Michael Cejas,
What you do to keep your students interested depends on the industry you are teaching. In my personal experience as a Chef Instructor i like to mix things up. One day i will do lecture and then hands on demonstrations where i have the students do the work as i guide them and other days i will just lecture through the demo instead of separating the two. One strategy to employ that has worked well in my field is allowing students to venture off and try something new, allowing their personal passion as well as diverse cultural backgrounds to play a role in their dishes. A perfect example would be allowing foreign exchange students to explain how things are done in their country or home, and different religious dietary restrictions and how that can influence what you cook.
