Grammar Girl
is an adorable character created by Mignon Fogarty who provides quick
and dirty tips to help grammatically challenged individuals find fast
answers. I am among the group of individuals who have difficulty
keeping the rules straight.
During
a recent search through the site, I came across terms that immediately
made me think of the classroom setting. Grammar Girl makes a
distinction between disinterested and uninterested, taking my mind to the uncomfortable setting in front of a sea of students gazing with disinterest.
Disinterest in the Classroom
While
it may seem as if I made the grammatical mistake of using disinterest
to describe a group of uninterested students, I mean to make this
distinction. As teachers, we commonly look at our students as
uninterested in the subject, meaning that they simply don’t have any
interest in the topic.
Let’s
try a new perspective and consider our students disinterested. When a
person is disinterested, he has no personal stance on the issue.
Nothing is at stake. Grammar Girl uses the example of a judge in her
explanation. A judge should be disinterested in order to make judgment
without bias.
Building Interest
The
task of motivating students to develop genuine interest on a topic is
nearly impossible unless teachers make the subject relevant to their
students’ daily lives. This is the crux of building interest. Teachers
can take proactive measures to make classroom lessons applicable to
everyday experiences.
Consider
some of the techniques used by successful instructors to build
curiosity and instill intrinsic motivation. Creating a personalized
approach to teaching is a wonderful strategy for building interest in
the classroom. Practical application is important as well. Each of
these elements requires a student-centered approach, and they each show
what is at stake for the pupil.
Lessening Lectures
I
love public speaking and I have to admit that performing in front of an
audience is one of my favorite activities. Perhaps I chose the field of
education for this reason. While the notion of being the center of
attention is appealing, it isn’t always the best strategy when it comes
to making information relevant and applicable.
Student-centered instruction does not
translate into a complete absence of lectures but it does require
educators to factor the needs and interests of the students. We’ll
explore some specific student-centered teaching methods including:
- Inductive teaching requires you to present students with challenges.
- Cooperative learning encourages students to work together.
- Active learning allows students to pose their own questions and challenges.
Student-Centered Motivation
When a group of disinterested students has
an opportunity to be actively involved in their education, they
naturally have a better chance of developing interest on the topic.
This does not necessarily happen overnight, but it can be a viable
solution to classroom apathy.
I once asked one of my failing students why he didn’t want to learn. How could someone turn away from knowledge?
It’s boring, he replied.
How do you know it’s boring if you know nothing about it? I asked.
He couldn’t develop an answer but he did develop curiosity.
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