School life is much more than just studying. We all end up daydreaming in class or talking during lectures. Although, we don’t realize that we’re losing valuable time – in which we were supposed to be learning. Indeed when lectures are boring it’s easier for students to pay attention to other things than this.
Modern educations are highly advanced and so it feels difficult to absorb lectures taught in old ways. Meanwhile, students struggle with questions during online classes as they’re reluctant. This only piles up a bunch of coursework to be crammed before the exam. Hence students deal with a lot of stress around the time of exams which affects their performance. Although there are pay someone to take my online course services which can easily help you through the course.
Apart from the online help services, you can make lectures more engaging in class to help students learn. Whether the students are introverted or just bored, you can use many ways to make them participate in class. To learn more about smart ways to encourage student discussions, read our list of strategies!
Brilliant Ways to Incorporate Student Participation While Learning
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Mental Warm-Up:
Prepare your students before starting your lecture. Find a warm-up technique to get your students thinking hard. This will wake their brains up and they’ll be more attentive and participative in your class.
Example: write something on the board with intentional flaws. Ask the students to spot the mistakes from this content. Do not ask them to work silently and independently, but rather address the entire class and ask questions. You can also ask them to make 3 teams and raise their hands when they find an answer.
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Get Them Moving
Students get fidgety when they’re made to spend hours sitting in the same place listening to lectures. Incorporate exercise in your classroom as a mini-physical warm-up to prevent them from acting out.
Example: ask kids to stand behind their desks and join a simple choreographed movement. This can be rhythmic clapping, jumping, and finger-snapping, or cross crawl. This will make teaching much easier for you and classroom management challenges.
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Teach them collaboration
If you’re expecting your students to work on projects in teams, you need to train them first. Without training, some students will take the lead while others will sit back and waste their time. You can easily teach them collaboration through an activity not necessarily related to your subject.
Example: give each team a pair of scissors, some tape and paper clips, and two sheets of paper. Instruct them to build the tallest tower which is free-standing (within 20 minutes). Ask for positive and then critical feedback and then repeat the drill to see if they improve.
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Start using Quick writes:
If there’s commotion in your class and you need them to settle down, do not yell. Instead, ask them to write all their thoughts and reflections quickly on a piece of paper within a few minutes. Demanding Quickwrites without a framework may leave them confused. However, you can provide questions as guidelines on what to write about. Ask them; what was most interesting/boring/confusing about ____? Or, summarize what you heard.
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Spot-on Instructions
You can easily prevent dead time (wasted due to lack of attention) if you run a tight ship. Many teachers fail to demand attention successfully because they’re either too strict or too lenient. Here’s how to get their attention; start with demanding total silence. After you have their complete attention make sure their eyes and postures are facing you. Only then start giving your instructions.
For example: when the students are making noise, tell them you’re going to give them a few minutes to discuss. Then ring a bell or a buzzer to signal that they have to stop everything and pay attention to you.
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Make A Fairness Cup
It is difficult to remain completely unbiased when choosing a student to answer your question. There will be students who always raise their hands and have your attention. Meanwhile, some quiet students remain camouflaged in a corner.
Avoid picking on the same students and give everyone a fair chance using a cup and popsicles. Write the names of the students on different popsicles and put them in a cup. Take out a Popsicle each time to choose who will answer you. This will also prevent students from feeling like they’re being cold-called.
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Use Minimum-Supervision Tasks
Students easily get tired of following instructions from the same person and look for independence. You can incorporate tasks that require minimum supervision to students from dead time.
Example: ask students to test their partners for vocabulary words. Or you can encourage students to confess if they haven’t done their homework. Assure them that you’re not asking this to punish them but rather helping them to catch up with the class. This will save a lot of time during homework review.
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Mix Up Your Methods
Using the same teaching strategies on repeat will bore students and get them uninterested. However, you keep them involved by switching to student-centered learning AKA active learning every now and then.
Example: pair up students during presentations to encourage discussion on their prior knowledge. Make them generate a list of their possible queries and take rounds to check if they’re focused on the task. Dedicate a few minutes in between presentations for making Quick writes. Reduce your assessment load by asking students to compare their Quick writes with their partners.
Teaching involves classroom participation as much as lectures. It can promote students to make insightful comments and add to each other’s knowledge. Class participation also creates a high level of energy and enthusiasm in students while learning.
Many teachers stick to old ways of teaching and only provide one-sided lectures. This closes doors to students who have queries or insights to add. This leaves students to depend on extra help to cope with their syllabus. There are many pay someone to take my online course services you can avail to reduce your load. Although necessary, class discussions can turn chaotic if not handled properly. Use our tips to effectively incorporate class participation for a great learning experience.
