Educational institutions are trying out numerous strategies to keep students engaged, enhancing their learning experience. Keeping them engaged in a classroom is very challenging, despite the quality of teaching. this is because the attention span of students is usually very low. One cannot expect them to be focused all the time, especially because things are digitalized these days.
Paying attention to the lecture of a teacher was easier in traditional classrooms. LMS portal lectures through video conferencing and live classes make it very hard to focus because of the online distractions such as notifications, social media websites, and so on.
The school management system should make classroom sessions fun by including gamification methods, and a mix of learning forms. Here are a few tips for teachers that can help in keeping students engaged;
- Warming up
A good start to the day and every lesson guarantees students complete attention. Therefore, warming up before the school classes begin is important. For offline classes, students usually participate in the assembly, give their attendance, and go through subjects they have in the day’s routine. assembly helps students warm up because the thought for the day is discussed with important current affairs, and positive quotes to begin with.
For online classes, the school management system can host digital assembly by live streaming. It is a good way to engage students and prepare them for the day.
- Classroom activities
Classroom activities that involve moving from one place to another improve the attention span of a student. Since they are forced to remain occupied by such activities, they are already in the flow of being involved in a classroom. The classroom activities can differ depending on the subject. For example, taking down notes, opening PDFs and checking for study material, and other light movements.
- Dictation
For middle schoolers and elementary classes, dictation can help them to pass the time without constantly looking at the clock. When a teacher dictates answers or important note material, students are busy writing fast and competing with each other. They might not focus on what is being dictated but this material that they have just written down will also be helpful when they go back home and revise the topic. It keeps them engaged with the teacher during dictation, and with classmates.
- Quick notes
As soon as educators finish a topic they can assign a quick write-up to the students so that they can note down important keywords they have noticed for that day’s class. This session can turn out to be engaging because not every student will catch up on all the keywords. They can interact with each other and cover other areas of importance from each other. Student engagement and student progress are benefited from taking quick notes in a class.
- Question sessions
The question or session is mostly a revision class, but teachers can encourage students to ask questions at the end of every lesson. It is possible for students to have numerous questions and it is the best time to ask these questions because the topic has been freshly taught and immediate clearing of doubts will help them to study efficiently.
The job of a teacher is to encourage students to ask questions and meet the session interactive. Other students can also answer the doubts of some students.
- Gamification
Students love learning with fun experiences. Gamification is a method every school management system is adapting and encouraging because it has some innovative and creative methods of teaching that teachers can practice. Some gamification methods include using tarot cards, playing word hunts, bingo, and other competitive games.
- Videos
For studying history literature and other subjects teachers can make the class watch a video on the topic. Shakespearean plays have been acted out and uploaded on various digital platforms which people can easily access. Similarly, history-related videos can also encourage students to engage and learn better with such visual learning forms.
- Group learning
This involves participating in excursions, school events, and fests and learning nonacademic values. Group learning mostly promotes personal development skills, but when a science fair or other subject-related topic is in question it can promote academic progress too.
- Response cards
Response cards are like feedback that students write down every few months and anonymously submit to the school box, or make an anonymous entry through the LMS portal. They feel included in the decision-making process of the system when schools use the response cards or feedback forms for improving teaching methods. It is a form of engagement between the student and the school management.
