Students need to have engagement in the classroom. They need to be interested in the lesson; they need to be able to move forward with their education. They need to be able to learn in the best way possible. If there is no engagement, it won’t matter what technology might be present, and it won’t matter how much hard work the teacher is putting in; the students just won’t learn. This is hugely demotivating for everyone, including the teacher. The cycle continues at that point because the teacher might feel as though they don’t need to put in too much effort, and the children will be even less engaged, and so on.
So what can be done to ensure that teachers engage with their students and motivate them to do more in the classroom (and even beyond it)? There are a number of ideas that can be used to make the learning environment a better one and ensure that, as far as possible, the children in that classroom learn as much as they can. Read on to find out how teachers can engage with their students for the best outcomes.
Get More Education
There are many reasons why a child might not be engaging with the lessons you’re offering them. One of those reasons could be that the way you’re teaching is out of date. Why not look at what your colleagues are doing as a way to understand whether this is the case? If they are using different techniques or technology, perhaps you need a refresher course. Even if you are entirely up to date, getting more information and education is never a bad thing and will certainly help your students in the long run.
To do this, you might consider going back to school. You don’t have to attend a physical college – something that would be extremely difficult for a teacher to do – thanks to online courses such as an online masters in education UK that is available. When you study online, you can enjoy your career, your family, and your newfound knowledge and put it to good use in the classroom to effectively engage the students in your care.
Give Learning Objectives
Motivation comes from understanding, not just enjoyment. As a teacher, you can make the lesson as fun as possible (and you should – this is how children will remember it and the information they are being given), but there will still be little engagement if there is no understanding. If a child doesn’t understand the lesson, they won’t be motivated to work hard to reach certain educational milestones.
The same is true if they don’t understand why they are being taught something. This is why learning objectives are useful tools in terms of engagement and motivation. If you can offer your class clearly defined objectives that detail not only what they will be learning, but why it will be important in their lives and what the expected outcomes are, they will have something to work towards. They will have goals to achieve, and they will know why they need to achieve those goals. It becomes much easier for engagement to happen when those being taught understand the lesson being given to them, and it no longer seems like a pointless exercise.
Be Available
A good teacher who wants to motivate their class and engage more fully with the children they are teaching will make themselves available to those children. The students need to feel comfortable asking questions, for example. Asking questions is integral to educational understanding (and life understanding), but if the child feels nervous about asking because they think the teacher will be annoyed or not have time to give them the answer, they will hold back. This will lead to a less full education, and many missed opportunities.
Make sure you show your students that you are there for them and that you can help them no matter what they need. This might be through always answering classroom questions, or it could be by offering to make appointments during recess, lunch, after school, or in free periods to go through things in more detail. This latter idea might be best for students who don’t want to ask questions in front of their classmates but who do want to know more or get a better understanding. Alternatively, you could give your students an email address for them to ask questions if they need to outside of school or in confidence.
No matter how you do it, the point is that you must be there for your students. Whether this is academically or for more personal matters, they need to be able to trust you and understand that you’re there for them. This will boost motivation and engagement hugely and ensure you are helping every student exactly the way they need to be helped.
Use Your Students’ Interests
Very few people are going to enjoy every single lesson. Some will prefer English to math and vice versa. Some will be artistic, some will be more science-minded. In other words, students will have favorite classes and classes where they don’t have so much interest. These latter classes are the ones you need to help them engage with more to have a fully rounded education. Just because someone doesn’t like a class, that doesn’t mean they can’t learn the information and someone who loves the subject and can’t wait to know more.
The best thing to do to motivate those who don’t enjoy a specific class to learn more is to use their interests to help them. Incorporate these things into the lesson plan, which will help all students, even those who would otherwise be uninterested, take notice. You might, for example, know that a child dislikes the lesson but loves horses. In that case, use horses in your examples – now the child has a reason to take an interest. It might be hard to do this, especially if there are several children who dislike the class and you need to make different subjects appeal, but it’s worth it. As a teacher, it’s your job to make sure that every child gets the same excellent education, and if that means going above and beyond to do that, that’s what you’ll need to do. It will certainly engage them a lot more.
