Anticipation:worth the wait

After a brief discussion this morning on twitter with @ShawnMcCusker, I realized what I wanted to blog about today. The power of anticipation. He had tweeted a blog post of mine about an assignment I use in Economics, with fake money. We were tweeting about how one of the best parts of the assignment is that students know about it before they are in my class and look forward to it. The power of anticipation.
As I was thinking of this topic, while preparing some meals for this week, I began thinking how anticipation is in all parts of our lives, both positively and negatively. I am anticipating a busy first week back, so I am preparing some lasagna, and other meals that can be cooked quickly after my husband's basketball practice and games. I know that if I don't I will be anxious and even a little stressed. So I thought about that in regards to students. If they are not prepared and are anticipating this, it can make them anxious about coming to the class. If they anticipate being bored in a class, they may skip it to fill their time with something more interesting. I want to make sure my classes are filled with the positive form of anticipation, where the students are exited to come to class. The kind of anticipation that makes them want to explore the material more and share their findings.
This reminds me of what I read in Teach like a Pirate by Dave Burgess (@burgessdave). He writes of starting off the year with anticipation. He wants the students to be anticipating what's to come all year, so he ends lessons with teasers for the next class. The build up can hook the students so they are excited for more.
This is the same idea that tv shows use. At the end of the show they tease us with next week's show, because waiting 7 days without knowing what is coming is not good marketing. If I anticipate what the show is going to be about, I'll make sure to tune in next time. And isn't that what we want from our students, to be excited to tune in next class? So I will make sure to tease the next lesson. I can give them the juicy gossip of history in a small dose, so they want to come back for the full story the next class.