Technique 27: Vegas

(Part of Chapter 4: Engaging Students in Your Lessons)

"The Vegas is the sparkle, the moment during class when you might observe some production values: music, lights, rhythm, dancing." (p 141).  So, Vegas adds some fun to the classroom -- a little whiz-bang.  But, the author points out that it isn't whiz-bang just for whiz-bang's sake.  Every Vegas activity has a purpose -- it promotes one of the day's learning objectives.

Vegas can include a little drama, a little song, etc.  Students can learn that when a certain word is said, they should cheer, or stomp, or some such thing.

Vegas helps students pay attention, participate, and build classroom culture.  However, it can get out-of-hand, so the author is quick to point out that the teacher must be able to turn it on (allow it) and turn it off, so that when it is done, it is done.

My response:

I do like to have fun in the classroom whenever possible.  But, a lot of the suggestions in the book are better for the elementary school classroom than the college classroom.

However, one of the ideas I have been mulling over is having a little Game Show called "What could go wrong?!", along with a PowerPoint slide that flashes that question, has gaudy flashing background colors, has lightbulbs blinking around the edges, etc.  I would use this slide to introduce a short segment where we look at a new structure in a programming language (an if statement, for loop, try/catch, etc.) and come up with ways in which we could make mistakes.  I think it could be fun.