Kev, author of edgalaxy blog, recently posted about using Charlie and The Chocolate Factory in the classroom. He discusses that his students always are eager to read the book. I think this is an important concept to note. While all concepts will not always be desirable for children, integrating topics children enjoy into content may make all the difference. There are a variety of reasons to focus on student interest in lessons…here are a couple: classroom management, engaged learners, and effort. By engaging the students with their interests students will be engaged and classroom management is likely to not be as great of a concern. Also, students will want to exert more effort if they enjoy the content. I’m sure most teachers do try to teach in this manner but a reminder never hurts. After all, our teaching should always be about the learner. Check out Kev’s post for more on how he executed his Charlie and The Chocolate Factory unit, he includes some great resources!
