Thank you again to everyone for their hard work so far this year. Everyone is working hard as we prepare for exams and as we try to finish off BTEC folders. Fewer lessons were visited this week and the length of this post will reflect this.
The question of how best to motivate our students is a key issue we all face. Preparing for an exam or finishing off a course often provides a little extra motivation which helps us keep students focussed and involved in their work. But this is not always possible; particularly if you are teaching Key Stage 3 where you have no such external motivators.
What is clear is that our students are most engaged and learn best when they are encouraged to get down to tasks quickly, when they are set challenging activities and are encouraged to be independent. Admittedly this is no easy task, but colleagues have had success by:
§ finding ways to make things fun such as introducing games to promote learning
§ introducing competition and teamwork
§ finding leadership opportunities for students to take control of tasks or give feedback on tasks
§ being relentlessly positive, aspirational and by giving lots of praise
Learning has been less effective when there has been a lack of pace or challenge to lessons or when activities have not been matched to the abilities of the students. In such circumstances students have passed up the learning opportunities made available to them.
If you have any top tips, fail safe games that could be used or anything that will add a bit of fun into a lesson then please post your ideas the comments section below.
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