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As a teacher, I am always trying to find new ways of teaching, new ways of reaching students, and new ways to help them connect to the material. So, what helped you? What made the light bulb come on? How did you finally "get it"?
What are you teaching? Math, history or english at a high school level or First Grade reading?
The teachers that "got through" to me were those that acted as if they enjoyed the classroom and were doing more than just passing time. I was one of the lucky ones that never had any problems learning. My problem was tolerating a teacher that acted as if everyone in the class was incapable of coherent thought.
When I was in school if a teacher was negative no way was I even mentally in that room.......In college I was the girl who got up walked out of classes the minute a teacher went negative ... I lost interest real fast this way.
The teacher that told me I could do it >> I believe in you ..... won me over!
Have you ever heard of Dr. Becky Bailey's Loving Guidance.. Its more geared for younger but there are things she talks about with older children ........
It works it really works
and if your having issues with one student ........... start looking at that one student deeper!
I've always been a history buff, but I remember when I was in high school, one of my history teachers used to read short stories about different experiences of teenagers in the time periods that we were studying. I also remember him talking about just the day-to-day differences of life then vs. now. I thought this was much more effective than just spending days of talking about 'This king did this and then this General did such and such...' In some ways, it's all about taking a subject and trying to relate it to the students on a more personal level.
A teacher that I truly respected and that really knew their stuff. Wouldn't matter if they were tough or not. Tough teachers get respected but hard to be tough and not come across as mean. I had some just plain mean old lady teachers too. And believe me, I was not the kind of student where you had to be mean to - I was national honor society. These women just couldn't turn off the mean though.
Some teachers just go through the motions and that annoys me. Like when they just read out of their books.
In history, it was when the teachers related what went on in history to correlate it to what is happening in today's world.
I know I struggled in math especially in high school. I had the best math teacher though. Even though I was doing horrible in his class he never gave up on me. He met me before class and stayed with me after class and we really tried to work out my mental problem with math. I ended up doing alot better than if I wouldnt have had any help. He was patient and understanding and if he knew what I did today (I'm a designer and use numbers and geometry all the time) he'd flip!
I teach high school math. More specifically, I am teaching Pre-Algebra and Geometry right now.
Well, I can say from experience as a student that there really is no way to get the class's attention and motivate them to want to learn math... unless they want to.
However, you can entice them with interesting "prizes" for getting all of the homework done, getting a certain percentage or higher on a test, etc. Things such as "get out of homework free" cards worked in high school fairly well.
In Calculus one time, our teacher told us that if everybody got an "A" on a test... then she would allow us to have two class periods of "do whatever you want." We did it. And one of those days, she taught a few of us how to crochet. It was kinda cool.
Trust
....
and if your having issues with one student ........... start looking at that one student deeper!
I agree-- getting to know each other better and actually having an personal understanding beyond schoolwork really does make a world of difference in some cases.
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