Casting the Hook

While anglers cast their hooks to catch fish, teachers cast "hooks" to catch the interest of their students. In AEE 412, we will be exploring the different ways to use interest approaches with our future students. A properly utilized interest approach can help to decide if a class will be a series of casting and coming up empty each time, or if there will be a successful catch of engaged students.

Just like certain species of fish are attracted to certain types of lures and bait, students respond differently to certain types of interest connections. Fish respond well to things that catch their eye and satisfy their needs, and the same can be said for students. As educators, we classify the different ways to effectively "hook" our students as interest approaches. Lancelot outlines the principles of interest approaches here: Interest Approaches-University of Florida. More information on interest approaches can also be found here: Interest Approaches University of Arizona and in this video from Dr. Rice.

Once a teacher understands the type of interest approaches and how to use them, they need to determine which will be most appropriate for the students in each class. While it might be easy for an angler/teacher to tailor their fishing/teaching in a way that may only attract one specific type of fish/student, in doing so they would lose the opportunity to connect with many other types of fish/students who may also have value. It takes many species of fish to create a healthy aquatic ecosystem, and it takes many types of students to create a successful learning community within an ag program.

Luckily, there are lots of fun and creative ways to "hook" students and get them interested in what they will be studying. Here is a great resource with lots of ideas: Interest Approaches from Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom. NAAE also has a thread dedicated to interest approaches: NAAE Ag Interest Approaches. Most of these tools utilize common classroom resources and materials, can be applied to a multitude of ag subject areas, and are applicable to different ages and types of students.

An important thing to remember with interest approaches is that in order for them to work properly, they must be used in different combinations and settings. Fish can become immune to bait and lures if they are used repeatedly and in the same predictable patterns, and the same can be said for ag students. Each class provides an opportunity to use the different interest approaches in your tackle box, and over time you will learn which work best and when to use them.

Throughout the semester, we will work together to become the best learning engagement anglers that we can be. While our first few casts might not "hook" all of our students, in time, we will fill our teacher tackle boxes with all the tools and materials that we need to have a successful catch of ag students!