Let’s be honest: Kids’ attention spans are much shorter than you might expect, unlike a whole of adults. As a result, teachers are expected to make a sincere effort to capture their attention.
However, keeping all of your students focused, eager and on task throughout the class is challenging enough. The most problematic situation is when you’re in the middle of the topic and notice them zoning out. Whether you pull out random videos and activities, generating lasting engagement is a tough nut to crack.
Even if you have all the top qualities of a good teacher, you may fall short in engagement.
Here are the six effective strategies for engaging your students in the classroom.
#1. Keep Mind Warm-up Sessions
An excellent start can influence how students comprehend the lessons. On that note, it would be ideal if you kick-start your class with a warm-up session, regardless of subjects and topics.
One common way to do this is to jot down the topics on board that you’ve taught them in the previous class. And after that, ask them to identify mistakes collectively. You can organise a group of three or five students (based on the size of the class), instruct them to work as a team, and raise hands if they find any flaws.
Moreover, you can make it competitive by announcing the winning team at the end.
#2. Give Students A Sense Of Freedom
Allow your students to make suggestions on how to engage them if you’re stumped.
Arrange a classroom activity wherein:
- They participate in group or solo
- They offer student feedback on assessment design
- You have periodic check-ups to determine the speed of delivery
That way, you’ll instil a sense of responsibility for their education. Furthermore, this would assist them in becoming active learners from passive ones with putting interest in the classroom activity.
#3. Shake Them For A While
Are your students struggling to sit still for a long period of time? Get them moving! Slight physical movements, whether in the beginning or middle of the lesson, awaken them.
Here are a few methods to do so:
- Invite students to collaborate and brainstorm in front of the entire class.
- Create a hand-clapping pattern to captivate them with a math formula or rhymes.
- Ask them to march to a particular area in the classroom and share their thoughts on the topic.
Movement is equally effective at engaging students who are inactive or tired. These activities will rouse them up and prep them for the next phase of your topic.
#4. Brainstorming Inspires Creativity
When students’ interest in the presentation is dwindling, or you want to calm down the noisy class, assign them an activity. Provide them with a short writing assignment or a quick write.
Apply tricks to make it more interesting. Here are a couple of examples:
For primary students, ask them:
- What’s the most interesting part of the topic?
- Which part was perplexing for them?
- Which was the boring part?
- And so on.
For higher classes, ask them:
- To summarise the topic.
- Instruct them to create questions that could be asked in exams.
However, this could be time-consuming. But trust me, permitting time to recollect and understand the topic thoroughly is crucial. It’s equally important for you to understand whether or not your strategies are working.
#5. Teach Accountability Besides Supervising
Projects that require little supervision add a sense of purpose to moments that otherwise would be wasted. They’re useful when dealing with an unexpected interruption, addressing students who didn’t complete their homework and so on.
You can make a group of two or three and quiz each other on vocabulary words. Additionally, preach honesty, especially when they haven’t completed their assignments. As a result, the dead time will turn into active hours. Instead, they’ll dive right into these pre-planned minimal supervision tasks.
That way, you’ll observe students completing their homework frequently without you yelling at them.
#6. Storytelling Is The Most Powerful Way
Storytelling, the oldest form of education, broadens our minds. Furthermore, they engage, provoke, inspire and ultimately connect people.
Therefore, add storytelling to kick-start your subject in the classroom. Some teachers also opt to tell stories in the middle of the topic. That way, students connect with a few facts in a better way. Kids, especially in primary school, get more engaged in the subject, helping them understand it more thoroughly.
There you have it – six ways to bid goodbye to boredom and engage your students in the classroom. So, if you’re facing this issue since a while or choosing teaching as a part-time job as a university student, these strategies are sure-shot weapons to boost students’ interest and like towards the subject. Employ them frequently and see wonders happening in your class.