1. Engagement!
On a monday morning, kids are still waking up, and by friday afternoon they’re bouncing off the walls ready to get out! An engaging start should not be overlooked as it is a way of bringing students into the ‘learning zone’. For students to be fully involved and committed to the class, they need to be drawn in. By beginning with a fun activity that links to the main content of the lesson, students become interested in what’s coming next. For younger students especially, jumping straight into the main content left them slightly confused and constantly playing catch-up. By beginning with an engaging activity that utilised different parts of their brain, students were able to ease into the lesson content and stay interested.
2. Purpose
If you don’t reiterate, but more importantly, show your students the purpose of what they’re learning, they will find it hard to engage with the content you’re presenting them. This was a common issue in my experience on placement. If the students don’t see or understand the point in what they’re being taught they will switch off, and the majority of your lesson is wasted. By explaining the purpose, you’re extending their engagement.
5.Flexibility
One thing I learned as a student teacher that really stuck with me is...my mentor teachers never used lesson plans! How do they do it!? The answer: experience. Added to this however, is flexibility. It was very difficult for me, but allowing yourself to diverge from your lesson plan and respond to spontaneous student questions can open the floor to a range of ideas and paths of critical thinking that have not yet been explored for your learners. When a learner asks a question, go with it. Keeping the focus on their needs and on what they want to take away from the lesson only further builds a trusting and cooperative relationship which aids good learning.