New Athenian Academy

I don’t care who you talk to, teaching is at least 30% entertainment.  I have become quite the actress over the last three years.

How do you make kids want to learn economics?  You cannot appeal to their inherent desire to learn about economics.  You cannot appeal to “the information will become useful at some point in your life” angle.  You cannot even appeal to the “Buff loves it” angle.  You must fake the excitement.  It’s the only way to grab their attention.  This really applies to everything.

I have learned multiple tricks to get the attention of my students.  It’s all about the entertainment value.  Here are a few examples that I employ:

• Moldy Sandwich Saga: The entire battle against communism in American foreign policy is very complicated.  It’s hard to keep everything straight, so I found an ingenious way to explain it all. The entire world is a fridge.  Communism is a moldy sandwich in the fridge.  We (The United States) don’t want the mold to spread to the other food (countries) in the fridge.  So we employ many tactics to “contain” the mold (saran wrap, bleach, etc.).  The entire saga covers approximately 1946-1970.  I find that many students appreciate the entertainment value and remember the various countries and conflicts by their food names.
• Live Action Rev War Battles: Easiest was to show the ridiculous nature of European style warfare is to “play” war.  I have one half of the class stand one side of the room and the other half on the other side.  They then “shoot” at each other in the classical style.  I play referee/general for the battle.  Then I break a few Americans off to become militia hiding behind desks and other people (trees and hills). Middle schoolers especially love this form of entertainment.
• The Unicorn War: The War of 1812 is the forgotten pointless war.  So why not make it more interesting by renaming it The Unicorn War.  ’Nough said.
• Goats Abound: Economics is fairly boring at the basic level.  It only gets really interesting at the higher levels of understanding.  So I use goats to be examples of the various theories/ideas.  Students have even taken to making a goat tally.  Last year, I made it to 54 references throughout the semester.  Very nice!  And for senior wills, I was given a goat raising how to book and a stuffed goat.  Awesome!
• Myers Briggs Speed Dating: Take your psychology class.  try to match them up using Myers Briggs Type Indicators.  Hilarity ensues.

Just a few examples of how I entertain (oops I mean teach) my classes.

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Education Process by Tobe