Though I am relatively new to the field of collegiate teaching, sometimes I reminisce on how my traditional college classroom setting had a certain aura about it; and if asked to describe what it was which gave this personification to it, then I would say, the stories, experiences shared through the professor but more importantly the way it was told, with excitement and vigor. As a retired military serviceman, I have tried Stanley’s notion and several others, though sometimes in the military class they may have felt more like captives than students.
Please take a few minutes, close your eyes and envision those steps you took on the way to your favorite class and when you entered the door, the people you saw, your seat, how cool you were dressed and how you felt when that particular professor began instruction. Yes those were (and will always be a part of us) good times, so how do we take these experiences and all that we have learned over the years to captivate our students’ attention, particularly online, especially in a digital and technologically savvy era?
Maya Angelou once remarked “people will forget what you said and people will forget what you did but people will never forget how you made them feel,” is a strong message about societies and how information is processed. There’s plenty of research conducted and methodologies about conducting online instruction, instructional design, curriculum design etc., but Stanley Pogrow is on to something and assists us by taking a step back, looking to see if we are reaching students, make an assessment and then to let our creative side flourish. Stanley (2010) suggests that in Teaching Content Outrageously: How To Captivate All Students and Accelerate Learning, Grades 4-12, we can move from conventional to outrageous teaching with several techniques. I get it, 4-12th grades, really?! And an unequivocal “yes,” as it appears that somewhere along the way of becoming adults there was a loosening of the reins on fun, until it was let go, this is a simple theory in getting that fun back.
Dr. Stanley Pogrow has been called one of the foremost national experts of school reform and education policy, his concepts have been viewed as efficient and with higher rates of retention. Some of the key techniques he illustrates are, dramatic, essential steps, outrageous lessons and suspenseful with surprise, explained here are three.
- Dramatic when a teachers action turns a lesson into a collective experience by creating a story or content material that produces excitement or other emotions to acquire and consciously process key content ideas and knowledge (Stanley, 2010). He explains how this may be construed as drama, nonetheless, it offers aspects of expression that teachers can use to draw an audience (the students);
- outrageous lessons should provide a deeper understanding of the content provided, it should increase simultaneously how much the student learns and their interests, finally it should enrich the quality of school life (the experience) for BOTH teacher and student while building a bond between them (Stanley, 2010);
- suspense and surprise, places a strong emphasis on creativity, incorporated with the dramatic technique that focuses on content but instead of using lessons in the same way, start in different ways in keeping with the notion of a pedagogical repertoire, which provides suspense opportunities for suspense and surprise and involves students, giving them roles (Turner-Bisset, 2005).
As collegiate faculty, I’m continually searching to discover new ways to touch and reach students in hope of captivating them, sometimes this involves controversial topics on the lessons with student answers based on the phenomenon supported by objectivity and a sprinkle of subjective logic, in an attempt to convert the content into learning experiences that are relevant, fascinating and entertaining.
By reinvigorating the way teaching is conducted, recognizing that these methods work on all levels of education and using the application of entertainment are just one approach to captivate the student’s attention. What techniques, can we use to share and ensure our students have memorable experiences of the classroom? Over time processes for learning and teaching have changed, the feeling of going to college, learning and graduating are unforgettable as with the experiences received from the professor, who entertains, has fun and puts the book down.
What do you think or am I missing the point?
Michael
References
Pogrow, S. (2010). Teaching content outrageously: How to captivate all students and accelerate learning, grades 4-12. (1st ed., pp. 1-256). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass (A Wiley Imprint).
Turner-Bisset, R. (2005). Creative teaching: History in the primary classroom. (pp. 1-188). New York, NY: David Fulton Publishers.
