Pursuing an EdD in Educational Leadership online is a great way to supplement your education skills, one of the most important and beneficial skills that an individual can bring to the world. Ensuring that future generations have access to education, critical thinking skills, and the resources that will enable them to realize their potential in the world, is one of the greatest things in the world. In the spirit of setting up future generations to be the best they can be, here are several creative methods of creative teaching methods that are sure to have your class engaged and learning all they can.
However, traditional classroom settings often lack engagement, and students can come to think of school, and by extension their education, as a bore, a labor, a sap of their energy and time. To this end, using creative, non-traditional classroom methods can reinvigorate students. When students understand that a teacher makes class time fun, not only are they more likely to pay attention to class, but they’re also more likely to understand and retain the learning that takes place there.
Teaching Outside the Classroom
Part of what makes education so tedious to students is that for an extended period of time, kids are forced to merely sit, wait, and listen. There is little room for interactivity and even less opportunity for students to release any pent-up energy. The traditional classroom is especially tortuous for neurodiverse children, such as those with ADHD, whose impulsivity and hyperactivity can render them disruptive and destructive without proper support.
To this end, ditching the classroom in favor of a more practical experience can offer students the world of good. Instead of teaching about the lifecycle of an ecosystem by drawing diagrams on a whiteboard, why not take children to a park or even the playground? Let them see nature in action, observe and find evidence of the interplay of their biosphere. Make an exercise out of it. Studies show that this so-called “experiential learning” produces a growth cognitive function, and enhances the enjoyment of learning, as well as other benefits for students and teachers alike.
Gamify Learning
The educational structure of today teaches that there is no room in the classroom for fun. The class is a place of discipline and hard facts, and the only room for “fun” or entertainment is in the arts.
Well, research says that the thinking that games do not belong in the classroom is not only outdated but inherently incorrect. Video games represent a major interactive and attention-grabbing medium. They can immerse gamers in an environment that demands their attention and maintains it easily. If you doubt the educational benefits of video games, watch a person play a new video game and see how quickly they pick up the controls, story, visual cues, and the environment – then imagine what could be done if all of those elements were turned to the educational field.
Making a game out of lessons gets students involved, gives them a sense of physicality and immersion, and allows teachers to easily command their students’ attention, meaning that the lesson will have more of an impact on students and therefore be retained easier.
Teaching Through Music
If you’ve watched Jack Black’s The School of Rock, you will know that one of the most iconic scenes in the entire movie is the “math is a wonderful thing” scene. If you haven’t seen The School of Rock, then watch the scene (preferably the whole movie), and then come back.
Watched it?
Good.
Although the scene plays off this style of learning for a gag, studies show that putting lessons to music is a hugely effective way of helping students retain lessons and information. It can generate interest, form a creative method of fact retention, or even help certain students focus when doing a lot of work that involves reading and writing. There are many ways in which music can be used to enrich a person’s education, and music itself is proven to be beneficial to a person’s cognition and mental health.
Practical Learning
No matter what students are learning, their education has one common thing across all disciplines – there is some kind of practical component to what they’re learning.
Have you ever seen a picture of a frog’s organs? Have you ever dissected a frog? Between your memory of the diagram and the memory of the dissection, which stuck out more in your mind? Aside from the visceral experience of dissection, opening up the frog was likely a more memorable experience because you were involved.
Separating the theory from the practical can be all well and good for helping students dip their toes into an area of learning, but if you want to grip your student’s attention, you will find the benefit of practical exercises and experiences.
