Is It Our Job To Make The Classroom Interesting?

A question that always comes up at the workshops on classroom management that I teach is...Is it our job as teachers to make things fun and interesting in the classroom?   

I completely agree with Dr. Scott McLeod who states:

"We shouldn't be making our schools fun at the expense of solid intellectual engagement. But making students' classroom time more fun (or engaging, or whatever you want to call it) will help them learn more..." 

He goes on to quote Seth Godin as saying, "If your target audience isn't listening, it's not their fault, it's yours."

As Dr. McLeod notes, "Too often we educators (both K-12 and higher ed) say that 'We've put together a good lesson, now it's the students' responsibility to meet us halfway.'  But Godin's quote puts that belief to the test because it doesn't hold up very well in the real world. In our own lives we don't waste our valuable and limited attention span on stuff that doesn't interest or engage us.  To say that kids should because it's in their best interests is disingenuous and morally dishonest. We have to make the case.  Otherwise we deserve the consequences."

Years ago I came across a quote that said, Teaching is a performing art with content.  We can't ignore the content but at the same time we have to get the students' attention in order for them to learn.

Comments

[Tom Haskins]

When I think of "making a class interesting", I start inventing ways to be more entertaining. My college students enjoy those antics, but I share Scott McLeod's concern about sacrificing "solid intellectual engagement". I've found it works better for me to explore how the subject we're studying is interesting to me. I ponder why I continue to read in that discipline, how that expertise gets used in the "real world" or facets of the topic that feed my own curiosity and further questioning. I model myself as "one who is still learning". Students find me easier to relate to than an erudite expert with no empathy for their experience. The class becomes more interesting indirectly.