I appreciate what you’re saying here. I think it goes back to some of the discussions that have been occurring in the edublogosphere about the difference between ‘entertainment’ and ‘engagement.’ You and I are talking about engaged learning. Recalcitrant teachers think we want them to just be shallowly entertaining, without substance. Someone has to help them see the difference (can you say ‘administrators?’).

Of course, as Alfie Kohn notes so well in his writing, there are many, many folks out there that think there should be elements of pain and difficulty in education in order for it to be worthwhile…