Want
more satisfied learners? Vary your teaching techniques.
Get creative with new teaching techniques. Liven up your
classes, and it could enhance your repeat rates. Encourage your teachers
to think outside the box, try something new and don’t worry about failing.
Try one thing new each time.
The top new ‘wow’ teaching technique for 2015-16: have
your students write on the windows in your classroom.
Here are the Top 10 best new teaching techniques for 2015-16.
2. Students find the mistakes
Most teachers found this fun and useful exercise for their
resume building course, but other teachers say the idea is so good it can be
applied to many other kinds of courses as well.
“I have given a brief lesson on building a resume that was a lot
of fun. I explained the key components of what should go into a good resume
then shared one that I had made up. It was all wrong. I asked the students to
tell me what was wrong. I had a crazy photo up in the corner. The email address
was hotpants@hotmail.com (I’ve actually seen that used). Under references I
put: Aunty Sue. I printed the resume on colored paper, etc. Once students
started to identify what was wrong I would explain the reasons you don’t put
your photo on a resume, use an unprofessional email address, make spelling
errors, etc. It was a fun lesson and I think they realized the importance of
their resume.
Another teacher added: I love the idea of having the students
correct a document with some amusing (and I imagine obviously incorrect)
content.
3. Silly answer quizzes
The more frequent you give your students quizzes, the more they
learn. And they like it, especially when trainer Karla Peiffer adds silly
answers.
“I also make it a point to provide a quiz at the end of every
training session to reinforce new information that is presented or to emphasize
a criteria that is perhaps not being followed. I like to add in silly answers
to the quiz (1 multiple choice answer that is obviously not correct) to make it
a little more fun and not have them take the quiz so seriously. We go over the
quiz together to reinforce the correct answers. This provides a summary of the
key points of the training session as well.”
Frank Sattler has a little variation on the silly answer
technique:
“Karla, your quiz sounds like something I would do. One answer
that would just make the participants giggle. Sometimes I would put a joke or
two between questions just to keep them motivated. As I would go over the quiz
at the end of class many would comment about the jokes and how they wish they
had that when they were in school.”
4. Fix the sick slides
Sherryl Maglione has another variation on students finding
errors, this one with some props.
“Grammar is necessary — we all know this and yet, with the
advent of texting language, grammar may not be a critical part of people’s
lives. We have all seen the ‘Let’s eat Grandpa’ and ‘Let’s eat, Grandpa’
poster. What I do to jazz up my grammar lessons is this: I went to the
university bookstore and bought a white lab coat. On the lab coat, using fabric
markers, I printed: Dr. Magz’ Writing Clinic. I went to Wal-Mart and purchased
a toy doctor’s kit and some small candies. Then I prepared incorrect grammar
slides on PowerPoint and was the ‘doctor’ for the first few slides. Students
each took a turn being the doctor and ‘treating’ the ‘sick grammar’ on the
slides and when a student in the class knew the correct answer or fix to the
grammar ‘symptom’, the student received a candy from Dr. Grammar. It is a very
fun way to have students participates and I can remember one class especially because
when the class was over, the students were saying, ‘Are you kidding me? I
cannot believe that this class went so fast!’ That was awesome for them!”
5. Select a travel partner
Wanda Jones has fun, and so do her students, with this one.
“One of the activities I like to do is have them to select a
‘travel’ partner. To do this activity, I give each of them a sheet of paper
that has pictures 4 different modes of transportation on it, such as a boat,
airplane, car, or bicycle. At the beginning of the session I give them time to
go around the room to meet someone they do not know and to sign up a person for
method of transportation. Once they have completed this task, they hold onto
the sheet until time for discussions in which they get up and locate the person
they identified for a specific mode of transportation. For example, I may ask
them to locate their “boat” partner to discuss the topic we are addressing at
the time. When we come back together as a group, they can share their ideas
together with the whole group or individually. It is up to them how they share
and what they share.”
6. Pair-work: Take charge
Pamela Horowitz suggests:
I do like to have my students do pair-work. This enables them to
help each other and take charge of their learning.
7. Teacher for the day
Having your students help teach each other is one of the
all-time best teaching techniques. Most recently, teacher Pamela Horowitz
noted, “At times, I have had each student be ‘teacher for the day,’ but
they are usually reluctant to do this, stating that they are not teachers. I
politely disagree with them, and they give it a try.”
8. Repeat tasks 3-4 times
Jeanise Demitri adds,
“I have the students do a task three or four times to get them
use to the sequence. Having them repeat a task has always worked very well for
the students. “
9. Theme for the month
Chrystie Backus does this:
“I create a theme for the month, such as Holiday Recipes or
Gardening, and then poll the class to see what types of things they would like
more information about, any activities they would like to learn, or anything
specific they would like to try. I then incorporate these ideas into the course
material.”
10. Funny socks
Chrystie Bockus reports, “I wear funny socks, especially when
teaching. Great conversation starter.”
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