Turning Boredom into Passion

The new school year is back in action, and as always, teachers are in search of new and effective ways to best appeal to their students and create an engaged learning environment. However, as you might imagine, this isn't always an easy task. Students, especially those in grades 6-12, often create a barrier between what interests them and what the teacher has on the syllabus.

But what exactly is it that young students are interested in? According to the article, “Are You Boring Your Students Into Misbehavior?” by veteran school teacher and educational counselor Michael Linsin, students remain interested in topics seemingly antithetical to classroom behavior and goals.

“Your students love video games," writes Linsin, "They love action movies and bawdy comedies. They love snowball fights, skateboards, birthday parties, and action sports. They want to score the winning goal, hang out with their crazy friends, and eat pizza seven nights a week. They spend their waking moments thinking about, pursuing, or engaging in their desires. And then they walk into your classroom."

So how can teachers mold their syllabus and instructional methods to compete with interests that seem so inherently opposite to what education has traditionally represented?

One such educator is pioneering daily activities that engage students with action, adventure, and humor while still building strong reading and writing skills. Kaye Hagler’s upcoming book, Take 5! For Language Arts: 180 Bell-ringers That Build Critical-thinking Skills, helps transform the first chaotic five minutes of class into an authentic opportunity to practice critical-thinking skills. As many secondary teachers are discovering, classrooms are most successful when students are having fun. While this is indeed a difficult task, it is not impossible. On the contrary, many bright minds are using strategies that combine entertainment and creativity without sacrificing the Common Core Standards.

Take Hagler’s prompt entitled “Choorubus” as an example:

“Excitement has been building for weeks at the San Diego Zoo. The number of curious onlookers gathered outside the Choorubus cage has grown larger with each passing day. The object of all the attention is the nest where a female Choorubus, a nearly extinct species, has been patiently sitting, waiting the day when her newborn hatches.

Finally, the day arrives when the first cracks begin to appear, then more, until finally, finally . . . a loud gasp bursts from the crowd. The Hatchling appears, but what emerges is beyond anyone’s imagination. Your task is to describe and draw the newest Choorubus. Ready? Take Five!”

On its surface, this activity may simply seem like a fun, silly way to get students' attention; in actuality, students are using precise words and phrases, creating relevant descriptive details, and using sensory language to convey experiences and events–all of which are Common Core Standards.

Additionally, each of Take Five!'s 180 prompts includes: supply lists, teacher tips, corresponding standards, language arts links, assessment options, rubrics, and digital connections that add more than 100 extension lessons.

In five-minute intervals, your students will be inventing secret codes, concocting potions, texting haikus, rewriting history, making conjunction paper chains, thinking like newspaper editors—all while reinforcing the skills and standards in your lesson plans.

With a little bit of fun and creativity, learning doesn't have to compete with the interests of students; it can embrace them.