Dressing Up Those Boring Topics

By Cindy Reitzi

It’s a daily fact of life in the classroom: Topics that are as dry as dust for some students may light a fire of interest under others. But in every discipline there are universal topics of dread. In science perhaps it’s “the fascinating lifecycle of the angiosperm” (replete with giggles from teenagers). In social studies it could be “the economic intricacies of supply and demand curves.” In English, it’s definitely “structure in writing and the essentials of good organization in an essay.” The common denominator is a sense of resigned foreboding.

There are certain lessons and concepts that teachers dread teaching and students dread learning because it’s just hard to make certain ideas interesting. Or maybe it’s because the particular subject matter simply bores us to tears.

Mention a “structure in writing” type of topic, and teachers envision the “timber effect.” Heads nod, necks become limber and wobble, eyelids flutter, and pretty soon you hear the sound of falling trees in the forest: student heads and minds crash to the desktop in boredom. (It’s then difficult to resuscitate them).

It’s not that I think writing structure isn’t important for students to know. It is. Without understanding this idea, students meander aimlessly about an essay for a point of orientation the way one wanders the woods without a compass. Still, while I think writing in itself is exciting, structure is not. For me, at least. Then again, there are those who scratch their heads and wonder how I could find writing fascinating. Go figure. The bottom line is, how do you make the “dreaded topic” interesting to students?

Now, there are teachers who can add “entertainment value” to almost any lesson. I heard about one such math teacher from my high school years. He had a real flair for creative explanations of algebraic concepts, often ending in dramatic flourishes like: “Itchy, switchy, throw the magic monkey dust and all the c’s go to algebra heaven.” It’s hard to forget a line like that. His students probably remembered a little algebra as well.

Likewise, a now-retired professor of geology at UW-Madison used to play pitches and tones on his violin to illustrate the textures of different Wisconsin soils.

Of course it’s hard to be fascinating on a constant basis, especially when you teach five classes a day, five days a week. Still, just having a creative attitude can help clear those pedagogical speed bumps. Once in awhile I even come up with simple, creative ideas that work.

At one time, I was teaching language arts in a summer science program. I needed to teach students about the structure of a scientific research paper in a short amount of time so that they could then go and write one. Again, this predicted high insomniac relief potential. In this case, I looked to theater arts for inspiration.

First, I gave students samples of research articles from different scientific disciplines for the chief purpose of finding … purpose. Each group got a different section: Introduction, Methods, Discussion, Data, or Abstract. They had to skim their respective sections in the different articles. Then they had to figure out the purpose or function of that section of the paper from the variety of samples they had. Students studied structure.

Next, one of the students in each group role-played or personified their section of the research paper, for example, the Abstract. In turn, another student interviewed the Abstract, the Methods section, and so on in a presentation to the class. Like a talk show.

It went something like this:

“So, I understand that you are the Abstract of the paper.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Now, what exactly is your job in the research paper?”

“Well, what I do is give a short summary of the research question, the methods used, and the results of the research.”

“Why is the Abstract important to this kind of paper?”

“Well, if someone is looking for certain information or trying to decide whether this is something they want to read, the abstract can tell them that. It’s also the part that you read when you’re looking it up on the computer. It makes it easy to decide if it’s an article you can use or not.”

This tactic worked for a couple of reasons. The students worked in groups, so no one had to tackle a tough concept alone – they had help. Second, it was fun and gave the hams in the class a chance to grandstand in the interviews. Third, it was just goofy enough and kinesthetic enough to be memorable. So once it came time for students to actually write their papers, they had no trouble understanding what information went in what section and why.

But the best part was that because I wasn’t “bored” and had fun with this lesson, so did my students. I learned something; they learned something.

Posted February 8, 2002