TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

TEACHER DEVELOPMENT

16 Innovative Ideas to Make Your Teaching Methods More Effective.

"The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don't tell you what to see." Alexandra K. Trenfor

The biggest challenge for any teacher is capturing each student’s attention, and conveying ideas effectively enough to create a lasting impression.

As a teacher, to tackle this challenge effectively, you should implement innovative ideas that make the classroom experience much more lovable for your students.

So here are 16 innovative ideas that will help you reinvent your teaching methods and make your classes more interesting.

1. Creative Teaching 

Take the help of tools to stimulate creativity. Include playful games or forms of visual exercises that will excite young minds and capture their interest.

This is a time-tested method to identify every young student’s creative abilities and encourage creative contributions.

Bring aspects of creativity into all your subjects, be it mathematics, science, or history. Think of ways to develop their creative ideas.

Encourage different ideas, give them the freedom to explore

2. Audio & Video Tools

Incorporate audio-visual materials to supplement textbooks during your sessions. These can be models, filmstrips, movies, pictures, infographics or other mind mapping and brain mapping tools.

Such tools will help their imagination thrive and grow.

These methods will not only develop their ability to listen but will also help them understand the concepts better.

For example, you can get some oral history materials, conduct live online discussions or playback recordings of public lectures.

If you are tech-savvy, there are also a number of smart apps for preschoolers that you can utilize to create awesome slideshows or presentations

3. “Real-World” Learning

Infusing real-world experiences into your instructions will make teaching moments fresh, and enrich classroom learning.

Relating and demonstrating through real-life situations will make the material easy to understand and easy to learn. It will spark their interest and get the children excited and involved.

4. Brainstorm

Make time for brainstorming sessions in your classrooms. These sessions are a great way to get the creative juices flowing.

When you have multiple brains focusing on one single idea, you are sure to get numerous ideas and will also involve everyone into the discussion.

These sessions will be a great platform for students to voice their thoughts without having to worry about right or wrong.

Set some ground rules before you start. You can go for simple brainstorming or group brainstorming or paired brainstorming

5. Classes Outside the Classroom

Some lessons are best learnt, when they are taught outside of the classroom. Organize field trips that are relevant to the lessons or just simply take students for a walk outside of the classroom.

Students will find this fresh and exciting. Without taking much effort, they will learn and remember what you teach them.

6. Role Play

Teaching through role-playing is a great way to make children step out of their comfort zone and develop their interpersonal skills.

This method comes in handy, especially when you are teaching literature, history or current events.

The role playing approach will help a student understand how the academic material will be relevant to his everyday tasks

Role playing is most effective for students of almost any age group. You just need to customize depending on the age group.

You can even use this method for teaching preschoolers. Just make sure you keep it simple enough to capture their limited attention span

7. Storyboard Teaching

Rudyard Kipling rightly said, “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”

Storyboarding is a great way to teach any subject which requires  step-by-step memorization or visualization highly-conceptual ideas.

History teachers can use a storyboard to recreate a famous event. Such visually stimulating activity will ensure that even complex ideas are easily put across to students.

You can also encourage the use of storyboards as a form of communication and let the students tell a story in pictures using their imagination

8. Stimulating Classroom Environment

A classroom environment that is well-decorated, fun, and engaging will help stimulate a student’s mind and will help think and learn better.

Such a creative and stimulating environment will help them explore and will encourage them to learn about the subject.

Children, especially young ones cannot be expected to sit all day and learn.  An environment that positively impacts the children is beneficial for you as well.

Schools associated with Early Years Foundation Stage(EYFS) will vouch for the fact that the learning environment has a prime role in learning and development

9. Welcome New Ideas

An open-minded attitude can help you in innovating new teaching methods. Though you might claim to be open-minded, its human nature to resist change.

Evaluate yourself and ensure you try out new ideas in the classroom.

10. Think About A New Hobby

Sometimes, a hectic workload may affect your engagement in teaching.

If it happens to you, it’s natural.

You can take a break for a couple of hours and engage in some other activity that you’re interested in.

This will rejuvenate you and you can return to your work with more passion and interest.

11. Work Together As a Team

As everyone knows, the end result of the collaborative effort is always immense.

Think about spending some quality time with your colleagues. Ask them to share their views on improving teaching methods, you can see many of them come up with interesting strategies.

So, collaborate and introduce innovative teaching methods.

12. Puzzles and Games

Learning is fun when puzzles and games are part of education. Children may not require taking conscious effort when their lessons are introduced through games.

Puzzles and games help children to think creatively and face challenges.

13. Start School Clubs or Groups

What about starting an after-school club or group?

Being a teacher you may not get enough time to work on interesting topics that you are passionate about.

You can share your views and learn more from others when you have school clubs or groups.

14. Refer to Books On Creativity

To be a creative teacher, you need to do some research on creative ideas and techniques.

There are a lot of books on creativity.

Choose some of the best works and start learning, it will be helpful for your professional development as well.

15. Love What You Do

You can give your best only if you truly love what you do.

When you are not stressed, you will be more creative and inspired.

Loving your work keeps you relaxed and gives you room to experiment with new ideas.

16. Introduce Lessons Like a Story

Just think, why do you watch movies with much interest?

You like to watch movies because there is always an interesting story to keep you engaged.

Like that,

Learning sessions become more interesting when you introduce it as a story. If you are creative, even math lessons can be related to interesting stories.

With even the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA ) emphasizing on schools to take measures for improving the quality of teaching and learning, these innovative ideas are sure to make teaching methods more effective.

বাচ্চাকে অন্যের সঙ্গে নয়, নিজের সঙ্গে তুলনা করতে শেখান

মানব বিকাশের সবচেয়ে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ সময় শিশুকালে। এই সময় বাচ্চাকে যা শেখানো হয় তাই শেখে। কারণ এই বয়সে শিশুর বিবেক-বুদ্ধি অতটা থাকে না। ভালো-মন্দ বিচার করার ক্ষমতা থাকে না। সুতরাং বাচ্চাকে যা শেখানো হয় তাই শেখে। শিশুর মানসিক বিকাশের পর্যায়ে সবসময় ইতিবাচক কথা বলতে হবে। যেমন : বাচ্চা কোনো ভুল করলে বলা যাবে না তুমি এটি কার কাছ থেকে শিখেছ? তাহলে বাচ্চা অন্যের ওপরে দোষ চাপিয়ে দিতে পারে, মিথ্যা কথা বলা শিখতে পারে? বলতে হবে : তুমি এটা কেন করেছ? এতে বাচ্চা ভুল স্বীকার করে নেবে এবং সত্য কথা বলা শিখবে।

সবচেয়ে বড়ো যে ভুলটি আমরা করি সেটি হলো : অন্য বাচ্চার সঙ্গে তুলনা করে বসি। এই তুলনা হতে পারে পড়াশোনায়, খেলাধুলায়, কাজকর্মে, ধর্মীয় রীতিনীতি পালন ইত্যাদি বিষয়ে। কিন্তু প্রশ্ন হলো— এই তুলনা কি বাচ্চাকে আরো আত্মবিশ্বাসী করে তোলে?

অবশ্যই না। বাচ্চা কেন, পৃথিবীতে কারো সঙ্গেই কারোর তুলনা করতে নেই। কারণ প্রতিটা মানুষই সম্পূর্ণ আলাদা ও অনন্য। সবাই সবদিকে সমান হবে না এটাই স্বাভাবিক। একেকজন একেকদিক দিয়ে পারদর্শী হবে।

বাচ্চাকে তুলনা করলে তার আত্মবিশ্বাস কমে যায়। নিজেকে অযোগ্য, দুর্বল ভাবতে শুরু করে। নিজের জীবনের প্রতি খেয়াল না রেখে অন্যের জীবনে পড়ে থাকে। অপরের চিন্তাভাবনা, কাজকর্মকে অনুসরণ করে। এতে নিজের স্বকীয়তাকে হারিয়ে ফেলে। সবাইকে তার প্রতিযোগী মনে করে। সরল দুনিয়াটাকে জটিল বানিয়ে ফেলে।

বাচ্চার স্পৃহা বাড়ানোর জন্য অনেক বাবা-মা নিজের সন্তানকে অন্যের সন্তানের সঙ্গে তুলনা করেন। এমন করলে একটা বাচ্চার ওপর দিয়ে কেমন অসুস্থ মানসিক চাপ বয়ে যায় তা বুঝতে পারে না। এসব বাবা-মা কখনো ভাবে না যে, এই বাচ্চাটাই যদি তার বাবা-মাকে অন্যের বাবা-মায়ের সঙ্গে তুলনা করত তাহলে কেমন লাগত!

তুলনা করতে হবে তবে অন্যের সঙ্গে নয়, আমার গতকালের সঙ্গে আমার আজকের। নিজের সঙ্গে তুলনা করলে নিজের সক্ষমতা, দুর্বলতা সম্পর্কে জানা যায়। কারণ মনে রাখতে হবে :

নিজের সঙ্গে তুলনা করলে মানুষ অতুলনীয় হয়ে ওঠে আর অন্যের সঙ্গে তুলনা করলে মানুষ হিংসুক হয়ে ওঠে।

লেখক : হাসান তাসনিম শাওন

শিক্ষার্থী, ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়

Self realisation

Self-realization to attain something 

Sometimes you don't realise the weight of something you've been carrying until you feel the weight of its release. When you decide to release the pain that keeps holding you down, your heart will open up and have plenty of room to be filled with love and peace. Beautiful morning to you 😊

The effect of kindness are not always seen immediately. Sometimes it takes years until your kindness will pay off and is returned to you. Sometimes you will also never see the fruits of your labour, but they are there, deep inside the soul of the one you touched. Everything begins with a kind heart. Blessed morning to you 😊

Those who open themselves up to the world and truly appreciate life and all its beauty will find an inner peace and joy that is beyond happiness. Life is like a school. You can either graduate or remain in the same class forever. Good morning 😊

Real happiness is waking up and realising you don't have to impress anybody but you. Don't let other people dilute or poison your day with their words or opinions. Stand strong. Have a blessed day 😊

How to have a lovely day? Well, smile at strangers, give lots of compliments, slow down and say thank you from your heart, be charming, laugh and wish people a lovely day. Try it. You will feel really good about yourself. Happy morning to you 😊

Anyone can hold a grudge, but it takes a person with character to forgive. When you forgive, you release yourself from a painful burden. Forgiveness doesn't mean what happened was ok. It means you have made peace with the pain, and are ready to let go.  Have a blessed and peaceful day 😊

A meaningful life is not being rich, popular, highly educated or perfect. It is about being real, strong and able to share ourselves and touch the lives of others. It is only then we can have a full, happy and contended life. When was the last time you did something for the first time? Happy morning 😄

The older you get, the more you will realise that it isn't about the material things, or pride or ego. It is about our hearts and who they beat for. And it is better to lose your pride with someone you love rather than to lose that someone you love with your pride. Have a blessed day 🌝

Look into your own heart, discover what it is that gives you pain.  And then refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else. Empathy is a very essential quality. How you make others feel says a lot about you. Wonderful morning 😃

Sometimes things happen to you that may seem horrible, painful and unfair at first, but on reflection you find that without overcoming these obstacles you would never have realized your potential, strength and willpower. Wisdom doesn't necessarily come with age. Sometimes it just shows up all by itself. Happy morning 😊

Everytime you get upset at something, ask yourself if you were to die tomorrow, was it worth wasting your time being angry. Don't live your life with anger and hate in your heart. You'll only be hurting yourself more than the people you dislike. Be happy always. Good morning 😊

The true mark of maturity is when someone hurts you and you try to understand their situation instead of trying to hurt them back. Be a good person but don't try to prove. Remember, things don't happen for no reason, they happen to teach you something. Blessed morning 😊

I am too positive to be doubtful, too optimistic to be fearful and too determined to be defeated. Make this your mantra every morning and see the magic that unfolds along the way in your life. Have a splendid day 😃