HOW TO ENGAGE STUDENTS IN A 40-MINS CLASS?

40-mins, are they too less to teach as well as engage? Or is it too long a time span to hold students’ attention? For a teacher – the dilemma has always been there!

Children are so fickle minded that they switch channels in no time. TV is meant for entertainment; still children get bored! On the other hand a classroom is a place where they are always under a pressure to learn and perform! Both are strikingly different situations but a child’s reaction is the same. If she gets bored, she will lose the will and concentration to continue and would love to change or simply ‘switch off’!

Consequently, is a teacher supposed to entertain? Yes of course, but not in the true sense of the word. In a classroom scenario, a teacher has to replace it with intellectual engagement, stimulate enough interest that the child is actively involved in the learning process. The traditional mode of teaching is a one way process that is a teacher delivers all the knowledge but whether it has been assimilated and put to use is a bigger concern. Disinterest and focus are lost in passive learning!

Following are a few tips and methods to be incorporated in daily classroom activities to engage students in active learning and meet the pedagogical goals on the way. Most importantly keep them focused for 40-mins:
Teach to fulfil all learning styles – Each one of has a different learning style. It is impractical to expect a kinaesthetic learner to learn by simply reading a text book. The lesson plans and activities should motivate and engage learners of all styles.  

• Change scenario and resources

Freshen up the young minds by changing the environment. Take them out to field trips, library, and garden or in any other classroom. You will see a renewed energy in them and in yourself too. Books are an integral part but you can always bring other resources to the classroom to stimulate interest. These could be online resources and audio visual aids.

• Make children responsible for their own learning

Children learn best when they are actively involved in the learning process. Focus on activities that prompt them to reason and evaluate evidences and gives them an opportunity to formulate and solve problems on their own. Don’t get tempted to solve a problem because they are taking too long to reach a simple obvious solution. Let them wrestle with the problem, once they understand it; their minds will find ways to solve it and subsequently develop reasoning, evaluating and problem solving skills.

• Competition and Reward - the two magical wands

Put simple human psychological means to reach your goals. Competition and reward happen to be truly magical. Develop a fun filled competitive spirit and reward appropriately. But use them sparingly to get the results. If used too often, the novelty and enthusiasm will go away in no time.

• Encourage, Praise and communicate 

Each child is unique. Watch them and find out positives of each one of them. Plan activities and tasks where the low performers can also perform well. Praise them liberally to build self-confidence. This is the starting point! Introduce them to new challenges, encourage them to take up these challenges independently and help them to excel.

• Communicate expectations and deadlines

Children tend to do anything to gain acceptance from adults. Communicate to them what is required of them and they will strive to get it. Communicate your grading criteria and other elements of assessment. Be transparent with them. Schedules and deadlines are important to keep them focused and are a great way to motivate!

Unified Learning offers a wide range of online learning resources to stimulate interest. To know more, write in to info@unilrn.com

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Set the Ball Rolling for the New Session

It’s that time of the year when students are happy and anxious at the same time. And both are attributed to the same fact – a new school year! With so many years of teaching experience up your sleeve, are you too feeling the same? 

If not anxiety, at least your mind is working on how to break the ice. If you set the right ball rolling now, it will roll to the end of the year without any fuss and flutter. We have listed a few activities and ice-breakers for you to say welcome to your students in the new session:

Introduce yourself 

Not all students are new to the school and neither you! They know you somehow or the other, even if you haven’t taught them earlier. But, it’s always a great idea to introduce yourself.  What they know of you is someone else’s impression about you. Let them know you, from you. Talk a little bit about yourself. Add a few lines about your school days. Children will love to hear how you were as a student!

Ask students to introduce themselves

Students have been together at least for a couple of years and know each other pretty well. However, that’s not true! Children who are very outgoing are usually favourites and everybody knows about them but what about those who are shy and have never been at the centre of things. It’s time for them to open up too. Ask them to write a 10 line autobiography on one half of the paper and draw a self portrait on the other. Ask them to read it aloud one by one and later stick all those portraits on a board in the classroom.  You have just introduced a feeling of belongingness in them!

School is a home away from home

Home is all about comfort and being your real self. School should be the same if this clichéd statement has to be put to test.  Children learn the best when they are comfortable rather than in an impersonal environment. So plan some icebreaker activities like give a sheet to them to put at least 10 things that each student in class has in common like favourite star, favourite cricketer, favourite holiday destination etc. This will encourage teamwork.

Strike a chord

Students learn better when they feel connected to their teacher. Come out of the conventional student teacher equation and reach out to them. Think of a few things that interest them the most. The topmost common point of interest for today’s generation is social media and internet,  Plan some project that requires online research and references and they will find you on the same ground as they are!

Set the expectation and goals right  

Some of you might think that these icebreaking activities will compromise with your stature as a teacher and students might not take you seriously.  Here is the trick for your first class. Don’t recapitulate from the previous year; teach something that is brand new. Give a home assignment on it (the online research one mentioned above). You will be able to make an intellectual engagement with them.

Also share with them the year’s learning goals and outcomes that are expected of them. Make the grading and homework policies transparent to them.  

Plan day by day at least for the first month

Planning for each day of the first month takes out most of the stress. Most importantly you will get ample time to take up each of the above activities and create a positive environment for the whole year to fall in place!

Best of luck for the new session and happy teaching!

Unified Learning’s rich multi-media content are great brain teasers engaging a child intellectually. To get a free demo of these, write in to us at info@unilrn.com.  

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Parents Can Help Ease Academic Stress Of Children

Today's teens who want to go to college must get top grades, compete in extracurricular activities and often hold down jobs. Classes usually are too big for individual help. Schools are sometimes dangerous. Many students have broken families. Drugs and alcohol are common and tempting.
 

Face it. Students today are lucky to survive, let alone thrive. Parents can help teens by setting reasonable priorities and expectations.

The most important rule is to reward for effort, not achievement. If teens try, whether it's to get a better grade, make the team or lose weight, their effort should be acknowledged. Parents who harp about failure, or who expect near perfection, can do a lot of damage. Teens who feel loved, valued and acknowledged, no matter what, try harder.

Allow teens to pursue their passions. If they prefer arts to commerce, parents must let them go for it. They'll get more satisfaction and have more success. Driving them too hard in a certain direction can backfire.

At the same time, parents have to drive the message to their children that their future relies on a solid education. Parents can help set rules about how much time to devote to homework. For example, children may be allowed to watch TV once homework is done.It’s best to let go at sometimes so if the children choose not to do it, let them deal with the consequences - poorer grades and no TV . But one must be alert to realise when guidance is required. If they're trying to do well at everything and failing, help them organize and prioritize.

Meanwhile, join school PTA and booster clubs. Meet your teens' teachers. If there's a problem, don't blame the schools and don't let them blame you.

If grades are chronically low or steadily falling, or if a typically enthusiastic student skips school and neglects homework, check it out. It could be anything - depression, stress, heartbreak, drugs, poor physical self-image, social immaturity, a death or divorce in the family, friction at home or school or even a learning disability. Any of these problems requires support from parents and, in some cases, professionals.

Some tips that prove effective most of the times, are:

Be a friend- Talking to the kids about their issues helps them ease out. If they know that come what may, if there isn’t any pressure from their parents, children tend to be more relaxed. Try to be as open as possible to understand what their problems are.

Encourage hobbies- Try and make children be involved in something other than books. Also, be involved in their hobbies. This shows that you trust them and believe in them.

Instil the ‘move on’ attitude- Parents must teach their kids how to learn from past failures and mistakes. They must teach them to be strong and not worry about scores but to be determined in their efforts.

At the end of it, parents can play a very positive role in their kid’s development and give them a relatively stress free life.

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