For Students of the Television Generation: Pitch your Content Area "Production"
Knowledge for its own sake?
For your students, the "joy-of-learning-just-to-learn" concept went out with Welfare, the Social Safety Net, and universal health care.
Today's students (of video game carpal thumb, television trance and Internet fame) are trained from toddler-hood to hold a ten second mental focus. This is about the longest amount of time before the television image changes. Some people think that this generation's attention span is "short". In reality, their attention span is "fast-paced and dynamic."
So what's a stodgy, over-twenty-nine-ish codger/ dowager-of-a-teacher to do?
Compete, that's what.
New "Lesson Cycle" Rules
Replace your academic, facts-first, the-truth-behind-the-rest-of-the-story approach with instructional delivery that "rocks."
Even though you think that your words of wisdom are pearly-delights, your students find ordinarily lesson drivel to be lifeless, tasteless, boring and irrelevant to their lives.
And, students have heard so much about the "high-stakes-test" that "fear of the test" offers only "ho-hum" incentive or motivation for them.
But, get off the couch-potato side of the tube, and merge with your onscreen personality. Pitch your product so that your students' attention is captivated.
The Pitchman Cometh
Notice that high-budget movies come out with a bang, not a pop, crackle, snap or sizzle. The flashy promo is called a "trailer."
No, you can't go "mano a mano" with the scantily-clad pretty people in the movies...well, maybe you can, but your job tenure will be shorter than your outfit.
Instead, train a dynamic voice, grab your students' attention with tasteful (but vibrant and exciting) mental images. Pique your students' curiosity about the upcoming lesson...it is a to-be-continued serial lesson, isn't it? If your lesson isn't a "To be continued" lesson, it needs to be. (Or maximum student attention "Will be not upon thee.")
Your lessons can be exciting and relevant if you are sensitive (i.e., listen between the lines); and if you emote with empathy with your students and the challenges of their daily lives. Soap Operas are popular because they mirror the drama of people's lives. Students can identify with your lessons if your lessons mimic a soap opera.
Tell a Story
Any lesson can be enhanced, spiced up, pitched...if you add human interest and drama.
This does not take more work. If you don't know enough facts to create "docu-drama," create fiction.
Let's take a boring, lifeless formula in a math or science class as an example.
You could write the formula on the board and order the students to memorize it because the formula will be on the chapter test, or more irrelevantly, on the high-stakes test.
Or, you could describe a the life of the scientist who discovered or solved this formula, spicing up the details about his "pathetic little life" or the intrigue worked against him by his enemies or competitors (docu-drama).
Or, you could make up a story about how a private detective, cop or wrongly-accused suspect solves the case with the simple knowledge of this formula (fiction).
Use Dialog
Using dialog during lesson delivery covers any number of students' attention sins caused by lagging, late in the day energy and excitement. Your morning's live-wire energy looses voltage, your spark runs out, and reception for your message fades. But, bring dialog into your instructional delivery production to perform a dramatic rescue.
Dialog does not have to be accent-laden, does not have to be voice and gender perfect and does not have to be an actor-quality rendition of reality. You can achieve riveting results by just stepping from one side to the other or turning one way and the other to simulate both speakers...while slightly altering your voice. Or, you can get a student to ad lib one part of the dialog with you.
Even better, each time you change character, position, speaking voice or the pace of the performance...you increase your students' memory and recall of the information.
A Little Sugar (or Spice) goes a Long Way
If you make the "trailer" for your lesson a multimedia, over-the-top, Tony-winning production; what will you do to deliver the same (or better) performance for the real lesson?
Meeting expectations is key to your fame and key to the success of your on-stage approach to teaching. In fact, like in business, you have to over deliver, i.e., exceed expectations, just to stay in the game.
You over deliver by using only enough spice to keep your students attention riveted and focused upon your lesson. You can't top "over the top" very often. And, if you get carried away with this, you can train students so that instead of just wanting "salty", they will demand "salacious."
So, leave a lot to your students' imaginations. Spice up your instructional productions, but spice with a light touch. Use a "pinch" of excitement, not a spoon or a scoop. Make each teaching production a "moment to treasure", a bright-spot memorable dot on the screens of your students' imaginations.
On with the show!
