5 Ways for Teachers to Win Student’s interest
in School Work
Keeping students engaged is the
first step to learning.
One thing we know for certain. A
teacher standing at the head of the room, talking in front of a whiteboard to a
class of students, is not going to keep students engaged in the classroom.
#1: Always use a multisensory teaching approach.
Children
respond differently to the three different teaching styles which are visual,
auditory or hands on through touch and feel. Keeping this in mind, a teacher
needs to design a multisensory lesson plan for keeping students engaged in the
classroom, with all learners benefiting from the three learning styles
regardless of individual preference. An ideal lesson will encompass all three
ways of presenting information with a short exposition as introduction, a
little question and answer time, the use of diagrams, photos and colors and
finally a hands on experience to reinforce the learning with practical
exercises.
#2: Consider educational resources designed for and by
teachers.
All
teachers know that they will be less likely to have classroom management
problems they achieve total student engagement and their students are focused
on the task. While it is not always necessary that a student enjoys an assignment,
there are many techniques and strategies a teacher may use to keep a student
enthusiastic and interested.
#3: Create technology classroom lesson plans.
And of course one of the most
exciting resources a teacher can access is computer technology. Children today
are used to getting their information instantly, with a click of the mouse.
Teachers must adapt to the world their students are living in and plan lessons
accordingly, with shorter sections and frequent topic changes, keeping children
connected and thus less likely to get bored and start misbehaving. More and
more schools are able to afford technology and teachers with access to it must
use it to full advantage. Student engagement improves markedly when it is time
for computer class.
The Internet provides a vast
virtual community to interact, collaborate and work with. Taking advantage of
this in schools, elementary school children start out by emailing
classmates, forming pen pals with
schools across the globe, or participating in safe classroom chat rooms. It is
important at the outset that teachers instruct children about online etiquette,
as well as safe Internet practices.
Kids benefit from learning
computer skills at many different levels. They can use word processing
techniques for projects such as typing stories, writing poetry, project reports
and book overviews. Since kids can easily make changes to word processing
documents, more time can be spent verifying correct information and using
creative techniques in their writing.
Software programs which drill
the student on Math facts and Language skills reinforce classroom curriculum
and improve student engagement as programs can be individualized for the student’s
pace of learning. Kids as young as first grade are learning a foreign language such as Spanish, utilizing podcasts developed by foreign
language teachers.
Using the internet, allows
students to learn the basics of finding information for classroom use and
research for reports. A student with a laptop is more likely to be totally
engaged with their immediate learning experience and the teacher’s challenge
then becomes to ensure that the assignments are difficult enough to engage the
high performers while providing help and support to students struggling to keep
up. It may be helpful to use group instruction to determine which students need
a concept repeated or reinforced, allowing other students to take the concept a
step further.
#4: Focus on cooperative learning classroom
activities.
The
most obvious way of keeping students engaged in the classroom is to provide a
stimulating environment that considers the needs of all the students. Lack of
engagement or “dead time” can be replaced by active learning and active
listening by creating an arsenal of routines and activities.
#5: Understand the role of classroom management.
Keeping kids engaged is not
easy; consistency is key and classroom discipline must be established on day one so that students are quiet and
attentive when the teacher has something to explain. Children quickly disengage
if the teacher over explains or talks too long, leaving less time for the
project in hand. The more the students work on their own, the more they learn
and the more student engagement there will be in the learning process in the
classroom.
