This little Piggy
Ok... how many of us can recite this: "This little piggy went to market..." We all know the story even though we have not uttered these words for years. When we learned these words we were engauged and having fun. A very powerful and elemental part of being an instructor is generating the students feelings of wanting to be there and upset when they have to miss due to unforseen circumstances. The Pygmyillon effect is a broad spectrum tool that is easily forgotten. As an instructor adopt the philosophy of "build it and they will come" attitude to making class engauging and challenging.
Never talk down or have less expctations of any student, they all want the and deserve the best encuragment from the instructor.
The challenge is always how to make the fun part of learning last. When you have students in class for over a year, they have to pace themselves and get into a routine of regularly working to learn new material. We attmept to add to the learning in class and bring in the fun and relevant aspects to help tie everything together, but they have to be willing to put forth the effort over a long time to be successful.
I think it is important to have fun in class. The challenge is in keeping people focused! If student are having fun they are comfortable and can learn.
carla,
this is very true. We are afraid of students being distracted by fun, but I've found that they are usually more distracted by boredom.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I agree. Students want to be ingaged and want to have fun. They like a challange and will have fun with it. You have to be able to create that fun but also control your classroom. You are still the Instructor not their friend. Keep the respect of your students and they will look up to you and enjoy the time they share with you.
P O'Dwyer
Yes I have learned even by just teaching my children that learning can be fun. I had a student say recently, "I wish I had you my first module". I asked why and he said because he did not remember having that much fun due to the fact that he heard my students laughing. I told him well I try to make learning enjoyable its what makes students return to class when the subject is interesting and not so dry.
The hard part sometimes is keeping the students on track when they are having fun, there is a delicate balance
I totally agree!!
As long as the students are actively participating and having fun they are more likely to retain the information and succeed at meeting the class objective.
