Hi Scott, I’m actually a teacher too, self-contained middle school in Baltimore City. I also have a lot of young students convinced they would be professional athletes, but it’s engaging in those passions that I personally and anecdotally find them to be more engaged with the lessons, literacy, and classroom material. No, you can’t actually do anything but I think you did capture that all these kids are capable of a lot more than they thought they were. For many of my kids, from summer school to where I teach for the school year, it’s hard to see how material on state-curricula influences their day to day life at all, and I can’t fault them for that. I think that, more than anything is responsible for a lack of engagement — so if there’s some way I can incorporate their passions into the lessons, I think I would be a much more effective teacher and small group instructor.

What do you think?