WeAreTeachers Blog

[#1]

Can you think of a time when you planned what you thought was an amazing lesson only to have it crash and burn when you presented it to your students? It's happened to even the best teachers—and while it's all part of the learning process, it can be really frustrating. 

To help you avoid lessons that just don't work, we polled several teachers on the keys to effective lessons.  Here are their suggestions and ideas—so you can learn from their mistakes and go on to create amazing and effective lessons for your classroom. 

1. Get them engaged.  The teachers we polled were unanimous in telling us that an effective warm-up activity that draws student interest into the content is the key to starting an activity off right.  One teacher we talked to always shows a series of relevant photos to his students before starting a lesson.  Another teacher shows short, relevant video clips at the start of each class period. Another reads short clips from primary source documents.  Whatever you do, finding five minutes to draw teachers into the lesson can help you get—and keep—the students engaged.
2. Vary activities to address learning styles.  Any activity that only addresses one learning style will fail to engage a portion of your student population.  So, try to vary your activities—doing an auditory-based activity and then switching to something kinesthetic, for example—to ensure that your lesson will work for all students.
3. Get hands-on.  One of the teachers we talked to told us that her most effective lessons always include a hands-on component—whether it's utilizing individual technology like iPads for practice or letting the kids come up to the whiteboard to do problems in front of the class.
4. Don't be rigid.  Yes, you've planned your lesson down to the minute and yes, you have a busy schedule, but always allow some flexibility in your lessons so you can answer student questions or even follow a rabbit trail that will lead to new revelations for your students.
5. Teach across the curriculum.  One teacher we polled said that when she first started planning lessons, she tried to keep science activities in science and math activities in math.  When she started incorporating multi-curricular activities—for example, having her students read essays written by famous mathematicians during math class—she found that it helped her students stay focused and helped enhance achievement in all subjects.

Question for you:  Do you have a lesson that just works?  Tell us about it and you could win $100, an iPod Touch and more. Click over to learn more.

[#2]

The most important strategy you mentioned is becoming engaged with students. This means truly connecting and letting students know you care about them learning the lesson. When students feel disengaged it may lead to anger. This is the topic of our Studentteacher show this Saturday 10-11am. Join in if you can and share your ideas on lesson planning and classrom management. Call 646-727-3758 and join other teachers.

Teachers are asking "what makes students so angry"? There is great concern over this topic because anger vey easliy has lead to violence on school campuses. Share your thoughts with me and they will be broadcasted on the student2teacher radio show via Internet. Learn some innovative strategies for minimizing anger in the classroom and on campus. This discussion is open to teachers/faculty at all academic levels. Take a listen to an archived show at  http://blogtalkradio.com/student2teachers

[#3]

I agree with need to engage students.

Using your teaching resources in a creative way often engages students who are hard to reach. Using visual and audio materials as well as textbooks takes into account the different learning styles of students. Also allowing them 'hands-on' experience using media making to produce their course work, asking them to help document lessons will embed creative interactivity in the classroom and share best practice with colleagues. But you have to plan and ensure your resources are in full working order! http://creative-ict.blogspot.com/