Are we making fun things boring?

As a teacher who believes innovation is essential in our schools, it shocks me that my most powerful insights come from my own child. I mean, I'm the expert on school right? I completed my own 13 years of public education, then 6 years of college courses followed by almost 20 years of teaching in the classroom. I know what school is, but do I know learning? My daughter (now in 4th grade) teaches me so much by sharing her experiences in school. Here's an example:

Last night she says to me, "I hate it when teachers make fun things boring." Understand that she had just stormed in and interrupted what I was doing to share "the lava song" that they saw in class. She looked it up and played it for me on YouTube and we discussed it happily, but then a small sigh and the comment about teachers making fun things boring. She said they watched the video and had to write a story arc for it. 

"Don't you think the teacher made a boring thing fun?" I said. "She needed to teach you about story arcs and instead of giving you a boring story to read, she had you listen to a fun song and watch the video that went with it. Isn't that making something boring into something fun?" 

"Nope," she said, "it was still boring." She seemed let down that something fun had turned boring on her.

I've seen that look on my students' faces. How many times have I patted myself on the back for infusing that little bit of fun into a boring lesson? I'd show a cute YouTube rap I found on photosynthesis, or have kids invent an alien race so they could fill out Punnett Squares. Look at how much fun we are having, I would say. My kids are engaged and having fun, but there'd be that little letdown when they had to do "the boring part." Then, they'd walk out of the room and not give it a second thought, even after I'd worked so hard to make it fun!

It takes a lot of effort on the teacher's part to increase engagement, but there are better uses for our limited time and energy. What we really need to focus our efforts on is making the learning MEANINGFUL. Our kids and students all say they are looking for fun, but what they really want, what they need is meaning.

What if my daughter's teacher had told her it was time to write her own song or story? Then, it might have been a meaningful exercise (and fun) to plot the story arc from the lava song. It would have given her a tool to use to help plot her own story, but if we are just learning how to plot a story arc, who cares?

I think all those years of school have corrupted me. I see things through a teacher's lens, especially in my own subject area. Some call it the curse of wisdom. When you know something really well, it's really hard to put yourself back in the mindset of a novice. In order to see what your students really need, what they really understand and don't get, we need to let go of our vice grip on the lesson plan and give them some choices, some power over their own learning. Then, if we are watching closely, we can see where they are, and use our expertise to determine what our students need to in order to progress.

It's what John Spencer and AJ Juliani talk about in their new book Empower. How do we move from student compliance through student engagement and get to student empowerment? Its not easy, but it's important. It's time we figure it out!