By not engaging learners, I mean that the students are
a) sleeping or looking really sleepy
b) talking nonsense
c) day-dreaming
d) doodling
e) finishing their work TOO fast
f) playing with their cube (!!?!?)
How I tried to cope with this:
- I tried to divide the lesson into 10-min segments, so that they won't start to zone out.
- I tried to cater to different learning styles (especially visual & kinesthetic)
- I tried to use relevant and authentic materials and issues (e.g. Mas Selamat)
- Games (Students seem to thrive on competition)
- I called on students to write their answers on the board. (this is really simple, but it really works because everyone is hoping that they're not going to be next haha)
- Q & A (To check for understanding, I tried to randomly call on students - I tried not to have a pattern though)
- Group Work (This is, by far, one of the best ways to prevent students from sleeping in class, and it also helps to make their group work activity more kinesthetic)
What I learnt in the process of dealing with this issue:
- Appear a little unpredictable - You definitely need to have consistent discipline methods, classroom routines and such, but it helps being a little unpredictable in the way you teach - such as where you walk around/stand/sit, who you call upon in class, your words and sometimes even your mood. I noted that students mostly sat up and noticed when things were a little different...
- Acquire an appropriate sense of humour. (The strange thing is that for some classes, I can hardly predict what they find funny or unfunny)
- Be energized - My Sup's advice was that instead of waiting for students to ramble into class after their recess, and instead of wasting time waiting and scolding, I should just jump right into the lesson. Students do know which teacher tends to be late for class, and which teacher doesn't let off students who come in late, and they definitely respond to this in their actions. In the same way, when students realised that the teacher was jumping right into the lesson without waiting for them, they got into place hurriedly. Also, it helps showing constant action and energy because somehow... it rubs off them. If you're a sleepy teacher, you tend to get sleepy students.
- Don't compromise learning objectives and don't water down the material - The problem of using videos and pictures and all that, is that students sometimes only remember that the lesson was about a funny video...instead of the larger learning point. Thus learning objectives have to be met, and they have to be reminded of these objectives throughout the lesson.
- Material selection: Don't underestimate what they already are familiar with - Even if the material is very current and relevant to them, if they are too familiar with it, or if the topic is overly used, students still get bored.
Suggestions for managing this in future:
- Find out what makes them sit up and notice. (This tends to vary from class to class.)
- Find out what they already know. (Build up on what they already know, and don't go on and on about something that they are already familiar with.)
- Explain why they're doing the activity. (This is very important, as students often think that it was a fun activity, and that's about it.)
- Plan and be equipped with extra materials for brighter and faster students. (Don't underestimate how quick some students may be.)
- Use readily available materials. (E.g. ST, Youtube, Magazines etc) - My Sup keeps telling me to be realistic because a full-time teacher does not have the luxury of time to laboriously create their own resources.
- Don't repeat activities in a lesson. (E.g. If the activity involves unscrambling sentences, don't have them do so twice.)
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