Re: fun and effective

[writingctr@kean.ucs.mun.ca]

This used to be part of the "turf wars" strand, but Lynne and Stephen
are talking about things that are both effective and fun, and taht'
(oops) that's what I want to ask about.]

For those of you who teach in classrooms: how many of you have had
students who clearly believe that your responsibility as their
teacher is to make them feel entertained enough to learn? The first
semester I taught Frosh composition, I made the mistake (I guess) of
neglecting to work jokes, etc., into my lesson plans, and trying to 
be merely ENGAGING -- which is not the same thing as ENTERTAINING --
and I had students say on my evals, "She's nice and all, but she
isn't very entertaining," or words to that effect. At first, all
I could do was laugh. But I tried, the next semester, to "work the
room" (is that comic-speak, or only cocktail-party-speak?), and I'll
be durned -- those complaints about me not being entertaining were
absent from that semester's evals.

So, I'm wondering if the expectation of being entertained is very
widespread, or if it can be attributed to the fact that most of my
students were fairly pampered kids, or what. Anyone had similar -- or
markedly different -- experiences? 

Jacqueline Howse
Coordinator, Writing Centre
Memorial University of Newfoundland
writingctr@kean.ucs.mun.ca