Source: flickr.com
From time to time, as a teacher, you might encounter a class that’s just difficult to keep engaged. It seems that no matter what strategies you use, these high schoolers won’t budge – and they literally show you how bored they are!
Well, you and I know that when students are not in their best-behaved selves in the classrooms, they are not actually ‘in’ the classroom. Thus, the lesson you’re sharing with them isn’t absorbed.
To try to change that, we’d like to help by sharing these effective teaching strategies that perhaps might work in keeping your high schoolers focused and engaged.
Teaching Strategies That Work
- Associate Some Lessons To Real-Life Situations. Creating a topic that is connected to their day-to-day life gives a better comprehension of what they need to learn. Some students, especially high schoolers, ask their teachers why they should learn difficult topics in math or English, and the usual answer they get is, “Because you need to.” It would be more believable and engaging if you tell them, “Because soon you’ll be writing proposals and checks to the bank and purchase things for your property. It’s for your future.”
- Utilizing Games When Teaching. Even the not so young loves games, so why don’t you perk up the mood in the classroom by playing Jeopardy or Memory? You can even join in for a round of Pictionary during an English or Science subject. They won’t realize they’re learning while they’re playing until the next class is up.
Source: wikipedia.org
- Let Them Use Their Gadgets For A Few. Phones and tablets are what they breathe every day, so why don’t you spend around 20 or 30 minutes of your lesson using a smart board or a computer that they can answer from in front of the class? This will get them engaged and excited for their turn. Maybe you can give a class quiz using the smartboard and let each one type in their answer so everybody can participate.
- Provide Them With Choices. High schoolers, like middle school students, still love to make their own choices about topics that they want to learn. Give them something that they want to learn more about. Create a list of topics related to your subject, some easy and some advanced. That means there is equal opportunity for learning, plus it’s not forced unto them, thus giving them more freedom to learn what they want to, and less pressure in the need to learn aspect.
- Make Sure There’s Interaction. You know very well that students are used to listening while the teacher is talking, which is quite boring if the setup would be like this the whole time. Utilize the interactive style of learning with the use of the jigsaw cooperative learning method. This is done by engaging your students to work as a team and finish their assigned task. The student is encouraged to do his part by thinking of ways in which he or she can provide the right answer on his own.
Source: wikipedia.org
To Sum It Up
So overall, the key is to involve the students more in active participation. Encourage them to talk about the subject or ask questions. Instilling knowledge to your high schoolers can be a learning experience for the teacher as well if you only let them share a part of themselves with you!