Engaging Curriculum

What gets kids into it? Is there really a way to get students to buy in, whole-heartedly, to the content of the course? I think that this is an incredibly difficult question to answer. In fact, I think that really the only way to really answer that question is to consider another question.

It isn’t about the ever cliche “authentic” plug or the idea of “real-world applications” that really get students hooked. [I will definitely admit here that I simply oppose the abuse of these phrases in education, not the true embodiment of them] The “gimmick” of the game or activity in the opening of the lesson is becoming less and less effective, too often missing the point of relevance. Here, there has to be a question of “what are kids interested in, or what should they be interested in, that is relevant to their future?” In the most simple of ways, my thought boils down to the idea that everything in education depends on context.

A pretty heavy statement, but that’s the point. Refinement of such statements will lead me, and education, to a place of clarity. Let’s continue.

Do students beg to be introduced to a new formula or definition? Does anyone? Now, let’s focus on the regular part of the population… Do we even really care about the news if it isn’t related to an interest of ours or the region of the state or country in which we live? I suppose not. How can we expect students, the same who only a few short years before learned an entire language and culture according to curiousity through simple interaction?

So what is to be done? [Sidenote: Can I ask any more rhetorical questions?] We have to make what is taught relevant. So many great lessons are currently being developed in an entirely different way than what most of us have ever seen or experienced; the focus being the development of need for the content through context. It has enormous effects on students and is effecting student engagement, retention, discipline, and teacher satisfaction. That’s a lot to claim, but I sincerely intend to help clarify these claims in the future.

Without further ado, education must introduce this contextual curriculum on the national stage. Then, students will begin to better embody the iconic student from the ages of “when I was young.”