The Gene Identity
Best ways to make teaching enjoyable and motivate students.
Teaching is arguably one of the most respectable professions as it holds a great deal of responsibility.
Teachers give children purpose and inspire them to succeed in life. The children of today are the leaders of tomorrow, which is why teachers are very important in our society.
Teaching is no easy feat, and we all know that. Everyone could be a teacher at some point in their life, but whether one stays as a teacher requires patience, passion, empathy, dedication, and the love for cultivating young minds. Even parents are considered teachers as well. I hold a very deep respect to all parents out there who make time and effort to nature their children.
Talking about all these sounds easy but taking real actions, is not. Many times, no matter how passionate you are about teaching, your enthusiasm can fade away as you find your students not showing interest in learning, despite trying your best to teach them well. You will feel disheartened as you see them getting easily distracted and making noise when you are teaching. The problem here is not because you are bad at teaching but more because of not knowing how to get students motivated to learn.
There are numerous reasons why students lack the motivation to study. It could be because of the lack of purpose, the learning environment, the lack of relevance or the lack of exposure in real life. Teaching could be made a lot easier with these following ways to help your students overcome these motivation blocks.
5 ways to motivate your students to be excited about learning:
1. Expose the young to many experiences to pique their interest.
Let me pose a question. How many times have you ask, “What do you want to do in the future?” and gotten the same type of reply, “I don’t know”? Chances are, in Singaporean context, we get this kind of reply at least 80% of the time. Many graduates these days, only start to explore after they have graduated from school. By the time they join the workforce, it is already too late. Even I am guilty of this. It is probably because children were not exposed to many different experiences during their growing years. This is when they are the most impressionable. Do not get me wrong, no one is to be blamed because not everyone has the luxury to do all that. Let’s focus more on situations where people have the opportunity explore.
As much as possible, we should expose our children to many jobs and experiences to inspire them and to feed their curiosity. Once the students have their own ambitions, they would soon start to realise the significance of learning. Which is part of the journey towards fulfilling their aspirations. This way, students would slowly be able to understand the importance and purpose of learning.
2. Getting them to be each other’s teachers.
Sometimes, students get confused and do not know what questions to ask. Our thought process could be entirely different from our students and re-teaching the concepts may not be any better. Students learn at different speeds too.
Why not have your students learn from one another? You could try whole brain teaching where you break up the concept into short segments and have your students to explain to each other after each segment. The short segments would not only help to digest the concepts better, but this supportive learning culture would also help to reinforce what they are learning. Teachers could also get to listen in and understand their thought process or spot any misconceptions.
3. Implement hands-on learning approach as much as possible.
With learning materials that are tangible in nature, students tend to become more interested in learning. When they see things happening right in front of their eyes, they can visualise and understand concepts better.
4. Relate content to real life.
Give practical examples or tell stories to replace experiences if needed. For example, you could use analogies relating to real life experiences to explain a concept. Or, asking students questions on whether they have experienced certain situations before. These could help them associate what they are learning to their own personal experiences.
5. Encourage and reward students using game-based tasks.
We need to be extremely encouraging to those who are discouraged when they have difficulty learning or understanding. What we tell them can be very impactful and powerful on their mindset. It is important to point out their small achievements and let them realise that these are considered successes too. With every success, teachers could reward these students to further motivate them. Teachers could also make lessons fun by encouraging students to participate in learning challenges. They could stand a chance to win prizes or reward students who help their peers.
As a parent, where can I find such experiences for my children?
Education should be a two-way street where teachers are motivated to teach, and students are motivated to learn. There are many ways for teachers to encourage students and likewise, students can also give teachers that sense of fulfilment. Learning should come from curiosity and what better ways to pique their interest than to expose them from young.
Ready to inspire young scientists? Join us at TinyGene Academia to learn more about your DNA and to cultivate skills you will never believe you can!
To conclude.
Education should be a two-way street where teachers are motivated to teach, and students are motivated to learn. There are many ways for teachers to encourage students and likewise, students can also give teachers that sense of fulfilment. Learning should come from curiosity and what better ways to pique their interest than to expose them from young.
Ready to inspire young scientists? Join us at TinyGene Academia to learn more about your DNA and to cultivate skills you will never believe you can!