Passion is one of the key ingredients to anyone’s success. Therefore, many students who fail certain subjects do so because they don’t like the subjects.
As a teacher one of your key roles is to make your students like your subject, because that will promote things like;
- Being active in the classroom
- Asking questions
- Doing all the required exercises in time
- Curiosity, research and consultation
- Actually passing the subject
When you take a look at your students that do the exact opposite of these things, it’s easy to get discouraged and think there’s no hope for them. However, your role is to make them like the subject, and the rest will work itself.
1. Awarding best performers
This is one of the best ways to get started and make your students like your subject without even trying so hard. There’s a limited scope of rewards that you can give your students, and the most important ones include;
- Bursaries or half bursaries
- Standard gifts like learning materials, gadgets or new uniforms
- Compliments
- Modest amount of money
However, the rewards that you give your students should be modest and related to academics, because you wouldn’t want your gift to turn into the wall between them and their academic success.
2. Start with what they know
One of the reasons why students resent certain subjects is because they get overwhelmed by how much they don’t know. As a result, they feel like they’re not mentally capable to keep up with the subject.
However, starting with what they know will dramatically change things in the following ways;
- Motivating them to try more challenges
- Giving them a starting point
- Making them feel like they understand
- Jogging their memory
Even among adults, people are always encouraged to start simple so that the micro achievements push them to go for the bigger ones.
3. Teaching objectively
Objectivity in teaching is important for both the teachers and the learners. This is the practice of ignoring conventional beliefs and attachments for purposes of learning. Below are some of the benefits;
- Promotes open mindedness
- Helps students understand better
- Removes barriers between students enabling free interaction
Sadly, so many people teach subjectively, thus breeding the gap between the teachers and students, which is usually the first step to students hating the subject.
4. Use relevant examples
There are so many examples that you can use to explain to students. However, the brain isn’t like Google where you’ll just snap a finger and get what you want fast. Here are some techniques to help you get the relevant examples.
- Prepare a few examples at hand before any lesson
- Use examples from your own experiences
- Borrow societal examples
Using relevant examples is one of those things that will help your students relate to a subject and understand better.
5. Guidance and counseling
Students are usually children, and children need to be guided at all times. To make your students love your subject and understand it, you should give them counsel on things like;
- How to approach the subject
- Potential challenges and how to face them
- How to score high marks in exams
- Time management and other best practices
Sometimes, students are bound to make mistakes in certain subjects because they aren’t properly guided on how to approach their subjects. If they’re guided, their interest in the subject will increase.
6. Befriending students
Sometimes, creating a gap between you and your students is one way you make them fail so fast. This is because of the following;
- They’re afraid to ask questions during the lesson
- Always find a hard time consulting with teachers
- Affects their concentration in the classroom. This is because some students can’t thrive in an atmosphere that seems tense
However, befriending students is one of those things where you don’t have to go all-in. If you don’t define and maintain your boundaries quite well, you’ll definitely regret it.
7. More practical lessons
Theoretical classes have no big problem as such, but practical lessons are at another level. A student will cram something for a year, but after practicing it twice, it sinks in. Here’s why practical lessons are effective;
- Students see what they’re doing
- Practical lessons are fun
- It’s easy to remember what they did, compared to what they read
With more practical lessons, students will have more interest in the subject, and will be more eager to learn and understand everything.
8. Work on your diction and tone
Similar to the effects of a translated movie, your tone and selection of words come in handy, and they influence the way students will react. They affect things like;
- Attention
- Fun
- Understanding
This is so effective in things like TED talks and translated movies, where something is rephrased so that even though you don’t know anything about it, you start to understand it.
9. Involving learners
Active learning isn’t something so many teachers are used to, because it has a fair share of its own challenges that some teachers aren’t up for. However, teachers have to do things like;
- Asking questions
- Challenging them
- Asking them to explain in their own words
- Creating discussion groups among them
Of course, this option feels slow and tiresome. However, students will become more attached to the subject and learn all they can, along the way.
10. Have fun
This is always like the bread and butter of everything. Once something ceases to be fun, you can only do it for a short while. Here are some of the ways you can make it fun;
- Crack jokes in front of your students
- Allow students to crack a few light jokes
- Give funny examples they can relate to
- Go a little musical
Of course, making it fun doesn’t mean everyone will be interested – but trust that the majority will be hooked onto it, and very few or none will consider missing your class.
Conclusion;
Sometimes, every student responds differently to your actions. However, getting the majority hooked onto your subject will involve taking many of the steps above. Before you know it, many of the students will perform extremely well in the subject.
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