The coronavirus pandemic has changed the entire world drastically. And it is no different for kids going to school after two years of staying at home and taking classes. Distant learning has led to wavered concentration spans and increased boredom levels for most students, and they find the transition from online to offline very challenging. In this scenario, what can schools do to make the process easier for students? It is important for schools to take teaching beyond just classrooms to give students experiential learning and make school life for them fun and interesting.
Here are a few ways how schools can do that:
- Meet and Great: Schools can organize a meet-and-great day for the students at the end of the year where teachers can meet their new students and their parents. Teachers can also think of playing games with the students and giving them small gifts such as sketchbooks or pastries. This is a great way to connect with students and reduce their jitters about coming to school.
- School assemblies: Instead of having traditional exhausting school assemblies, schools can think of ways to make morning assemblies fun. Having a musical performance or inviting a kid celebrity over to talk to the kids can make the students look forward to these assemblies and also participate proactively in them.
- Summer camps: Schools can think about organizing summer camp shows to allow the students to be in nature and form long-lasting relationships with their fellow classmates. Taking students for camps has a number of benefits – they help students build friendships and interpersonal skills. Summer camps also keep students away from their tabs and smartphones and engage in physical activities in the form of games and fun. These camps also allow students to be in nature and realize the importance of keeping the environment and surroundings clean.
Other than this, teachers can also think of ways to make classroom activities more interesting and fun by incorporating the following things:
- Games: To avoid disengagement, teachers can incorporate games in their lessons like Wordy Wednesdays or Phrasy Fridays. Learning through games will keep the students hooked to your lessons, and they will look forward to the game days.
- Connecting class lessons to real life: Whether science concepts or mathematical equations; students tend to grasp a particular concept when they are shown real-life examples to support it. You can get some props or objects to do this – for example, while teaching gravity, you can take students to the ground and narrate Newton’s story, or you could bring in plants while teaching environmental science.
- Give choices: Students enjoy the power to choose. You can keep them engaged by letting them choose what to do. You can let the students decide if they want to finish the science assignment or prepare for the English test. Giving choices makes the entire learning experience fun for the kids and instils decision-making skills.
- Make them move: Kids generally have a very low attention span, and if you see them slacking – you can give your students a break or try to incorporate some movement into your lessons. One of the best examples of this is Walk-and-Talk, where students pick a partner for themselves and discuss a particular topic while moving around in the class.
- Foster creativity in the class: Allow your students to modify their assignments and presentations after running the changes by you. This will help you foster creativity in the classroom. Furthermore, when students come up with a good idea by themselves, it will help them develop confidence and take up more assignments and lessons.