Keeping students Motivated!
I believe it's important to ALWAYS show your passion and interest for the subject matter. When excited about a topic the students sense that, and become completely interested. Do you agree?
Hi Paul,
I agree in a big way. Excitement is catching and we instructors need to help spread the excitement. I teach a required course at night from 4 until 10 pm. Now that just screams excitement doesn't it. I tell my students that boredom is not one of the options for this course, so we do a lot of different things to keep the momentum going. We have activities, games, snacks, etc. The biggest think though is accountability for learning. Success generates more success so the more success the students have the higher the level of excitement that occurs. Believe it or not many nights the students forget that is 10:00pm already. To me that is what excitement is all about.
Gary
Hi Paul-
I definitely agree. However, I do teach accounting and sometimes I get to the point where students are constantly expecting to be spoon-fed without the expectation that they will need to read the book at some point. How do you deal with this? Or have you had to deal with anything like that?
I tell my students the same thing! As a chef instructor its great to break up the routine with a culinary game or sometimes having the students assist in the lecture or demonstration. I love a day when the time goes by quickly and you wish the class time would never end.
WOW! Accounting! It's probably easier for me to keep my students motivated because of the nature of our course material. It's all about food and most people love that! My students are flooded with reading material and I know for a fact they do not always take on the required reading. A great percentage of my students have just graduated from high school and can't believe they have to do more reading, especially in a culinary situation. They just want to cook! I review the material in a fun manner during class each day and test the students on what we talked about the day before. I think the retention is getting better as long as you keep the material light and somewhat entertaining.
Hi Paul,
I am with you on the days that fly by. This is why we keep going back day after day. We live for those special "Ah Ha" days even when they are not as frequent as we would like them to be.
Gary
I really try to add in my experiences with my lectures and also then we do some role playing and interaction games to hopefully increase their retention and understand the reason for them needed in learn the information for their career.
Hi Cathryn,
Variety of techniques really helps to keep students focused and engaged in the learning process. By having them focused and engaged the retention rate of both content and physical presence increases. You are on the right track with the methods you are using, keep up the good work.
Gary
I too agree with your assessment. In fact, because I deem instructor enthusiasm so important, I will often restructure or reorganize lessons to incorporate examples from material both I and my students are excited about.
When I'm teaching a course in Business Communications, for example, I will use references to (and clips from) episodes of the sitcom "The Office" as a means of illustrating the wrong way to complete a given task. By applying something both the students and I find entertaining and engaging directly to the material we're studying, I've found that retention and understanding of our lessons has improved dramatically.
As a first time teacher and observing other teachers in the feild I have how excitment in the class room has translated and improved the over all learning expereance. I beleive it is a great tool and plan on using it as often as possible.
Hi Timothy,
Right you are about excitement. Plus, if the students know you are excited about the field and competent in it, they will accept some of the issues that go with being a new teacher more readily. They know you want them to succeed and they will work harder as a result.
Gary
Absolutely! An instructor who is not interested in the material being taught should consider teaching another subject.
