Get off the stage!!
Students like to be hands on learners. I notice this in teaching all of the
time. I even notice it with my nine year
old daughter. Whenever I am teaching her
something, or telling her a story, she immediately wants to give her own
insight or act it out. What I realized
is that, teachers need to make as much time in their lesson for students to
demonstrate as possible. Although you
are the teacher, that does not mean that you should do all of the talking and
acting out. Give your students a chance
to talk and demonstrate too.
Teacher Helpers
Give those uninterested students a job. They can be in charge of passing out papers
or collecting homework. With technology
being used more often in class, you can make a student a computer helper. They can be in charge of changing slides
during a powerpoint presentation.
During group work, you can allow a struggling student to be
a “facilitator”. You can give this
student the answer to a difficult question that also includes the steps to get
to the answer. Then, they can help the
other students arrive to the answer (without actually giving them the answer of
course). This can help a student become
engaged, and also give them more confidence during the lesson.
Turn and Talk
This is a great method for students who are nervous about
answering questions out loud. It is also
a good way to bring in students who tune out during lectures.
Instead of asking the entire class to raise their hands to
tell how to complete a difficult math problem, or explain the cause and effect
of a historical incident, have students answer the question with a small group
of 2 – 4 people. The students may not
want to share with the class because they are afraid to be wrong. But in a small group, they may be more
willing to share, or admit what they don’t know. While students turn and talk, the teacher
walks around to make sure that students are on task, but also gathers insight
on how well students understand.
Think, Pair, Share
A follow up to the Turn and Talk method, is “Think, Pair,
Share”. After asking a question and having
students discuss in partners or small groups, have the students share the
answer with the class. With students
being in pairs or groups, now you can have a designated speaker. Also, now that the students have had an
opportunity to go over the answer with a partner, they may have more confidence
to share with the class.
Brain Breaks
Brain breaks are a great way to turn students’ attention
away from work, while still keeping them engaged in learning. Most brain break activities involve
movement. A teacher can go to YouTube
and find a fun video with dance moves and instructions that students can follow
along with (Brain Break
Video). Sometimes, doing physical
education exercises can also become a fun activity to take students minds off
of work. Fitness
Bingo can be used to give students different exercise options that they can
perform.
Some brain break activities don’t require dance or exercise,
but still give students a chance to be off task. I have recognized that older students don’t
like to exercise and dance in front of their classmates as much as younger
students. Using a quiz game is a great
way to get students thinking and moving, while not exerting too much energy (or
embarrassing them in front of their cool friends). Ask the whole class a multiple choice
question, then, have students move to a certain area of the class based on
their answer. You can label areas of the
class with letters or colors and have students move to a specific location (Fun Quiz Games).
Brain breaks work best when the activity is age appropriate
and the setting of the activity is taken into consideration. Plan out the amount of space that you will
need so that the students have enough room to move!
Student Presentations
I notice that students who are often disengaged from daily
assignments, such as note taking, lectures, and worksheets, usually give more
effort when it comes to projects and presentations.
Student presentations are a great way to keep students
motivated and engaged. This works even
better when students are given a choice of what they will present. Of course, there will be rules and
guidelines. As a social studies teacher,
I tend to use countries or biographies as topics.
When students know that they will have to speak in front of
class, or display their work, they tend to take better care of the final
product. Sometimes, they are more
invested. Also, although they may work
alone on the assignment, they will enlist the help of others, or even the
teacher, to come up with the best way to complete the assignment.
Conclusion
The most important way to keep students engaged is to have a
variety of tools at your disposal.
Depending on the grade that you teach, many students have seen the
tricks that teachers have and have lost interest or are turned off by
them. None of these ideas can be used
all of the time. They should be used at
different times based on students’ age, ability and overall interest. The school day will not always be fun, but it
should never be boring. As long as you
are able to be innovative and look for ideas that encourage students to be
hands on in their learning, you will be able to keep students engaged. Good luck!
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