SWBAT Forget Stuff

This year in my classes we will learn how to forget things.

As a teacher, I get to fight the loss of certain useful skills.  My students live in a world where every single text message they ever send, every picture they ever take, and every tap of the *enter* key is saved forever and generally in public.  Nothing is forgotten anymore!

Without the ability to forget we cannot move on in our lives.  We cannot forgive if we cannot forget.  Minor details continue to nag for months after they should have faded into the background noise of living.

So this year, we are forgetting things.  That graphic novel excerpt that we gave an honest shot, but couldn't quite work out as a class?  It's gone.  I'll never mention it again.  The introduction writing activity that yielded forced blather?  I've never even heard of it.  I can't even imagine what it must have been like.

From this point forward, the good stays in our memory as long as we can hold it, and the rest hits the recycling bin, never to bother us again.  We need the space for something better.  Useful thoughts will stay with us.  Fascinating texts will come back monthly.  Fun new words will pepper our speech.  Excellent writing will get more honed as we constantly return to it.  Nothing else can have our time, energy, or precious attention.

Take that, Internet!