I reported earlier in my blog posts that when I was actively teaching and subbing, I kept up with pop culture. No, I didn't adopt slang or try to be cool, but as an anecdotal teacher and a teacher who believes that getting students to apply learning to "real life" situations helped solidify important concepts, I felt being knowledgeable about any "hook" that I could use to engage students' attention was worth channel surfing.
Over the weekend, I found myself engaged by "Bar Rescue" on Spike TV. Jon Taffer, is not someone I'd like to meet necessarily because he is an in your face kind of guy, but here's why the show is is intriguing.
The opening credits inform the viewer that running a bar and making it successful is based on science and the graphics link up with that idea - even if you could get away with showing just that much, it would be a great way to spark a discussion. Hopefully, students would draw the conclusion that STEM is reality and having all of the pocket skills involved with STEM could earn a them a solid future.
In "Bar Rescue" data is gathered about how the bar is doing and it is gathered in many different ways. Video surveillance is used, but so is square footage, numbers of customers, table turnovers, profits, the ability of the staff to communicate with one another, the leadership of the manager are all factors in the success or failure of the business. The sharing of the completed analysis of the failing bar is confrontational by design because it makes for drama and drama makes good reality television.
However, the model of the show and the make-over of a business with all the moving parts being put together as data is a really dramatic way to get students to understand the role data plays in decision making - not just for this reality show, but it is the way of the world.
Taffer has another reality show "Hungry Investors" on Spike TV which also has a similar format where restaurants are analyzed as possible investments. I am always on the lookout for ways to engage students to pick up multiple skill sets even though they aren't "in love" with the idea of a career in a field relating to that domain.
Tweens and Teens often have lofty dreams of sports careers, careers as artists in various fields, but the reality is that even students with amazing talent don't often make it and need to foster multiple career plans and realize that every opportunity is one worth taking and every skill is one worth learning. No, teachers can't show "Bar Rescue", but perhaps if teachers watch it - they will see how every scrap of data has relevance in the decision making process. Taffer is not always right, but he is quick to pick up on the important data that can make a difference and our students would be well-served to become data sensitive in their own world view.
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