For effective teaching and learning, having students interested in the classroom is very important. Inappropriate teaching practices lead to low enthusiasm and less interest in learning. Lack of interest leads to poor concentration in the classroom, less relatability to the academic content, and poor interpersonal relations with teachers.
To avoid this happening with your students, teachers should make necessary changes and additions to their current teaching practices. Let us discuss some effective tips that teachers can follow to make students more interested in the classroom.
Tips for teachers for making students more interested in learning
1. Don’t limit teaching to textbooks, plan outdoor visits
Teaching and learning are not limited to textbooks. Only theoretical knowledge printed in books is not always interesting. They tend to connect with the topics better by having practical and real-life experiences. This will help you to teach online as well as in conventional classrooms effectively.
For example, for teaching plants and animal species to students, take them to nearby gardens, biological gardens, wildlife sanctuaries, and zoos. Similarly, for teaching history lessons, taking students to museums, monuments, and other historical places helps. Physics, chemistry, and biology lab visits for science teaching and computer labs for computer teaching are other examples of making learning more interesting for students.
2. Use technology to teach
Sometimes making students understand from textbooks and guides, becomes difficult for teachers. Listening to the teacher adding out the lengthy theoretical lessons from the textbooks becomes boring for students. As we know, today’s kids are fully attracted to technology, so why not use the same in the classroom.
With the help of online apps for the classroom, teachers can access several audiovisual tools like educational videos, modules, demonstrations, picture cards, PowerPoint presentations, and more. With the help of visualization, students tend to understand the concepts better and quicker. Their interest level and engagement in the classes are also boosted.
3. Keep interacting with students
The teacher-centered approach of teaching, which is coming to the classes, explaining, and making students sit as mere listeners must be avoided. Only listening to the teachers without any opportunity to speak, share and ask caused dullness and boredom. Don’t be an authoritative figure.
Ensure healthy interactions with students. Ask them whether they are understanding well or not, call out their names to have general discussions, and ask basic happy questions such as how was the day, the weather, the morning assembly, games period, etc. Make students feel valued, comfortable, and actively involved in the classroom.
4. Have different participatory activities
Avoid monotonous teaching practices. The same pattern of reading the lessons, and writing the question answers in the notebook needs to be changed. Teachers should introduce different participatory activities in the class. For example
- Group discussions
- Recitations
- Pair and presentation
- Group projects, model making
- Question answer rounds etc.
This will allow students to interact with each other, and learn in unique and better ways. Along with letting students collaborate on these activities, teachers should also involve, interact and keep track of students.
5. Be creative, plan and prepare for classes beforehand
When teachers enter the class without any planning and preparation, the teaching becomes vague. In such cases, there is no system on where to start, and how to proceed. Teaching in any way spontaneously becomes less interesting and engaging for students.
This must be avoided and teachers should plan and prepare for the classes in advance. Keep in mind what learning activities and procedures your students like, be creative, and create a plan of action. An effective lesson plan makes classes systematic, orderly, and more engaging for learners.
6. Continuous teaching becomes boring, so avoid doing this
Lengthy lectures, where teachers are continuously explaining one topic to another, and students have to listen, become boring, and hectic for students. Taking back-to-back academic classes lowers the learning interest of the students. This must be avoided.
Teachers should give students a break in between. For example, if you have a one-hour class scheduled, after half an hour, give a break of seven to ten minutes to students. During this break, let students relax a bit, have water, and have general discussions with them. Also, avoid continuous teaching, and bring a change to the class, by asking students to re-teach the topic again, ask each other questions, etc.
Conclusion
For effective teaching, learning, and having a positive classroom environment, having students interested in the classes is important. By following the above-mentioned tips which are planning outdoor visits, using technology to teach, having regular interactions with all, conducting participatory activities, and creative preparations in advance, teachers can make classes more interesting and fun for students.
