All of us teachers love students who pay attention in class and love engaging. Don’t you think they are the prominent faces that actually make teaching enjoyable for us as well? However, what about the students who lack attention and pay no heed to what’s happening and later request online class help? These students are the reason we have to lower our pace and still some of them are stubborn enough to not focus. We know you worry about them too but have you found some tactics to handle them and bring them back to the lectures. No? No problem, we are here for you.
Following are the five best teaching strategies that educationists recommend today. Over the last few years, the academic sector has seen a massive shift, these tactics are best to bring back the students’ interest. All these strategies are widely followed by academicians across the US and are proven the best. So, are you ready to work on them? We guarantee you won’t regret it.
1. Try one-to-one questioning
In a class of thirty, you will have all sorts of students. The ones who are confident and love engagements, ones who are shy yet participate, ones who don’t care what you are teaching, etc. However, you being the teacher have to cater to them all. What strategies have you been employing post covid? Most of the teachers we know used to ask questions and whoever raises the hand, answers the question. Was it the same at your end?
If yes, try one-to-one questioning now. You can use a simple random method and pick any one student to answer your asked questions. When students know it can be their turn anytime, they focus better and in the end yield better. Other one-two-one tactics include viva, oral examinations, etc.
2. Go For cooperative learning
As evident from the name, cooperative learning includes teaching and learning methods where you engage students with each other and boost interactions. We all know that every student possesses different skills. What skill a position holder has might be a deficit in the average one and what expertise an average student has might be void for position holder. However, when you assort them all into one group, great are chances both parties will overcome their shortfalls.
The more you will promote group activities, the more fruitful you will witness the results. Experts recommend letting students exchange ideas and let them respond to each other’s queries. This practice helps increase self-confidence and enhances their communication skills.
This cooperative learning at the junior level can include learning new concepts, group projects, solving math problems, performing science experiments, etc. However, debates and assignments are the best for the senior students.
3. Incorporate Technology
EdTech is not a new concept. For years institutes are leveraging this to help students learn complex concepts. Incorporating technology into your teaching model is one of the best ways to keep students hooked. For instance, smart boards. The screens of smart boards are a new concept of teaching other than traditional whiteboards and notebooks. They intrigue students and bring their attention to physical classes.
As soon as you will turn on these smart devices, you will see all your students’ eyes on you. Can you guess why? Because learning with technology is more interactive and instantly captures students’ interest. You can also assign systems at the desk of every student. This way they can physically work on their lessons and do research their ideas at the same time.
4. Make Mistakes Deliberately
Students love to pick teachers’ blunders. Take a misstep in your lecture and within a second you will see them correcting you. We believe it is a fun practice and can turn into a fruitful learning tactic. What you can do is deliberately make mistakes. Sometimes say a wrong definition, tell a wrong value or make any error while writing on the board. Believe me, all these will work. This practice of yours will keep your students alert and on their toes. Though their sole intention will be to only correct you, learning at the same point is a benefit you and students both get. The only difference is you know this and they don’t.
To make your students more active here, you can also incentivize this tactic. We know they all are in competition. Even if we don’t have a contest among them, they have. So, why not take benefit of it? It’s one arrow, two birds. No, three to be true. You get the mistake corrected, capture students’ attention, and keep them engaged, all at once.
5. Let Them Teach
Don’t tell us you never played teacher-teacher in your childhood!? You did, right? Similarly, students, today are also interested in this game. You let them teach and see how fast their results escalate. We tried this once at the school I was employed earlier at and loved how students were keen to participate.
What we did was we allotted all of our students’ dates and times when they were supposed to continue with the already ongoing lecture. I kid you not, this trick was so effective that many of our students who were failing some subjects actually cleared their next papers. Since then it was a regular practice and we made sure to give everyone an opportunity.
Bonus Tip: Gamification
Adding video games to your teaching models can bring a massive difference in students’ results. There is nothing your students will get bored of. Instead, every day they will look forward to meeting you and studying in your class. What you can do is instruct some complicated concepts via VR headsets or incorporate video games that can benefit your students’ critical thinking.
Conclusion
So, my friend! What will be your number one strategy to employ in your teaching models to help students? Tough decision? We know, right! All of these tips are highly effective and can bring significant results in no to a very lesser time. Gone are the days when your students used to ask you for online class help. Today, it’s time to take benefit from these tricks and help your students ace great grades.