Sometimes, particularly for older students, it’s imperative that we teachers begin generating some excitement before a class even starts. Usually, the way to do that is through technology in the classroom.
With that in mind, today on TeachHUB.com, the folks over at Chalkup wrote a piece for us on how to engage and excite students before they even enter the classroom.
Their tips include using technology in the classroom to generate a pre-class “buzz” through tactics like Messaging 101.
They also include a list of questions you can use to get students interested in something in the subject matter that genuinely excites or interests them.
Some of these questions include:
- Why do you care about this subject? Or why do you not care about this subject?
- What do you hope we cover in this class? Why?
- What’s the best class you’ve ever taken? Why was it great? What about that experience do you think could be replicated in our classroom?
- What will you bring to our class conversations? Any experiences with this subject? A totally fresh perspective? How will your perspective make this class better?
Today’s article ends like this: “When students already have a bit of an intro to one another, it’s a little easier to walk tall on the first day of class.”
What technology in the classroom do you use to generate interest in a class before it begins?
Back in the day, multitasking was a badge of honor amongst educators. The more things a teacher could handle at once—grading papers, creating a curriculum, disciplining students – the better he or she was at the educational profession.
But that mindset has been eroded over time. These days, studies have shown that concentrating on one task at a time makes humans much more effective in any working environment, not just the classroom.
Today on TeachHUB.com, frequent contributor Jordan Catapano spells out the downfalls of multitasking. Jordan notes several common multitasking pitfalls, including:
• You’re more likely to produce errors
• Your creativity is diminished
• Your IQ actually decreases
• And more!
All in all, Jordan notes that teachers (and all other professions) should stop honoring multitasking, and quit pretending that it works: “Technically speaking, it’s impossible for our brains to do two major tasks at once. What we’re really doing when we think we’re multitasking is “task switching,” which means we alternate between tasks,” Jordan notes.
What are your tricks to increase focus and limit multitasking with yourself and your students?
