How would you get Students Involved in Learning the Lesson Content and Language Objectives?

How would you get Students Involved in Learning the Lesson Content and Language Objectives?

Today, teaching requires more than just writing lesson plans and presenting the information. A teacher is currently perceived as a facilitator who engages students in the world of discovery and learning. As a teacher you have to think about objectives and they are usually threefold: (i) what are the standards established by the school’s system, (ii) how do you want your students to achieve and master these standards, and (iii) which activities are you going to design and present to your students so that they learn, according to the learning style, and master the content? 

There are several ways that can be used to get students involved in learning the lesson and language objectives.  McTighe’s Backward Design (UbD) is among the best methods that can be used by teachers to involve students in a learning process (Dean, 2019). When using McTighe’s Backwards Design a teacher is able to realize his/her objectives and what students need to know. The teacher is then supposed to think backwards as to how he/she is going to get his/her students to understand the content (backward design). As such, the teacher designs activities and ways through which students will understand and work through the content. 

Alternatively, lesson plans and effective teaching can also be designed by incorporating the use of Differentiation. Through this method, a teacher designs many different activities that teach the same content to help students master the content in a manner they desire to learn and learn best. Such activities may include hands-on activity to watching an appropriate video(s). 

Lastly, students can also get involved in the learning process by asking how/what they want to learn and for ideas as well to create the most engaging lessons. Usually, students get more involved and responsible, and excited about learning when students are given a chance to voice their opinion in their education system. 

In conclusion, teachers engaging students in the learning process increases students’ attention and focus, motivates them to practice higher-level critical thinking skills, and promotes meaningful learning experiences. Thus, teachers should be encouraged to involve students in the learning process to make teaching effective.

Reference 

Dean, C. (2019, November). Backward Design Plus: Taking the Learning Context into Consideration. In E-Learn: World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, and Higher Education (pp. 1345-1348). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).