Many teachers are very familiar with an old Chinese proverb that states, “Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.” Understanding is the main goal of all teachers; to figure out a way that students “learn” and retain what they have been taught is that consistent objective. There are many Teaching Techniques that teachers have used over the years, and these are designed to develop the students and ensure learning occurs. There are many techniques that teachers use to get the information across to the students and get them excited and wanting to learn more about the topic.
Getting Students to Participate
Effective teachers know that they have to inspire students to learn and that there are a wide variety of Teaching Techniques that work. All teachers develop their own style based on experience and sticking with proven methods that have been successful for them. Communication is extremely important, as is planning, flexibility, and versatility. An experienced teacher can call on many different techniques and be able to think on their feet and switch styles with a moment’s notice when they see student’s interest waning. The most important facets include:
- Communication – Communication is not always in the form of teacher standing up and talking while students try to pay attention. Visual Aids are a great help in getting the points across to students. There are occasions when videos are very effective and appropriate for learning. For students today, they have grown up to video games, and constant stimulation from music and art forms, and keeping the lectures short, “communicating” with the students to know when they are not paying attention and switching to another activity (method of learning) is effective.
- Lesson Plans – It cannot be emphasized enough how important lesson plans are to successful Teaching Techniques. There has to be clear cut goals identified on how much the students have progressed on a weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis. Some of these measurements are set by the school board and State Board of Education, but individual teachers must have high quality lesson plans in order to ensure the students are learning effectively.
- Interactive Lectures – A very effective Teaching Techniques is an interactive lecture where the teacher lectures and the students do a quick activity before returning to the lecture. The activity is focused on the information from the lecture to reinforce the content of the lecture. Activities can be done in small groups or as individuals, and a brainstorming activity is always a great way of getting the students actively participating.
- Field Trips – One activity that students really enjoy – particularly the kinesthetic learners – are field trips. This works to stimulate all their sense and there are vast numbers of ways to accomplish this besides just trips to the museum or the fire station. Obviously they can present reports on what they learned during the field trip, but one Teaching Techniques that works great is to write down a variety of topics before going on the field trip, that each student is supposed to pay particular attention to in order to prepare a report for the rest of the class. The topics can be planned with group participation, but not telling the students that their topic is part of a group until they have prepared their part of the presentation. Then let the students know what group they are part of and put a team presentation together merging all the aspects of their assorted reports. They learn to work as a team, pay particular attention to their topic, and see how each piece fits together to make the whole picture.
- Crafts and Fairs – Another area of very successful Teaching Techniques is in the areas of creating projects that use arts and crafts for the students to illustrate what they have learned. Certainly Science fairs have been very popular for generations and have been a great method of getting students involved and “thinking out of the box” in creating different ways of explaining their topics. When teachers work together to have their students “compete” in a joint fair at the school, they really get to show their competence levels.
Winning Teachers
The teachers who have a vast assortment of Teaching Techniques to help motivate the kids and inspire them to want to learn more are the most effective teachers. Certainly some techniques are more effective for some subject matter than they are for others, but regardless, be prepared with a wide variety of techniques to keep the students engaged, motivated, and excited about learning.
