Adapting and innovating to keep students engaged

Ever since the novel coronavirus changed the paradigm of classroom teaching, rephrasing textbook knowledge isn’t enough to keep a virtual room full of students engaged. They want more than what a book could offer, and so, there is an urgent need of teachers who could combine textbook knowledge, cognitive & non-cognitive skills, and reasoning to make teaching more responsive.

To do so, the first step is for the teachers to realise the gap and train themselves in such a way that their students can remember more, pay more attention, and become better at problem-solving.

What are these skills? Can they be self-taught? Are schools responsible for imparting them to their teaching staff?

Here are some ways you can build these skills:

Frequent communication: Technology is currently offering more approaches to speak with our students than any other time in recent memory. In this way, it is critical to discover different ways that offer comprehensive strategies like assignments. Likewise, discover applications and programming that let you make groups. Students of all age groups may be feeling unaligned or secluded with limited connection with their friends; speaking to them and hearing their viewpoint will help both you and students.

Motivation: We all understand that motivation is more important for young kids and teenagers than adults. Acknowledgement, appreciation or any other form of encouragement helps lift the spirit of students. Even virtually, you could make the most of the appreciation methods you choose. Students should get the feeling that you are observing their performance and acknowledging it. Find ways to connect with them and keep inspiring them just like you would have in school.

Tracking progress: Informing younger students of their mistakes and gaps in learning consistently is crucial to their learning. Along these lines, it is as basic to keep a tab on their improvement as it is to follow-up on their problem areas. Students may email you a task or/and submit it to you through various techniques for communication. It is in every case better to share your feedback on the same. This also helps you build a strong relationship with them.

Slow down and focus on interacting with your students to ensure that your virtual classroom is vibrant. At the point when you are encouraging students personally or in a group, you can keep them busy with what you’re instructing and give analysis as well; nonetheless, when it is on the internet, you need to roll out certain improvements to a great extent and these abilities can assist you with improving your commitment by and large.

Involve parents: Take parents’ assistance to connect with the child productively. Kids generally know what to study, and occasionally need their parents to assist them creatively. Additionally, when they may need some help, parents can introduce them to gadgets optimally.

(The author is an educationist)