Gone are the days when educators thought that students must sit still and stay silent for effective teaching. Today, they believe that effective education occurs when students interact with teachers and participate actively. Educators have designed several pedagogies that help teachers hold students’ attention and engage them during the lesson.
Capturing learners’ attention is one thing, and holding it for thirty to forty minutes is different. Besides, students are often distractive, and keeping their focus on the topic can be a challenge for teachers.
You can easily measure the effectiveness of your teaching through students’ responses. You’ve successfully engaged your pupils if your classroom is buzzing with activity and students interact with one another. Several teachers realize the significance of interactive classrooms but fail to keep students interested.
Trying out numerous strategies helps improve the school’s ambiance and makes learning and teaching an enjoyable experience. Let’s delve into some engaging students’ engagement techniques for an interactive classroom:
Table of Contents
1. Do Not Leave Dead Time
Ask any teacher what they dread the most, and most of them would say students’ disinterest. While learners may not express their interest in the lessons, their gestures can speak. It usually occurs when teachers have a few minutes between classes and have nothing valuable to say. Students are smart and can quickly gauge that the teacher is struggling in filling the time.
Plan lesson activities without having any dead time to cater to this problem. You can have one or two activities planned for some ‘dead time’ so that students stay engrossed. Keep students engaged throughout, not necessarily in lecture. Still, various exercises keep the lesson flow by consciously planning the curriculum, keeping students’ engagement in consideration. Teachers can teach an interdisciplinary approach and blend in with other subjects. It will make the class interactive and keep the enthusiasm high.
2. Emphasize on Active Learning
Teachers design various strategies to keep student minds active and focused on the topic. The approach that engages learners’ cognitive abilities is called the dynamic learning approach. Involve students in different question-answer sessions, throw a problem and ask students to devise a solution or create similar things using their creativity.
Active learning involves various exercises that give students and educators a chance to delve into the topic deeply. Thus, students grasp the concept easily while staying focused and engaged throughout, making the classroom lively.
3. Use Multiple Tools
No longer do educators frown upon using technology or other mediums while teaching. On the contrary, different teaching tools have proven effective and yielded better results. Teachers now reinforce the concept or introduce a new topic through videos or PowerPoint slides. In addition, gamification helps immensely strengthen mathematical concepts and is an engaging and captivating way of practicing. Similarly, through project-based learning, they can assess students’ learning and see how effective their teaching has been.
4. Establish a Connection
A wise person once said that students only learn from people they love. Educators need to connect and create a bond before beginning their lessons. They must strive to make students interested in them. Several teachers start their classes by telling their experiences to break the ice and have an informal discussion. Similarly, numerous educators turn the debate towards students and involve them in conversations.
One strategy that works with almost all groups of students is to accept all answers. Learners are there to learn, and chances are many of them have somewhat knowledge of the topic. Teachers pose the questions and encourage students to think of the answers. Several learners might not give the correct answer in the first attempt. Still, teachers must accept the answer and creatively clear their doubts. It helps in raising students’ self-esteem and striking a chord with them.
5. Focus on Inquiry-based Learning
Instead of coming, delivering lectures, giving assignments, and correcting them, teachers must apply pedagogies that enhance students’ cognitive abilities. Inquiry-based learning focuses on students, who are the central aspect of education. Integrate reciprocal teaching where students predict, question their predictions, clarify their conclusions and summarize the findings. The strategy helps in keeping students’ interests alive and understanding concepts better.
6. Share your Expectations
Share your lesson objective and your expectations with learners. Teachers can dramatically shift students’ focus and involve learners by making them a part of their teaching. Sharing expectations sets the teaching path, and informing learners beforehand gives students a clear idea of what they can expect from the lesson.
7. Blend in Cooperative Learning
Students learn more from their buddies than they do from educators. Teachers can be creative and think of multiple cooperative learning ideas to involve students in group work. Aside from academic knowledge, it helps teach different values in learners. They get a chance to spend time with their peers. Doing constructive activities while sitting in a group helps them learn from each other’s abilities and see from different perspectives. Cooperative learning broadens students; horizons and makes the classroom environment vibrant.
8. Ask Open-ended Questions
Teachers’ focus should be on clearing learners’ minds from any doubts about the topic and making them well versed. Instead of restricting them to answer in a few sentences, give them room for creativity. Ask open-ended questions and let students’ thoughts run freely.
The strategy helps determine if learners have grasped the concept or need more explanation. Furthermore, open-ended questions allow students to say and feel empowered. Allow learners to present their answers and express their thoughts without fear, favor, or judgment.
9. Create Challenging Tasks
Monotony bores everyone, and students need something to keep them interested in the lesson. Repeating the same thing and lectures for extended hours do not help keep students captivated. Educators are very well aware of students’ levels and can easily create challenging tasks. Remember not to give them something easy that they feel uninterested in, nor assign difficult tasks beyond their abilities.
Besides, challenging tasks enhance learners’ learning abilities and expose them to different sides. Experiment with other things and break the monotony to make the class more interactive.
Conclusion
Teaching may be your passion, but keeping students engaged in your lessons can be a difficult task. Classrooms are generally a blend of children with different abilities, and maintaining all students’ enthusiasm alive requires some serious work.
Teachers can blend multiple techniques and tweak them according to students; needs and lesson’s requirements. Educators need to show enthusiasm and spike interest in students by applying techniques mentioned earlier.
