subject: Engaging Pupils In The Classroom [print this page] Author: Andrew Regan Author: Andrew Regan
When a teacher begins a lesson no matter what the subject is they will hopefully have the attention of the whole class. Just ten minutes later it is a very different story.
Research has proven that this is the amount of time you have their attention for. After those ten minutes have elapsed you have to work a lot harder to keep them with you and keep them learning.
So how can you do this?
Clearly a teacher has to have a number of methods at their disposal if they are to get good results from their class for the entire length of the lesson. Thankfully modern society has given us ways to make this a reality.
The answer and indeed the future lies in technology. The senses of both sight and sound can be used to great effect when it comes to teaching, and the more ways a teacher can appeal to those senses, the better the results are likely to be.
Lets take the classroom chalkboard for example. In the past the most a teacher could engage students with this piece of equipment would have been to use coloured chalks as well as white ones. This is hardly the leading edge of technology. As the teacher uses it they have their back to the class and cannot speak to them effectively. It is hardly the best tool for modern classrooms.
Now we have tools such as interactive whiteboards that allow the teacher to display images and provide sound as well. Since the teacher is no longer limited by their drawing skills or indeed by chalk itself, any number of more engaging lessons can be devised from these effective and colourful tools.
Of course it is also important that the pupils have a voice. Depending on the nature of the individual pupil, some will be quite happy to speak up in class while others are naturally quieter.
Thankfully modern technology can make this experience easier and more fun for both the teacher and the pupils. Student response systems enable everyone to voice their opinion or answer without having to actually speak up. Since everyone can do it the teacher will be able to see who is having trouble and needs more assistance in other ways. There is far less chance of anyone struggling and being forgotten in the midst of a lesson.
Its good to know that while engaging the attention of pupils will always be an important task, there are new ways of being much more successful at it than there were in the past. Thanks to modern technology teachers can make lessons far more interesting as well as opening them up to lots more pupils. In making the lessons more exciting, teachers are also making sure the material to be learned is being picked up more easily too.About the Author:
Andrew Regan writes for a digital marketing agency. This article has been commissioned by a client of said agency. This article is not designed to promote, but should be considered professional content.
