You send your children to school and expect them to get a quality education. This can be an expectation no matter where you send them. However, quality education and passing grades aren’t guaranteed in all schools. For example, one analysis of Baltimore City public schools found that 93% of third to eighth-graders couldn’t do math on grade level. Children and their families must actively participate in learning, but that’s not to say teachers couldn’t be doing more. If you’re a teacher, you might be able to enhance the learning experience by taking some of these actions:
Don’t Say No to Tech
Teachers in past years guided their students to success without much technology. However, times have changed. We now have access to many advanced secondary school resources that can prove valuable in education. If you’re given an opportunity to welcome tech into the classroom, don’t turn it down.
A number of teaching hub software programs are designed to streamline and personalize the learning process. You can enjoy easier lesson planning, lessons in multiple formats, and support options to track student progress. The more data you can access as a teacher, the easier it might be for you to provide what your students need.
Encourage Active Learning
Teaching is more than reading from a book or a laptop screen and expecting your students to absorb the information. Passive approaches like lectures are still important. Still, adopting an ‘active learning’ approach might make more of an impact.
Active learning involves introducing new learning materials in an engaging and active way. This can mean that instead of reading new materials from a book, you encourage discussions, look at problem-solving, set group projects, and even spark debates.
Try a Flipped Classroom Approach
A flipped classroom describes an instructional strategy in contrast to traditional classrooms. Rather than providing direct instructions or lectures, you turn your lessons into opportunities for higher thinking. The information-gathering part of the class happens in your students’ free time.
There can be many benefits associated with the flipped classroom strategy, like flexibility, increased student collaboration, and higher learning opportunities. Students can also take more responsibility for their learning while being able to work at their own pace.
Connect With Other Teachers
You won’t be the only teacher your students learn from. They’ll meet multiple teachers throughout their several years of schooling. With this in mind, don’t underestimate the importance of connecting with other teachers with equal involvement in your students’ education.
You can share ideas, learn from more experienced teachers, and impart your own wisdom. Connecting with teachers of varying experience levels and teaching styles might prove valuable for improving your students’ education.
Cater to Different Learning Styles
We all learn differently. Some of us are visual and auditory learners. Others learn better through reading, writing, and kinesthetic. Your teaching methods that work well for some students might be highly ineffective for others. Familiarize yourself with the different learning styles and adjust your teaching style to suit.
Sometimes, this can require breaking up your learning materials into multiple sections to keep your whole class engaged. While time-consuming, catering to different learning styles can be important. Gaining awareness of learning styles can help you identify a mismatch between how you teach and how your students learn. They might then enjoy better educational outcomes.
Contact Parents
You aren’t the only adult in your students’ lives trying to set them up for future success. In most cases, their parents and caregivers also are. Consistent contact with parents can often provide insight into how to ‘reach’ your students and ensure they achieve their education goals.
Opening the doors of communication with parents can also help identify problems. If you notice any changes in student behavior, you can confidently reach out to their parents and potentially play a part in helping them work through their challenges. At a minimum, getting to know your students’ caregivers can assist you in understanding whether some students need more help than others.
Being a teacher is about more than ticking boxes for the education department. It’s about ensuring students are leaving school prepared for the real world and future successes. There’s no denying that changing your learning style can be daunting. However, it can be worth it when you’re able to enhance the learning experience for generations of new learners.
