Sometimes it can be more challenging engaging boys in learning than girls. There are a number of reasons for this which I won’t cover here but these are a few suggestions of ways to make learning more engaging for boys. They benefit girls as well.
It is now common practice to see teachers begin their lessons with clearly stated learning intentions or goals and success criteria which students dutifully copy. I recently asked a student why he was copying these things. He replied, ‘I don’t know – we just copy them down while Miss marks the roll.’
You have a stack of assignments to mark and several lessons to plan. But instead of ticking things off your to-do list, you spend hours watching videos and endlessly scrolling through social media. It might not be easy, it is certainly possible to beat procrastination.
Having background and prior knowledge about a topic makes it easier for students to write about it. Getting your students to compile what they already know about a topic consolidates their learning and increases their depth of knowledge.
If you get to the end of each term and wonder where the previous 10 weeks went, you're not the only one! If you keep finding yourself making the resolution to be more organised next term, here are some areas you can focus on to help your students and make your life easier.
It makes sense that if there is no prior knowledge, then there is nothing to activate. Students often study topics they know very little about (that is why, after all, that they attend school!) and therefore teachers must think of ways of providing the necessary background knowledge quickly and efficiently.
The purpose of reading is comprehension; to make meaning from what is read, not just saying the words. When teachers complain their students read but don't understand the text, their students are decoding, not reading.
As external exams become a larger part of the Queensland senior school experience, it is vital teachers prepare students to be able to work out the meaning of an unfamiliar word without consulting a dictionary or a mobile phone.
