WE HAVE ALL THESE SAYINGS IN EDUCATION, AND ONE OF THEM IS "DRILL AND KILL." That is when you go over it and over it [until] you kill students' enthusiasm and motivation," says JMU education professor John Fahey. "What I do is more 'drill and thrill.' In other words, we're going to drill them until they know it, and we're going to thrill them in the process so that they want to learn more. That's what I do, and what I hope our teachers are going to do." A former middle-school teacher, principal and school division director of instruction, Fahey now teaches primarily graduate-level students who hope to be administrators. He completely understands the challenges teachers face in today's content-driven and SOL/No Child Left Behind-laced system.

Fahey's message is crystalline: Content and fun must coexist, and you can't expect the former to stick without occasional doses of the latter.

This is a guy who flicks a fluffy pink wand at a middle-school student and says, "You are going to learn this today" or to another more rowdy classmate, "You are invisible." During his twice-weekly forays to Kate Collins Middle School in Waynesboro -- with at least one of his two dozen JMU education practicum students looking on -- Fahey emphasizes a particular bit of content with help from a plastic lobster or a dinner fork attached to the end of a telescopic antenna. His middle-school students sometimes act out the diagramming of a sentence -- complete with one child stomping his foot to emphasize the period.

In a recent graduate-level educational leadership class, Fahey blew annoying "touchable" bubbles at his charges during a difficult group assignment to simulate how hard it is for attention-deficient hyperactivity disorder students to deal with outside stimuli.

Whatever you call it, Fahey loves to keep 'em guessing. And research shows he's on to something.

Little by little, Fahey's magical blend of content and just the right touch of folly is helping to redefine the way educators tackle the formidable challenge of reaching today's youngsters.

"I teach with novelty as sort of a platform," says Fahey, who also spent time as a Russian translator, intelligence research specialist and division chief of information with the U.S. Army Intelligence Agency during the Cold War. "Looking at research on the brain, all human beings really enjoy novelty; and novelty drives curiosity."

Fahey's combination of outlandish props and pursuant puns has a solid foundation in research. "Research supports humor in learning," he says. "We remember things that are funny. We remember things that stand out. Even when I say stupid things, and I do, some of them intentionally, they remember because of that."

Today's "screenager generation" requires a revamping of traditional pedagogy, he says. "Today's children grew up with television screens, computer screens, Game Boys, Xbox; and we need to keep all that in mind as we refine the way we teach."

Fahey is not asking teachers to fly around their rooms in Superman suits or to smash vegetables a la Gallagher, but teachers must be willing to take some risks to reach today's youngsters. "With the way society has changed, if you don't keep them interested, if you don't have a little novelty, if you don't thrill them at least a little bit, you're going to lose them. And I do not want to lose one of them," he says.

For Fahey, it's all about creating sparks. "I want kids that I teach, no matter what age group, to come back to my room because they never know exactly what it's going to be like," he says. "I want them to know it's going to be exciting each and every day. I feel like if I can get them to really come back every day, then they are going to learn."

Fahey has great faith in his fellow educators, young and old.

"I just have to give teachers the idea that this is how you do it, and this is how you can do it," Fahey says. "They'll turn around and do a lot better job than I am. I'm just planting the seeds. The seeds will grow, and teachers will come up with their own ideas. In the long run, we all benefit."

Story by Bill Gentry

Photos by Diane Elliott ('00)