“My first words out of my mouth on the first day of class are ‘this will be the most amazing class you have ever been in.’ My last words at the end of the class are ‘prepare to change the world.’”
Most of the time my students are very aware of my attitude before they begin an assignment.
Over the years I’ve learned:
· If I’m excited about a lesson, they will be more engaged and interested in the lesson.
· If I let them know that it is not the most exciting lesson but I have to teach the concept, they will not stay focused and have some trouble with the lesson.
· If I tell them it is a complicated lesson that they might get confused so they really need to pay attention, then they have a lot of problems.
Once I saw what a difference my beginning attitude made, I changed the way I introduced my lessons.
If it wasn’t the most exciting lesson, then I needed to find ways to make it exciting. It was my job to make it worth learning. If it wasn’t worth learning, I needed to think about the reason that I was teaching it.
If it was a complicated and confusing lesson, then I needed find ways to break the lesson down into manageable tasks. I needed to make it less complicated and confusing. Maybe I needed to break it down into smaller lessons.
I learned that if I told them that the lesson would be fun, they looked forward to the learning. I know I would feel this way too. If it wasn’t worth the time for the teacher to make the lesson worth learning, why should a student bother learning?
Students learn from the cues they pick up from their teachers. Tone of voice and body language is so important. Presentation is part of the lesson and needs to be included in the lesson planning.
How do you set up expectations? Please share.
Image: 'Expectations - Roland in Vancouver459.jpg'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35034347371@N01/100853718
Found on flickrcc.net
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