The simple truth is that engaging learners means helping
students to see the value -- to themselves, to their communities, to the world
-- in every single lesson.
My husband
struggled through school when he was young and he says no one could tell him
the purpose of what he was learning. There was no relevance to what was taught
(in his mind) so why bother. No one connected the learning in the present to
the effect it will have on his future. I keep that in mind all the time when I
am teaching.
I was a
good student and did what was expected of me but I’m not sure I can connect
some of my learning to my present day life. I took AP Calculus because there
was no other math course for me to take at the time but I do not see how I have
used any of my knowledge to my every day life now. Maybe someone reading this
can tell me that I am using it and just don’t know it. I know that I like learning just to learn but
if a student is already struggling, I don’t think any kind of learning is fun
for them.
I think we
will always be able to reach the students who find it easy to learn but it is
also very easy to lose the students who find it hard to learn.
One of the
best ways to help this struggling learner is by starting out showing them the
relevance of the information they are going to learn. Knowing why they are
learning something can be a helpful motivator when they start having some
difficulties. It helps to see the end goal at this time. I think it would be a great introduction for
students to get in small groups and brainstorm why they might need this new
skill they will learn. It would help you see how many students already know why
or when they might need this skill and they might have seen their parents or
other people doing this. Having others
see the value in the skill will also help the struggling learner.
How do you
show students the relevance of learning a new skill? Please share.
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