Whether you’re teaching college students or middle schoolers, there’s no doubt that their future is bright. However, going to class in the same old classroom with the same types of lectures can get boring and make students disengage. We need to be innovative when it comes to our classrooms and create a space for students to thrive and overcome obstacles. Schools throughout New Orleans have proven they’re more than capable of overcoming setbacks after Hurricane Katrina while significantly improving school ratings. With these innovative ways to improve the classroom experience, our students can learn even more during class.
Go Into Class With a Positive Mindset
As a teacher, you have the power to make students love your class and tell their friends to sign up next term. You can also leave students counting down the seconds before they’re out of your class. Both scenarios begin with your mindset. Teachers are crucial to the success of students, and students connect much more with a teacher who’s down to earth, willing to have casual conversations with them, and fun. Now, of course this depends on your personality, but we’d encourage you to step out of your comfort zone to make a class more interactive with the students.
Teach Through Conversations More Than Lectures
The best way to be interactive with your students is to have a back-and-forth dialogue with them throughout the class. Of course, you can’t get away from traditional lectures entirely (not yet anyway), but you certainly don’t need to lecture students for the entire class period. Students will not only disengage, but they’ll also learn less because the class wasn’t interactive. Instead, try to focus most of your class on having conversations around topics where you guide them by asking questions. Studies have shown that students learn more through critical thinking and conversations than by sitting in lectures.
Improve Existing Technology
Since technology surrounds students daily, they’re often more receptive to information when they’re learning with technology. However, many schools aren’t set up to handle the latest technologies even though schools are often the early adopters when it comes to new technology. To avoid impeding students’ progress, schools need to be progressive and update their cabling systems. There are several reasons that cabling systems are important for schools, all of which benefit the students and school faculty.
Schools have a duty to help students reach success through their teachers. Both schools and teachers must work together to improve the classroom experience to keep students engaged. Student engagement should increase with these innovative ways to improve the classroom experience.
