Profile by rebecca bettinger

Teaching Center Stage

Mr. Smith’s Daily Production of “Edutainment”

by Rebecca Bettinger

ct One: The Teacher in the Top Hat Every student in the cl a ss ro o m is completely quiet. No energy.

No sound. No motivation. It’s a tough crowd.

Mr. Michael Smith, an English teacher at Los Altos High School, realizes he needs a new strategy. The student in the corner is a break dancer. Time to take advantage of that.

Mr. Smith clears all the chairs from the middle of classroom.

The stage is about fifteen to twenty feet wide. Perfect. Cue break dance battle. The audience gathers around centerstage, immersed in the eccentric exchange of dance moves.

Mr. Smith recalls, “... he did this move with a scarf and I said ‘How am I going to counter that?’”

He enters the spotlight dramatically by jumping on a chair and sliding halfway into the middle of the stage.

He then jumps off the chair with a twist. He grabs the scarf from his opponent and ties it in a bow around himself.

The crowd goes wild! Energy levels are at an all time high! A curtain call is immediately followed by a very productive work period.

What a student can get from Mr. Smith’s class is different than what one receives from a normal high school class. Former student Aditya Vohra explains, “He makes you feel really at ease. It’s a very casual setting and I think that’s a good change from sorta the classic school.” Students do not read from a boring Powerpoint or lazily stare at YouTube videos; rather, they experience an engaging performance. On any given day, Mr. Smith is wearing his top hat, “...out there shuckin’ and jivin’, dancing, singing, [execut-

ing] back flips …. whatever [he needs] their face, differed greatly from that of to do to get that kid motivated and to the local neighborhood drug dealer, who smile.” Welcome to Mr. was loaded with money, yet never seemed to Smith’s production of “edutainment,” “ It’s fun. It’s goofy. It’s find satisfaction. The drug dealer, though where education is unpredictable. ” appearing fierce and now entertaining.

-Mr. Smith invincible, eventuIn his own words, ally was arrested. It’s “It’s fun. It’s goofy.

It’s unpredictable” (Smith). people like Mr. Johnson, a neighborhood Act Two: Living in the Bronx store owner, who become role models. Mr. “I made the connection quickly Johnson encouraged kids to stay in school that I wanted to be as educated as and often let struggling low-income families possible, formally and informally,” recalls Mr. take food until they could pay him back.

Smith. Growing up in the South Bronx, “So I saw these wonderful examples,” rehe saw numerous examples illustrating the flects Mr. Smith, “and each example that value of education. The person with two I saw that I liked was because the or three jobs, no money, but a smile on person had valued education.” This sparked

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his quest for “edutainment.” People should enjoy learning and not take it for granted.

When students are smiling and excited to gain an education, “life is so good and it gets better every day” (Dawson).

Around the age of ten, Mr. Smith moved out of the South Bronx and to the Bay Area. Unable to afford a house, he lived with relatives and, at one time, even a homeless shelter. At a young age, he made the goal to someday own a house, a path led by a good education. He attended Los Altos High School and graduated in 1996. After high school he went to Morehouse College, Foothill College, and eventually transferred to UCLA. In 2001, he accepted a job opportunity that opened up at Los Altos High School, his alma mater.

His diverse educational path has granted him a satisfying lifestyle in which he owns a house and teaches other students the value of education.

Act Three: Strengthen the Craft In this day and age, particularly in the heart of Silicon Valley, teachers are often competing against technology for their students’ attention spans. Many young startup companies see technology as a way to replace teaching methods rather than improve them.Different methods of learning have emerged such as online classes and video tutorials. Danny Crichton, author at Tech Crunch, believes education is not possible without the critical social aspect.

He wrote, regarding startups aiming to replace the traditional classroom, “If we

can take a teacher and make them al- tion website, MindShift, “when teachers go most equally effective in just one half or through training and professional developeven one tenth the time, we may have ment, the performance aspect of the job done more for human is rarely emphasized or development than taught. Acknowlany startup has” “...there’s no wonder edging this aspect (Crichton). Technol- that I’m still excited could be a missed opportunity to ogy has the ability to this day.” restructure ways to advance in the - Mr. Smith teachers learn classroom and keep new skills and tactics” teachers in the loop. It enhances their ability to teach. But what (Schwartz). The art of “edutainment” is else can teachers do to increase their a craft requiring neverending ways to engage students while teaching appropriate effectiveness and engage students?

Perhaps another way to make teachers curriculum and controlling the classroom. “equally effective” is by training them to be How is “edutainment” possible without the better public speakers or actors. According ability to act and create an energetic to Katrina Schwartz, author of educa- persona? Training teachers to

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perform and edutain their students is the best possible way to combat against the distractions of technology and keep the classroom alive.

Act Four: Finding the Key; Passion However, the idea of “edutainment” goes even further into the unteachable. The Huffington Post asked students around the country to send their thoughts on boredom in schools and one student wrote, “Personally, I feel that if a teacher seems to have no interest in a subject, neither will I” (Wiggins). A teacher can be a good performer or educator, but when they genuinely love what they teach, they can become great. “Remember why you majored in what you majored in,” Mr. Smith advises. “...I strategically chose Literature and English because you can explore anything…. I was excited about doing it and there’s no wonder that I’m still excited to this day.” Passion, although not a requirement on a resume, is the key to successful teaching.

Mr. Smith is an excellent example of

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passion. Every day in class he puts this?’ and then all of a sudden he on the top hat, expressing his pas- turns [it into] this incredible song sion for learning through “edutain- about First Amendment rights and I ment.” The energy levels invested say, ‘You know what? I’m not going into each class period soar through to sing but he summed it up exactly the roof. Some days he chooses to how I would’ve.’” perform the instructions in an in- Act Five: Practice What You Preach ventive manner such as a rap or a Several years ago, two brothers, Shakespearean accent. Other days, a freshman in his Survey Literature class and he is sharing a a junior in deep story in a class discus- “...’You know what? I’m his American sion. Instead not going to sing but L i t e ra t u re of just making he summed it up ex- class, both his students actly how I would’ve.’” deliberately -Mr. Stewart slacked off. read John A pattern of S te i n b eck ’ s not finishing the East of Eden, he guarantees that they understand homework and not finishing the it. He wants students to analyze J.D. reading had developed. Concerned Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye with this behavior, Mr. Smith warned and ask why Holden Caulfield thinks both brothers that he would come the way he does. History teacher to their house, sit at their dinner Gabriel Stewart, who co-taught Los table, and make them finish their Altos High School’s Global class with essays. Though at the time, Mr. Mr. Smith, remarked, “I always Smith had put on that top hat like the look on the students faces and did not intend to actually follow when he’d start singing in class and through, he then heard a fellow they’re like ‘Where’s he going with student say, “Aye man, he’ll do it…,”

to which the brother replied, “No boys while they wrote their essays. he won’t.” Mr. Smith described this The next day, both essays found a moment as the “hook in the fish’s place in Mr. Smith’s hand. Mr. Smith mouth.” When the would never alother brother low these did not bring “My kids are like, ‘Is boys to his work into it gonna be like this actively fail. class, this was all the time?’ and I’m This idea a clear indica- like, ‘Pretty often.’ of “edutaintion that the And they’re like, ment” and brothers did a passion ‘Yes!’” not take the for educa-Mr. Smith class seriously. tion is one “So I go to their that students house,” Mr Smith explained. “Straight need teachers to take seriously up. Knock on the door, and no one’s and take to the next level. Teachhome. So I wait. I wait for about ers who invoke a personal connecthirty minutes and these two little tion with students make them the boys, if you saw the looks on their most enthusiastic and effective. “I faces, were besides themselves.” don’t know if I connect emotionTheir mother greeted Mr. Smith, ally on the same level he does,” Mr. inviting him to sit and supervise the Stewart acknowledges, “and I really

find watching him doing that is like, ‘Wow! We need teachers like that.’”

Cue Curtain Call As the curtains begin to fall at the end of the school year, they never really do fall for Mr. Smith. Each day is a new scene with a new character from a novel to introduce or a new level of energy to engage audiences with. Leading man Mr. Smith plans to continue the life of the top hat and tails and pursue his career in the “edutainment” business for as long as he can at Los Altos High School. “My kids are like, ‘Is it gonna be like this all the time?’” Mr. Smith reflects, “and I’m like, ‘Pretty often.’ And they’re like, ‘Yes!’”

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Works Cited:

Crichton, Danny. “The Challenges of Teaching When Silicon Valley Doesn’t Care.” TechCrunch. N.p., 11 July 2015. Web. 2015.

Dawson, George, and Richard Glaubman. Life Is so Good. New York: Random House, 2000. Print.

Schwartz, Katrina. “Why Teachers Should Be Trained Like Ac tors.” MindShift. KQED News, 1 July 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2015.

Smith, Michael. Personal interview. 3 Sept. 2015.

Smith, Michael. Personal interview. 28 Sept. 2015.

Stewart, Gabriel. Personal interview. 10 Sept. 2015.

Vohra, Aditya. Personal interview. 17 Sept. 2015.

Wiggins, Grant. “Attention, Teachers! Why Students Are Bored.”

The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 18 Nov. 2013.

Web. 11 Oct. 2015.

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