Comments on: Better to be entertaining and uninformed than informed and boring

By: Dean Shareski

Dean Shareski — Fri, 09 May 2008 16:15:09 +0000

Craig,

No doubt that’s the ideal, my point is that as educators we often see the entertainment piece as fluff, nice but not necessary. It’s back to engagement being more important than content. Not sure if it’s more important but you can’t be informative or share content without entertaining.

By: Craig Harper

Craig Harper — Fri, 09 May 2008 12:39:35 +0000

I think it's all about balance. You need to engage your audience whether its blogging, speaking to a group or writing a book, and you need to present something relevent in terms of content. Craig Harpers last blog post..Comfort Junkies

By: Are you boring? | media centered

Are you boring? | media centered — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 15:37:44 +0000

[...] a recent post on his blog Ideas and Thoughts David Shareski ponders a question – can teachers be entertaining and informative? He created this [...]

By: gary

gary — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 07:02:32 +0000

Totally of topic, although I think a good sense of humor is essential in the classroom and I did get a chuckle from the youtube video, I have been trying to create a video wall for work my kids have done and finally had the sense to follow your video link to Vodpod. Thanks, some cool widgets there.

By: "Big Rocks" and Classroom Apathy (Stream of Consciousness) | VanishingPoint

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:44:53 +0000

[...] Dean Shareski [...]

By: Ian H.

Ian H. — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:23:03 +0000

Funny you should mention that – there was a standup comic/substitute teacher at the Saskatchewan teachers’ convention in February – he said the only thing different about his two jobs was what he was allowed to do to hecklers….

By: Kimberly Brown

Kimberly Brown — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 02:13:55 +0000

I often think that teaching is like stand-up comedy. We need to engage the crowd, be relevant, get the laughs and deal with hecklers. I think as we work on our routines and timing we will continue to introduce concepts and ideas that catch the attention of our audience.

By: MariaD

MariaD — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:07:23 +0000

“Entertainment” (fun) is only one form of meaning. For some people, it’s their main form of meaning, but such people aren’t very… entertaining, usually. I think your model can be extended to other forms of meaning without any major changes, though. Or can it? We don’t talk about meaningful BEINGS as much as about meaningful actions. And “boring” isn’t quite the opposite of “meaningful.”

Hmm I don’t think I am being very meaningful right now. Time to get more informed on the subject, I guess.

By: dean

dean — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:28:33 +0000

Salie,

I actually used the word “entertaining” intentionally. I agree engagement might be a more agreeable term but I also think there is value in considering the specific meaning and value of entertainment. I think there is value in entertainment. Perhaps fleshing out the two ideas might be helpful.

By: Sallie

Sallie — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:15:49 +0000

I really like this post but think that “engaging” might fit better then entertaining in your quad. Drivel can be engaging b/c we watch/discuss/laugh at (interact with) but don’t actually learn from. Informed and Engaging means we want to interact with the content and find it valuable. Just some thoughts… Thanks for giving me things to think about!