Thursday, October 18, 2012

I hate this channel.

You've been here before, in nightmares. You sit facing an enormous 3-D television screen, the resolution crisp as life itself. A wave of dreadful anticipation breaks, spitting flashes of heat across your face. You know what's coming, but it's as if you can do nothing about it.

Then it starts - that numbing reality show that no one watches, no one likes. You reach for the remote control, pick it up, push the channel up button. Nothing. The channel down button. Nothing. You hit the power button, the volume up and the volume down. Nothing happens. The show continues. You stand and try to run for the door, but it's as if your limbs are entrapped in bubbles of water, and you move too slowly towards the door. You push down on the door handle, finally able to escape, but it moves only a fraction. Locked. You have no key. You try again, with the same result.

Turning around, you face the star of the reality show: a familiar face, one you seem to see every day, or perhaps every other day. The star speaks to you, asks you why you are standing by the door. The star glares, but asks you nicely if you would please take a seat. Your face is still flushed as you sit, and the reality show continues. No laugh track. No suspense. No action. Just the star of the show talking, sometimes showing something on a screen, sometimes illustrating on a white board. It's boring you to tears - real tears, not the false lugubrious type that seem to always be shed on other reality shows. So you stay. The reality show runs through its usual course. No one watches. No one cares. But you have to stay, so you stay until you can go. Finally the star of the show says that magic words: "Okay, that's all for today. I'll see you next time. Don't forget to do your homework."

"I hate this show," you mumble as you leave the classroom. But then, you stumble into another reality show - different star, different set, but the same premise, the same effect. No one watches. No one cares. Two more of the same show, and you're ready to leave for the day.

"I hate this channel!" you scream.

The problem with this scenario is in the viewer, not the channel. In fact, it's in the whole analogy. School isn't a real-life TV show. It's not meant to entertain, at least not primarily. For students to extract the entertainment, they will need to understand that the redeeming quality of the "show" is in its power to educate, to inform, to improve. Becoming a better thinker or a better scholar is entertaining; it's better than any TV show you could possibly imagine. With this approach, your "shows" don't end after an hour or an hour and a half. They're not sitcoms that you can view with half a mind (or less) while still completing additional tasks.  (Read: Facebook, texting, YouTube, etc whilst class is in session.) If students engage with their classes, with their teachers, with their peers, and with the subject matter, the appeal of the show will coalesce around a deeper understanding of entertainment. With this approach, you won't feel stuck in a bad reality TV show that is mind-numbingly boring. Rather, you'll feel electrically charged to see how much you can improve, how much more you can learn, how much smarter you can be.

Turn off the TV. Come to class with a learner's mind and plug into your education.