Been looking for a way-out as regards how to make teaching interesting and effective as a teacher or an educator that you are? This is the content for you; there is no need to worry over where there shouldn’t be worry in the first place.
Teaching oftentimes can be a very dull and seriously tiring occupation which might require one to be careful enough to want to look out for ways to make the occupation, regardless of the professionalism, somewhat interesting and at the same time effective.
Though different teachers understand different teaching principles, yet the major goal of ever teaching is to attain effective teaching through interesting engagements. What then is effective teaching? It is the applied knowledge, strategies, processes and behaviors which lead to amazing student outcomes.
Teachers who are effective are known to have a positive impact on their students and use their expertise to improve learning. These good outcomes are often those that can be measured easily, usually through summative assessment.
Some of the Features of a Highly Effective Teacher
- They create learning environments where students are active participants as individuals and as members of collaborative groups
- They motivate students and nurtures their desire to learn in a safe, healthy and supportive environment which develops compassion and mutual respect
- They cultivate cross cultural understandings and the value of diversity
- They encourage students to accept responsibility for their own learning and accommodates the diverse learning needs of all students
- They display effective and efficient classroom management that includes classroom routines that promote comfort, order and appropriate student behaviors
- They provide students equitable access to technology, space, tools and time
- They effectively allocate time for students to engage in hands-on experiences, discuss and process content and make meaningful connections
- They design lessons that allow students to participate in empowering activities in which they understand that learning is a process and mistakes are a natural part of learning
- They create an environment where student work is valued, appreciated and used as a learning tool
Read Also: Why Acquiring Teaching Skills is Important
Yes! Teaching can be defined as the practice implemented by a teacher aimed at transmitting skills to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the context of an educational institution.
Some of the techniques of lighting up your occupation are not to be stressed over. Why? This article as garnered each of the steps together one after another with rich explanations to back them up:
Be Tech-Savvy as a Teacher
Don’t forget all that you’ve learned during the pandemic! Continue to make use of the terrific technological tools that help make your teaching more engaging. For instance, your institution may have an electronic content management system like Moodle or Blackboard where you can share materials and set up discussions for your class.
Or you could experiment using an app like Socrative to create instant polls for use during class. Either way, always try and stay abreast of ways technology could be brought into the classroom to liven things up. Your students will respond with their engagement.
Avoid One-Way Method
As countless studies have proven, it’s difficult for any of us to concentrate for longer than an hour (many actually suggest the limit is closer to 45 minutes), so try breaking your classes into bite-size chunks.
For example, if you have an hour to teach, why not give an introduction to the topic for 15 minutes, then give students 10 minutes to re-read the class material, follow this with a 20 minute discussion in small groups, and finally finish off with a 15 minute class discussion at the end. Changing format frequently will help to keep students engaged.
Organize Group Convo
It’s important for your students to take an active role in their learning and having them passively listen while you talk is not the best way to achieve this. Consider breaking up your lectures by having a segment in which the class splits into small groups of 3-6 and discusses the topic amongst themselves.
After 10/5 minutes of discussion each group should then be required to report back the most interesting points their conversation threw up, hopefully then facilitating further class discussion.
Identify the Limits and Scopes of Understanding
One of the ways on how to make teaching interesting is this one right here. Your class will quickly get bored if your lecture material is either too basic or too advanced for them to follow.
Mitigate this by ascertaining the class’ general level of ability, and adjusting the complexity of your teaching accordingly. For instance, this could be done by getting your students to do an introductory test before your first class. Tip: make it enjoyable.
Devise New Ways
It’s much more fun for both parties when students and teachers learn new things together. Your job is, of course, to educate, but why can’t that process include the joy of shared discovery? Make a point each day of letting down your authoritative guard, humbling yourself, and enjoying the lifelong journey together–even if it’s just for a few minutes.
Evaluate Opinions and Engage
One of the best ways to engage your students is to directly solicit their opinions on the learning material at hand. When students are compelled to consider their own views and package them either into a written or verbal response (possibly in front of others), they inevitably handle the materials far more critically.
It’s an excellent way of focusing students’ minds and instilling in them a healthy skepticism that’s essential to all good study.
Make Students Prepare Presentation
It’s said that one of the best ways to understand something is to teach it, and you can use this to help your students learn. Ask each student to prepare a short presentation on each topic you plan to teach, and use this as an introduction to your classes throughout the semester.
Like number 1 on this list, the success of this ploy will rely on a suitably friendly and accepting atmosphere – so remember to make this a priority.
Review Work Done
It’s important for learning and memory to review new material regularly and to integrate it into the bigger picture shaped by old material.
Spend an hour or two each week reviewing material from the past few weeks, but always position it within old material so that students see how it all fits together. Simply repeating new information represents a missed learning opportunity.
