The Mayberry Style of Teaching History – It’s all in the delivery!
This is a classic…… If you have a student (or maybe more than one) that thinks history is boring just share this little video and you’ll quickly change their minds. It’s all in the delivery!
I have been reading a great little book over the last few weeks and it has reinforced the need for teachers who love their subject matter and really want their students to look forward to coming to class to see what will happen each day.
The book Teach Like A Pirate is full of great examples of how you can make your lessons come to life for both you and your students. We all have a job to do in delivering information to our students but it doesn’t have to be dry and boring with the teacher standing at the podium and the students nodding off to sleep. Here is an excerpt from the book –
To succeed in business, you must position yourself in the marketplace so you are the clear choice amongst all alternatives and against the alternative of doing nothing at all. This is exactly what we must do as teachers, as well! Why should our students bother to learn what we are teaching? Why should they bother to give us their attention and active engagement in the first place? Because here’s the truth: Not only are we fighting to stand out from all the images, sounds, products, people, and emotions vying for their attention, we are also fighting to keep them from tuning out altogether. It isn’t easy. There’s a lot of noise out there and let’s face it, it’s hard for our subjects to compete with the excitement of their favorite reality show or real-life drama in the halls. It’s easy to see why so many teachers use what I call “the medicine approach.” They say, “I know this stuff is hard but you have to bear with me and hang in there because it’s on the test.” “I know this is rough going and not exactly fun but if you don’t learn this stuff you can’t be successful at the next level.” Talk about piss-poor motivation! Suffer through this grueling ordeal so that you can answer a few more questions right on the state test. They are positioning their lesson like it is bitter medicine that must be swallowed in order to get better. Don’t position your material as if it is awful-tasting medicine! Position your content as if it’s amazing! Give motivating reasons why the material is important to know. “Because it’s on the test” doesn’t cut it. If you can’t explain why someone should pay attention to what you’re saying, maybe you shouldn’t be saying it. I go out of my way to position my class as an amazing and extraordinarily unique place filled with outrageously engaging content and activities. I position it as a place that provides opportunities for creative expression. I also try to position each lesson so students can personalize the material and apply it to their world. I add in the LCLs (life-changing lessons) in an attempt to make my class fulfilling and meaningful. Then, when appropriate, I add in the entertainment and fun factor to top it all off. I design my lessons so that even the tough material goes down easy, much like the pet owner who hides the pill inside of a tasty morsel. And I don’t apologize for utilizing all of the tricks of the trade to accomplish my goals. Sometimes we need to change our students’ perceptions of the material we’re teaching. The way to do this is called reframing. Reframing involves providing a new context for the material that helps to break down the negative associations many students come into class with. I’m sure you’ve heard students saying things like, “I hate math.” “History is boring.” “I can’t write.” “I’ll never need to know this in real life.” These are some of the preconceived notions our students bring with them to school. Our job is to create a mental paradigm shift by reframing the content and its value and relevancy to their lives. The truth is, students probably don’t really hate math, they hate the way it has been taught to them in the past. They hate the fact that they have struggled to learn math in the past. They think history is boring because a teacher somewhere along the way killed it with dreary bookwork, worksheets, and monotonous lectures. History isn’t boring, their history class was. When students can’t see any real-world connection or value to a particular subject, they question whether it is worth the investment and effort. And rightly so! As adults, we don’t like to feel that our time and efforts are being wasted; students are no different. The following story is my favorite example of the power of reframing. When my son was about five or six years old, I took him to a pizza place with two other families. It was one of those places with a small game area for children. This one also had about five of those gumball-type vending machines that spit out prizes (stickers, small toys, temporary tattoos, etc.) rather than gum. My son, Hayden, and two of his buddies approached the machines excitedly with quarters in hand. The first friend put his money in and got a small, plastic, glow-in-the-dark T-Rex. He ran off displaying it proudly and making loud roaring noises as he went. The second friend pulled the lever and got a temporary tattoo of a fire-breathing dragon. He grabbed his father and dragged him into the bathroom to immediately apply it to his arm with water from the sink. Finally, Hayden approached the machines and carefully chose where to place his quarters. He pushed and pulled and out came a small plastic capsule with something inside. He handed it to me to pry the top off and out came a small gold bracelet with heart charms. Disaster!! I knew I had about a half second to reframe this experience for my son or there could be a legendary meltdown. After all, a heart bracelet is a devastating prize for a young boy when compared to a T-Rex and a fire-breathing dragon tattoo. I’m not always so quick on my feet in such circumstances, but this time, without any hesitation, I held it up, pointed to it, and emphatically yelled, “Pirate treasure!!!” He grabbed it from me and ran off clutching it yelling, “Yeaaahh!!” at the top of his lungs. That is reframing. Sometimes the most important thing we do as teachers is to take subjects, which to a lot of our students start as the equivalent of little heart bracelets, and by using passion, enthusiasm, powerful presentations, and creativity, turn it into pirate treasure.
Burgess, Dave (2012-10-22). Teach Like a PIRATE: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator
The book Teach Like A Pirate is full of great examples of how you can make your lessons come to life for both you and your students. We all have a job to do in delivering information to our students but it doesn’t have to be dry and boring with the teacher standing at the podium and the students nodding off to sleep. Here is an excerpt from the book –
To succeed in business, you must position yourself in the marketplace so you are the clear choice amongst all alternatives and against the alternative of doing nothing at all. This is exactly what we must do as teachers, as well! Why should our students bother to learn what we are teaching? Why should they bother to give us their attention and active engagement in the first place? Because here’s the truth: Not only are we fighting to stand out from all the images, sounds, products, people, and emotions vying for their attention, we are also fighting to keep them from tuning out altogether. It isn’t easy. There’s a lot of noise out there and let’s face it, it’s hard for our subjects to compete with the excitement of their favorite reality show or real-life drama in the halls. It’s easy to see why so many teachers use what I call “the medicine approach.” They say, “I know this stuff is hard but you have to bear with me and hang in there because it’s on the test.” “I know this is rough going and not exactly fun but if you don’t learn this stuff you can’t be successful at the next level.” Talk about piss-poor motivation! Suffer through this grueling ordeal so that you can answer a few more questions right on the state test. They are positioning their lesson like it is bitter medicine that must be swallowed in order to get better. Don’t position your material as if it is awful-tasting medicine! Position your content as if it’s amazing! Give motivating reasons why the material is important to know. “Because it’s on the test” doesn’t cut it. If you can’t explain why someone should pay attention to what you’re saying, maybe you shouldn’t be saying it. I go out of my way to position my class as an amazing and extraordinarily unique place filled with outrageously engaging content and activities. I position it as a place that provides opportunities for creative expression. I also try to position each lesson so students can personalize the material and apply it to their world. I add in the LCLs (life-changing lessons) in an attempt to make my class fulfilling and meaningful. Then, when appropriate, I add in the entertainment and fun factor to top it all off. I design my lessons so that even the tough material goes down easy, much like the pet owner who hides the pill inside of a tasty morsel. And I don’t apologize for utilizing all of the tricks of the trade to accomplish my goals. Sometimes we need to change our students’ perceptions of the material we’re teaching. The way to do this is called reframing. Reframing involves providing a new context for the material that helps to break down the negative associations many students come into class with. I’m sure you’ve heard students saying things like, “I hate math.” “History is boring.” “I can’t write.” “I’ll never need to know this in real life.” These are some of the preconceived notions our students bring with them to school. Our job is to create a mental paradigm shift by reframing the content and its value and relevancy to their lives. The truth is, students probably don’t really hate math, they hate the way it has been taught to them in the past. They hate the fact that they have struggled to learn math in the past. They think history is boring because a teacher somewhere along the way killed it with dreary bookwork, worksheets, and monotonous lectures. History isn’t boring, their history class was. When students can’t see any real-world connection or value to a particular subject, they question whether it is worth the investment and effort. And rightly so! As adults, we don’t like to feel that our time and efforts are being wasted; students are no different. The following story is my favorite example of the power of reframing. When my son was about five or six years old, I took him to a pizza place with two other families. It was one of those places with a small game area for children. This one also had about five of those gumball-type vending machines that spit out prizes (stickers, small toys, temporary tattoos, etc.) rather than gum. My son, Hayden, and two of his buddies approached the machines excitedly with quarters in hand. The first friend put his money in and got a small, plastic, glow-in-the-dark T-Rex. He ran off displaying it proudly and making loud roaring noises as he went. The second friend pulled the lever and got a temporary tattoo of a fire-breathing dragon. He grabbed his father and dragged him into the bathroom to immediately apply it to his arm with water from the sink. Finally, Hayden approached the machines and carefully chose where to place his quarters. He pushed and pulled and out came a small plastic capsule with something inside. He handed it to me to pry the top off and out came a small gold bracelet with heart charms. Disaster!! I knew I had about a half second to reframe this experience for my son or there could be a legendary meltdown. After all, a heart bracelet is a devastating prize for a young boy when compared to a T-Rex and a fire-breathing dragon tattoo. I’m not always so quick on my feet in such circumstances, but this time, without any hesitation, I held it up, pointed to it, and emphatically yelled, “Pirate treasure!!!” He grabbed it from me and ran off clutching it yelling, “Yeaaahh!!” at the top of his lungs. That is reframing. Sometimes the most important thing we do as teachers is to take subjects, which to a lot of our students start as the equivalent of little heart bracelets, and by using passion, enthusiasm, powerful presentations, and creativity, turn it into pirate treasure.
Burgess, Dave (2012-10-22). Teach Like a PIRATE: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator
It’s all in the delivery…..add a little energy to your teaching and see how your students react!
Tags : teaching
