get them to fill you in on what you missed and teach you what they know. But the trick is to find someone whom you can flow with because not everyone good in a subject can teach that subject. Bear that in mind else you will end up sleeping in the tutorial too. And hey! there are some people who sleep in class yet are good in some subjects irrespective of the boring teacher teaching it. Connect with students like that and learn from them.

  

2.  Get a textbook that works for you: the reason we have different textbooks on a particular subject is to give you various options to learn better from different view points. Every author has his/her own unique communication style so find a text book that you can understand and use it. Before you start cooking up excuses just know that you may not necessarily buy one, you can borrow from some one or try looking into your school library if your school has one and while you are there check the date the book you have was written before you end up reading a 1964 textbook. Just try other textbooks on that subject you have issues with and see if you will understand it.

3.  Use your online power: for you to be reading this on my blog tells me you have internet access. Learning has been so simplified that there are teachers willing to teach you free online via their books, articles, videos, audios and discussions on forums. Find such sites and utilize them. You know your phone does more than chat on social networks, it can actually be your study tool. I know I sound nerdy but check out Khanacademy.org, Myschool.com.ng  or just go to Google and type in your question, the search results will amaze you.

What is your sleeping in class story and your ideas on how to deal with boring teachers and by that i don't mean pranks, just tips of what to do when you don't enjoy some subjects because you don't flow with the teacher.

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