Joeie, thanks for tuning in! I’m not sure which Alan, actually, there are many out there! Thanks also for linking me, and don’t ever feel like a stalker, especially when you’re commenting and creating conversation here, that’s fantastic!

thanks for sharing your thoughts. In terms of relevance however, you would think people are in an environment or classroom for a particular reason… so instantly all of us should be engaged since we’re there for some particular purpose, unless we were coerced of course. And that’s just it, so often many of us enter in wanting to know something, but something in our brain simply disengages because of the immediate environment we step into…

Discussions, absolutely. And you’re right on with allowing people to think through things first sometimes. it’s amazing how different conversations can be when people have a moment to privately write first. i guess the problem with that is you end up getting some filtering and editing, which can sometimes actually block creativity, but it definitely can be very helpful sometimes!

Now i’ve written a lot, but none of us should ever feel that way when we’re discussing such critical, and ‘relevant’ things!

My name’s Joeie and Alan (hopefully you know which Alan) redirected me to your page a few days ago for interest-sake… and interesting indeed! Just wanted to comment here, so you don’t think it’s creepy that I’m linking to your blog (if that’s okay with you) and also reading your blog now!

Anyways, about your post – drawing from personal experience:
- TA-ing in a high school classroom for the past year
- having been in an awesome Sunday school class the past few months
… I guess what stimulates me in a classroom is relevance and like obasomah mentioned, discussions and interaction is what gets people hooked.

Relevance – when the teacher pulls in a larger scope; whether it be global, whether it be national, whether it just be an interesting article that pokes a different angle at the topic.

Discussions / Interactions – in a classroom, you obviously get a whole mix of people with different understandings on the topic. I’ve personally always felt that a good discussion happens when each person has had time to think through what they understand about the topic and can share that with others.

A lot of times, I find that Person A is a geologist and I am simply a rock fan (haha, pardon the pun), and in a discussion, I feel awkward bringing up anything b/c Person A is that much more familiar with the topic matter and can think quicker on the spot.

So one thing I think would be useful (this hasn’t been tested yet haha, so experiment at your own risk) is at the beginning of each class, to get each person to make a mind map or write down thoughts of what they know about the topic.

Even if they don’t end up sharing it, it gets people focused in on the topic and is a good segway for the teacher to use to jump into the topic.

- joeie

I never had a problem falling asleep in class…in fact in all of my grade school and high school years…and even the college courses I took…I never once fell asleep in class. But I was great about disengaging! I was a day dreamer…still am. I can get caught up in Deanaland (my mom named it that) and totally forget everything around me.

The only thing that really kept me in the classroom instead of off in Deanaland was interaction. If the teacher wanted input, or it was class discussion, I was there. I still don’t care for lectures(this includes those from behind a pulpit!). If someone starts droning on I go off into daydreams.