Introductions are Important

In Doing Your Best Work from @DavidGeurin Blog, the author states,

“We do our best work because we want to, not because we have to.”

If it is something I want or need, I will be more motivated to do the work to reach my goal.

Let’s face it, I hate housework. I do it because it is time to do it when I’m embarrassed about how bad my house looks. I don’t want to do it but I need to do it. I don’t consider it fun.

If it is something I want to do or want to accomplish, I usually enjoy it much more but when it becomes an obligation, then I dread doing it.

My students feel the same way.

If I just teach lessons they need to learn and the only purpose I can give them is because I have to teach this or you have to learn it to pass the final test, then I will face resistance to the learning.

They either won’t bother trying to learn it or even remember it. This information means nothing to them.

I need to find the catch that will make it relevant to them. I need to figure out a way to make them want to do the work.

Many times teachers tend to pay more intention to the procedure or activities instead of the introduction. They see the introduction as just a small part of the lesson. Instead, teachers need to see the introduction as the marketing tool for the lesson.

First impressions are so important. That is why the introduction to any lesson is vital to the success of the lesson. If you can hook the students into the learning and make them want to learn more, you have a much better chance of them actively learning and retaining the new information they learn.

Procedures and activities are important too because that is where the students will get the actual learning, but this process will be much easier if the students are engaged in the learning. Without a catching introduction, the rest of the lesson may feel like pushing a heavy-laden wheelbarrow up a steep hill. You hopefully will reach the top of the hill but it will be much harder than if you were going downhill.

We need to learn to teach smarter and not harder.

Do you do anything special to introduce a lesson? If so, please share.

Photo by Hannah Loreen on Unsplash