There is little more disconcerting than an education lesson plan falling on deaf ears. Have you ever heard the expression, if a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it maybe it doesn’t make a noise? Well, if you are teaching but the students couldn’t recap anything you said after the class, then didn’t you just kid of waste their time as well as yours? Here are a couple of tips to follow to make sure your students are picking up what you are putting down. Smelling what you are stepping in so to speak.
1.) Use relatable material- The context of many lesson plans are dry. Indeed, math lessons can provide for a very long period to the child who doesn’t effectively relate math to their own lives. Try surveying the room and finding out what your kids are interesting in. If there is a contingent of baseball players in your classroom, you can work that into a lesson plan rather easily in calculating statistics like batting average, on base percentage and OPS, or on base percentage plus slugging percentage. Any avid baseball fan will learn how these numbers work eventually, so why not get their interest going early on?
2.) Encourage participation- Children are much more likely to retain what they are learning if you have them participate. Some teachers will go around the classroom having kids read aloud a section of a chapter. While this may seem like participation, most kids aren’t really listening when it’s not their turn. They are thinking about the dread that comes with reading aloud and potentially flubbing words. Instead, use a more conversational method with your children.