Have you experienced presenting your lessons and all of a sudden some of your students seemingly want to dash out the door? You may find that your young learners are unfocused and unmotivated when you thought you’ve developed an engaging learning activity.
Notwithstanding, in order for the little minds to acquire and understand the material you offer, there are awesome things you can do to keep your class interesting.
Educators have been experimenting with different teaching pedagogies in order to keep their students engaged and enthused about learning. While some strategies have shown to be ineffective, but others have proven to be highly beneficial.
Discover 8 proven effective techniques to make your lesson fun and exciting so that your students are always engaged.
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How to sustain students’ interest?
Sustaining students’ interests requires the great facilitating skills of a teacher. You should do something to keep your students focused and interested in learning.
It can be frustrating on your part when your students don’t get anything from your presentations because they are under the cloak of boredom.
Boredom is a common thing in the classroom. And this makes the little minds wander. They can’t seem to focus.
When they are not paying attention, no learning will take place and it can be a day wasted. You must be thinking by now of what to incorporate into your classroom activities to keep your students interested.
Hence, teachers should always carry a bag of varied teaching strategies to keep lessons fun and interactive.
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<<<Do you teach effectively? Here’s to a more interactive classroom scenario. Grab the wonderful tips below and make teaching and learning interesting.
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8 Things You Can Do to Keep Your Class Interesting
There are students who are unmotivated to learn and they seem uninterested in your presentations. It’s daunting. They get bored and the classroom goes flat.
Here are 5 things you can do to keep your class interesting. These recommendations can probably make a difference and can make your students internalize the things you teach them.
Moreover, I am helping you find ways to keep your lessons engaging so your students perform better and achieve more under your supervision.
1. Make lesson presentations interactive
To get students interested in learning, you have to make the necessary preparations to make your lesson presentations interactive.
The learning scenario should involve the students asking and answering questions. To hold the students’ interests, you should delete what’s traditional and obsolete.
Try to incorporate interactive activities like groupings and hands-on exercises. The more students are involved in the learning process, the more they get interested in learning and absorbing concepts and information.
2. Use technology
In an increasingly digital world, a teacher who loves to lecture in front of the class the whole period is very monotonous and uninteresting.
I should say, it pays a lot if you work your way to become tech-savvy even just a little. Using multimedia presentations, for example, can make a difference from the usual chalk and board talk.
As of today, technology is deeply embedded into the students’ lives that they seem very techy and advanced especially in getting information and in doing some things.
Therefore, it won’t work if you are still under the spell of traditional teaching methods. For sure, your students won’t just love attending your classes.
But if by all means, you are incorporating technology into your presentation and activities, your class must certainly be one of the most loved by students.
I bet most classrooms today are equipped with necessary gadgets that magnify learning activities such as laptops and LCD projectors.
Integrating technology into your classroom can work wonders. It won’t matter if you’re a newbie or a pro in the teaching field, for as long as you capture the assistive technology in your teaching strategies, it will heighten the interests of your learners.
Needless to say, the integration of technology makes sure that your teaching strategies must be in good shape.
3. Connect lessons to students’ experiences
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Your students’ minds must be filled with questions like, “How can I use this in real life?” “Is this something applicable to my existence?”
Hence, you have to consider what’s relevant and meaningful to your students. The more relevant your lessons and presentations are, the more your students get interested and focused.
You’ve been likely reading about setting the connection of the learning materials to the life experiences of students. When your students relate to the learning material, the more they appreciate the concepts and they retain information most effectively.
You must contextualize and localize concepts to maximize student participation and to help students make meaning of their learning experience.
This requires you to make modifications to your lesson plans to tailor-fit student experiences. By making content relevant to your student’s experiences, your students will be given practical ways to connect what they learned to the real world.
4. Incorporate fun games
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When there’s fun in the classroom, students are more inclined to perform at their best. A boring classroom demotivates students and is detrimental to their performance and will never push them to try.
Creating a world of fun in the classroom is an important aspect of the learning environment considering that learners are diverse.
Integrating fun games into your classroom activities keeps students excited to learn new concepts and to have a greater understanding of the lessons.
When students are grouped and asked to do something rather than being seated the whole period makes the classroom air lively and engaging. It is also a way of involving students more.
5. Use humor
Humor excites students. It is something in your dialogues or actions that makes students laugh. Using humor in your witty conversations with your students will break the ice.
Moreover, when students find your class enjoyable, they feel comfortable and confident.
Hence, if you want to make your class really interesting, inject humor naturally. Make it suitable for different classroom situations and you’ll find your students always attentive.
Students are more susceptible to creative freedom if the learning environment is accommodating and nurturing.
This can never happen if the teacher is very strict and traditional. Making your students laugh isn’t a minus to your integrity as a teacher.
6. Differentiate instruction
Differentiated instruction can keep students excited to learn. It calls for designing varied activities aligned to the interests and capabilities of your students. Though it requires hard work it’s worth it.
The varied learning activities in a certain lesson will boost the confidence of the learners as they work with engagement.
Creating smaller groups for example will not only help students master the learning objectives but will also strengthen collaboration and cooperative learning.
7. Use visual aids
Using visual materials in facilitating a certain lesson is among the best things you can do to keep your class interesting.
To enhance the learning process, visual aids are critical. The colorful and creative visual aids excite students that they are attentive throughout the session.
Not only the visual learners will appreciate the use of PowerPoint presentations, cut-outs, realia, and the like but also the rest of the students.
Using visual aids in teaching is one of the most ways to keep your class fun and exciting. Student learning becomes easier and more enjoyable.
8. Integrate a sense of surprise
Where there are a bunch of excited faces, the classroom is indeed a productive learning environment. Students will respond positively if their interests are captured.
Therefore, you must always unlock the world of excitement in your classroom by always trying something new or magnifying the strategies that you find really effective.
It’s also quite interesting on our part if we sense the excitement in our students. When students become more inquisitive, it means they are getting curious about what to transpire.
Integrate an element of surprise in your lessons through your art of questioning or in your motivational activities. It’s also a way of getting the attention of your students so they will look forward to what will happen next.
Conclusion
The scenario of having students sit the whole period spending their time listening and writing is very monotonous and boring. It will not create a spark that keeps them interested in being in your class. Learning the things that can make your class interesting works wonders. It is about effective teaching and learning.
What about you? Have you tried any of these appealing tips? How do you keep your class interesting? Please share your creative thoughts about this one. Comment below and let’s keep our class absorbing.
