Making Learning Fun & Effective for All Types of Learners
As many of you may know, students of all ages like to engage in and learn things they are actually interested in. In other words, things that speak to their particular tastes, and that they are exposed to at a pace whereabouts they can actually digest the information.
Case in point: last year I started off one of my grade 8 French classes (who were, by the way, not very happy to be there) with an assignment that included them presenting in French, in order to practice their reading, writing and speaking skills. After the moans and groans of unhappiness and dissatisfaction at yet another “boring project”, they asked “What does the topic have to be on….the Eiffel Tower, or some other Frenchie type of thing?” I told them it could be on absolutely anything they desired and that they could set up the presentation any which way they wanted. Students were excitedly asking if they could do it on this basketball star or this music icon – all answers were an emphatic “YES”.
Then the questions of “Can we use prezi, or skits with props, or music, or can we pre-record it?” – again all answers were met with a resounding “YES”.
The kids got excited because it was something they actually cared about, and we found a way for them to include the French component into it.
On top of that, I managed to stretch the unit out. Not only did we do the seemingly boring verbs in both present and past tenses, but I gave them the general rule of how to correctly conjugate verbs and they were invited to choose their own verbs on which to practice. The basketball lover picked verbs like “running”, “jumping”, “playing” and “passing”, while the music lover picked such verbs as “singing”, “dancing”, and “rapping”. The part that I found the most striking was that not only were students so much more engaged in this project than on anything else I had seen, but because they were happier with what they were doing and because it came more easily to them, they were actually taking the time out to help one another on anything that the person next to them needed.
When it came time to presenting two months later, the presentations were all beyond what was even asked for in the main criteria. Students had gone ahead and made other items to enhance their presentations, such as posters in French to promote this person or that, and a slogan to represent the kind of imaging their basketball star should get. The presentations were imaginative, exciting, fun to listen to, and the students were so engaged! They even asked if they could continue the entire year by learning a general concept and applying it to their own example.
One of the most important things we do for our children and our students, is to inspire them and engage them by doing things and choosing activities that speak to them! Of course, it is important to continue to show them how to expand their horizons and learn things that are beyond their immediate interest points, but I believe that many of the curriculum and study items we provide them with already cover many of those things. We should look more to their chosen topics, as these are the ones that are newer and really still seem to take many off-guard and get their excitement going.
Why can’t we incorporate TED talks into English class, or invite real astronauts into the Science class via virtual connections with NASA, or learn about home economics and fashion through designer-made videos on YouTube?
I’ll admit that it is still difficult for a relatively old-school teacher like me to admit that things in the field of education are changing, but when I see how it engages the students and how, given certain technologies or new ways of thinking, we can tailor curriculum and instruction to meet the needs of individual learners, how can I say no?
As we are preparing kids for the next generation and for them to be great visionaries, we cannot ignore the growing trend toward technology and all the discoveries being made through research to push the envelope in education. After all, isn’t it essential that our end goal for these young, intermediate, and senior minds to be able to learn in the most effective way possible? And face it, how many times have you fallen asleep when an instructor was talking about something that was of no interest to you?
As many of you may know, students of all ages like to engage in and learn things they are actually interested in. In other words, things that speak to their particular tastes, and that they are exposed to at a pace whereabouts they can actually digest the information.
Case in point: last year I started off one of my grade 8 French classes (who were, by the way, not very happy to be there) with an assignment that included them presenting in French, in order to practice their reading, writing and speaking skills. After the moans and groans of unhappiness and dissatisfaction at yet another “boring project”, they asked “What does the topic have to be on….the Eiffel Tower, or some other Frenchie type of thing?” I told them it could be on absolutely anything they desired and that they could set up the presentation any which way they wanted. Students were excitedly asking if they could do it on this basketball star or this music icon – all answers were an emphatic “YES”.
Then the questions of “Can we use prezi, or skits with props, or music, or can we pre-record it?” – again all answers were met with a resounding “YES”.
The kids got excited because it was something they actually cared about, and we found a way for them to include the French component into it.
On top of that, I managed to stretch the unit out. Not only did we do the seemingly boring verbs in both present and past tenses, but I gave them the general rule of how to correctly conjugate verbs and they were invited to choose their own verbs on which to practice. The basketball lover picked verbs like “running”, “jumping”, “playing” and “passing”, while the music lover picked such verbs as “singing”, “dancing”, and “rapping”. The part that I found the most striking was that not only were students so much more engaged in this project than on anything else I had seen, but because they were happier with what they were doing and because it came more easily to them, they were actually taking the time out to help one another on anything that the person next to them needed.
When it came time to presenting two months later, the presentations were all beyond what was even asked for in the main criteria. Students had gone ahead and made other items to enhance their presentations, such as posters in French to promote this person or that, and a slogan to represent the kind of imaging their basketball star should get. The presentations were imaginative, exciting, fun to listen to, and the students were so engaged! They even asked if they could continue the entire year by learning a general concept and applying it to their own example.
One of the most important things we do for our children and our students, is to inspire them and engage them by doing things and choosing activities that speak to them! Of course, it is important to continue to show them how to expand their horizons and learn things that are beyond their immediate interest points, but I believe that many of the curriculum and study items we provide them with already cover many of those things. We should look more to their chosen topics, as these are the ones that are newer and really still seem to take many off-guard and get their excitement going.
Why can’t we incorporate TED talks into English class, or invite real astronauts into the Science class via virtual connections with NASA, or learn about home economics and fashion through designer-made videos on YouTube?
I’ll admit that it is still difficult for a relatively old-school teacher like me to admit that things in the field of education are changing, but when I see how it engages the students and how, given certain technologies or new ways of thinking, we can tailor curriculum and instruction to meet the needs of individual learners, how can I say no?
As we are preparing kids for the next generation and for them to be great visionaries, we cannot ignore the growing trend toward technology and all the discoveries being made through research to push the envelope in education. After all, isn’t it essential that our end goal for these young, intermediate, and senior minds to be able to learn in the most effective way possible? And face it, how many times have you fallen asleep when an instructor was talking about something that was of no interest to you?
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