Jr. High Observation 2

There's a theory called the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) that states that people are generally persuaded in two different ways. There's the Central route, which consists of reasoning with facts, figures, and logic. Then there is the peripheral route, which involves impressions of credibility based on image, tone, presentation quality, etc... I visited Brett Christiansen's class. He seemed very busy and preoccupied with some paperwork that must have been under a tight deadline. His relationship with the student seemed a bit more peripheral in nature than Jesse. His students were supposed to do certain assignments because he told them to or because it was required of them rather than providing and reenforcing the value of the skills they were learning. Another example of his peripheral route teaching method was that he commanded attention by a loud and sharp voice. It seemed the students were used to this, but that they had also grown accustomed to ignoring this approach as well since they have probably reached an age where they start questioning peripheral messaging techniques in favor of more central route messaging. It was valuable to attend Brett's class because he was managed his class successfully, helped his students reach goals and finish assignments, but failed (at least for that particular day) to teach the value of those assignments to the students. I'm no expert and can't judge too harshly because it could have just been an abnormally hectic day for Brett and an unusually good day for Jesse, but the experience was nonetheless valuable for me.