How to Teach a Lesson That Works

It can be challenging to teach a lesson that works. You plan everything out and then realize that the students are not following you or you are in the middle of the lesson and realize that you need to change the focus of the lesson. You could teach the lesson exactly the way is was planned out just to find out that students did not master it. It is easy to teach a lesson but it is harder to teach a lesson that works.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Plan lessons so that the activity or focus changes every ten to fifteen minutes. Most students, especially younger ones, will have a hard time maintaining their focus while sitting and listening for more than fifteen minutes at the most. Plan lessons so that students can switch from sitting and listening to more involved active things that help them to refocus and enjoy learning.

2. Include as many activities as possible. Kids lean more with hands on activities. Listening, by itself, is one of the least effective methods of ensuring comprehension and understanding. Plan on a limited amount of verbal information giving and pair it with active hands-on learning. Let kids build things, or act or demonstrate an example, or let them draw or make a visual representation of something. They can experiment or actually perform a task. This type of learning not only increases comprehension and memory but it also makes school more fun and motivates students.

3. Check for understanding regularly throughout lessons. A students may not raise their hand to answer questions because they are quiet and shy or it could be because they do not understand. Find ways to check for understanding though without embarrassing a student in front of their peers. If a student gives a wrong answer, never be negative about it. Find some positive feedback to give them like telling them they are in the right ballpark with their answer, or that it is a good guess.