Teaching in a classroom will bring you into contact with a wide variety of students. All of which will act different, and bring a different set of challenges you’ll have to face throughout your time with them. Knowing who your student audience is, and what they’re going through is one of the most important things a teacher can do. I feel like a lot of the times teachers don’t really care about meeting the students half way and understanding all the stuff they’re going through, and who they are. I think that extra bit of trying to learn more about them really shows the students you care, and it helps them learn. I’ve always done better in class where the teachers make an effort to be personable with students and understand them. Students go through so much outside of school that in return heavily affects how they preform in school. Students aged 13-18 are going through so much change in their lives, in such a short amount of time, and I think a lot of the times teachers forget that. It can affect so much for them, but I think that is just one part of knowing your student audience. Another huge part of knowing your audience is knowing how they learn. What they’ve done in other history classes and how they did. History classes are commonly taught in a lecture based format which doesn’t always work. Sometimes lectures are the way to go, but the whole lesson shouldn’t be a lecture. You should take what you know about your students, how they learn, and how they like to learn and use that. Lectures can be a great way to get information across, but teachers should make the point to know their audiences and mix in things to make it more enjoyable. If your class likes group work mix in more group work. History is something that should be interesting to learn about. Not something students feel like they have to do because its required, and knowing just a little bit about your student audience can push your classroom from feeling like they have to be there to something they enjoy.
People are all different and this goes for your students especially. They are changing and have a wide variety of influences that are impacting them outside of the classroom. Taking this into account is crucial in your teaching practice. Teachers must care. There is much more that goes into instructing a class at a high school level. Students will notice when the effort is present and will be more engaged if they notice this. Everyone learns differently and will make their own connections to the material. It is up to us to figure out how this is done and see how to create the most beneficial learning environment! Lecturing is common, but can be the easiest. You must be willing to sacrifice time and effort to build this positive classroom atmosphere! It is up to us to make it interesting!
Getting to know all of your students is incredibly important. By getting to know them you are able to teach and reach them better. They are more likely to want to learn if they know you care about them. Why would anyone want to listen and be around someone they thought did not care about them? Students will be able to tell when you aren’t being real with them. By putting in extra work you get a better outcome.
I like how you pointed out your own experience with teachers who made it a priority to form relationships with their students. I share the same experience; the classes I enjoyed and remember the most are those in which the teacher treated me as more than just a number in a grade book. Establishing a class environment where teachers and students learn and grow together is very important. Then, we can create lesson plans and activities according to our student’s interests and needs. A good example is using art or music to teach students. Song and art analysis is a great way to break down a topic in history. You can extend it even further by having students create their own (as long as it is appropriate and relates back to the lesson)! Also, incorporating social media, something trending among the group of students we will be teaching, is a great way to get students engaged with the content.
The enjoyment of school is very beneficial to student engagement and I think that us as teachers should always ret to make school fun. When I was in high school I had teachers who purposefully tried to make it boring by only lecturing and assigning only tests and quizzes as their means of assessing student progress. Many of the students in these classes responded poorly to these methods and grades went down. Student engagement leads to student understanding, and I think you’ve explained that well.