The video below was shared with me by my Superintendent recently. It is about Dan Meyer and how he is working to create real-world math for students so that they are engaged and "have to know the answer." It is clear he has spent many hours creating his videos and questions.
Another example of making content relevant to students is on a blog that I have been following recently is the Games Based Learning Blog. The teacher (Julie Johnson), is working with elementary students to tie the curriculum with a high-interest topic to her students, Mario Kart for the Wii. It is apparent that she has spent a lot of time designing resources and activities for her students for a variety of subjects. When students are asking for more, it makes it pretty hard to say no when they are learning the content using an interesting topic as the vehicle for delivery.