Engaging Gen Z
This website Engaging Gen Z began as a Lecturer Teaching Fellowship (LTF). It emerged for two reasons. First, when UC Berkeley students responded to my survey asking what they most need to succeed, they requested an easy-to-access "How To Write Well" website. I wanted to help them and to create new ways to listen intentionally to my students. Second, I became aware in 2017 that Generation Z students and Millennial students were often considered as one generation ("Millennials") when clearly they deserved more individual attention in order to create new engaging pedagogy. This point is especially important for us as teachers as society experiences the ongoing technological upheaval known as the Information Revolution, giving each generation very divergent orientations to technology and history. I began studying Gen Z and their language of memes as LTF research. This collaborative website grew from that work. It continues because Cal students are extraordinary, because awesome College Writing Program (CWP) colleagues teach me much, and because LTFs in 2020-2021 and 2018-2019 provided additional resources, community, and conversations that make innovation possible.
These webpages under "Engaging Gen Z" help non-Gen-Zers better understand the world of Gen Z, since the first rule of teaching is "Know your audience." You're invited to explore them and their hyperlinked resources: "What's Your Generation?" "What's a Meme?" "Grammimetics™?" and "Memfounded?" to learn more. All are welcome! The birthdate ranges for each generation, based primarily on Pew Research, are Traditionalists 1928-1945, Baby Boomers 1946-1964, Gen Xers 1965-1976, Xennials 1977-1983, Millennials 1984-1996, Gen Z 1997-2012, and Gen Alphas 2013-now. This website celebrates and honors students and their achievements, ideas, and individualities as it offers them the tools they need to succeed. It shares our diverse stories, cultivating a dialogue that sharpens skills and makes contributions to the Common Good possible.
While Web 3.0 finishes materializing, we will also begin including here and honoring Gen Alpha students (born 2013-present). That will happen in less than a decade. Then we will reconceive Engaging Gen Z again as Teaching from Z to A.
These webpages under "Engaging Gen Z" help non-Gen-Zers better understand the world of Gen Z, since the first rule of teaching is "Know your audience." You're invited to explore them and their hyperlinked resources: "What's Your Generation?" "What's a Meme?" "Grammimetics™?" and "Memfounded?" to learn more. All are welcome! The birthdate ranges for each generation, based primarily on Pew Research, are Traditionalists 1928-1945, Baby Boomers 1946-1964, Gen Xers 1965-1976, Xennials 1977-1983, Millennials 1984-1996, Gen Z 1997-2012, and Gen Alphas 2013-now. This website celebrates and honors students and their achievements, ideas, and individualities as it offers them the tools they need to succeed. It shares our diverse stories, cultivating a dialogue that sharpens skills and makes contributions to the Common Good possible.
While Web 3.0 finishes materializing, we will also begin including here and honoring Gen Alpha students (born 2013-present). That will happen in less than a decade. Then we will reconceive Engaging Gen Z again as Teaching from Z to A.