The eNotes Blog Selling Your Students On YourLesson

Selling Your Students On YourLesson A lot of teachers struggle with getting their students interested and engaged in lessons. Here are some practical  tips to encourage more participation, interest, and knowledge retention. Teach as Though You Were Writing a Catchy Essay In teaching students to write good essays, we often use this geometric diagram: We ask students to write essays that are interesting and that connect a specific idea to the bigger picture. It’s why the introduction starts out broad, and why the conclusion ends the same way. Outside of the specific focus of the essay is a larger framework that makes the essay meaningful. In other words, we want student writing to convince us that the essay is worth our time. However, many teachers forget this in their lesson planning. Pressured by time constraints and Common Core standards, they dive into textual analysis without convincing students that what they are teaching actually matters. Students Need to Buy into the Lesson No student is eager to diagram the narrative structure of a novel. That is a technical skill that you want the students to learn, but in order to get them to do it, you need to sell them on why this matters. Think broadly about how this technical skill connects to the bigger picture. Why do we care about the narrative structure of a novel? How does this tie into a more interesting, broader question like â€Å"How do we tell good stories?† Teach as though you were writing a great essay- how can you get students hooked on the lesson? How does the technical skill tie into something that they care about? Let’s assume that you are teaching the rhetorical strategies in Jonathan Edwards’ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. You want students to do a textual analysis to understand the images and figurative language used in the speech. But remember- students need to first buy into what you are going to teach. One strategy might be to connect the textual analysis to students’ own lives. Start by asking the broad question: â€Å"How would you convince someone to radically change what they believe?† Brainstorm strategies on the board and debate their effectiveness. Maybe bring in examples of rhetorical strategies used in advertising to connect this idea to contemporary times. You’ve created a context around the skill you are trying to teach, and thereby made the lesson meaningful for your students. Now that you’ve piqued the students’ interest, dive into the text to see what Edwards does in his speech. Outline the strategies and focus closely on the text. Students have bought into what you want them to do, and they have a motivation for focusing on the specific task at hand. Conclude by Broadening Your Focus The conclusion of a lesson creates an opportunity to broaden again and connect the specific task to the bigger picture. If your lesson was a compelling essay, how would you conclude it? If you started out your lesson by asking a broad question, circle back to that question and show how you’ve answered it through the activities that students completed. You can also think of how the skill might be used in another context that is meaningful and engaging for students. Having students write letters  is a great wrap up activity idea for your lesson. Let’s go back to the example of the lesson on Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Once your textual analysis is complete, bring the focus back to the larger question: How can we apply what we’ve learned from Edwards to our own lives? This could lead to a wrap-up activity that shows mastery of the skill you’ve practiced. Have students create their own brief speeches using the strategies studied in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. They could make infomercials for a particular lifestyle product or write a letter to a criminal convincing him or her to reform. You’ve achieved your pedagogical goal and helped your students to see the value of the specific task they’ve learned.

Problem Solving in Mathematics

Problem Solving in Mathematics The main reason for learning about math is to become a better problem solver  in all aspects of life. Many problems are multistep and require some type of systematic approach. There are a couple of things you need to do when solving problems. Ask yourself exactly what type of information is being asked for:  Is it one of addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division?  Then determine all the information that is being given to you in the question. Mathematician George Pà ³lya’s book, â€Å"How to Solve It: A New Aspect of Mathematical Method,† written in 1957, is a great guide to have on hand. The ideas below, which provide you with  general steps or strategies to solve math problems, are similar to those expressed in Pà ³lya’s book and should help you untangle even the most complicated math problem. Use Established Procedures Learning how to solve problems in mathematics is knowing what to look for. Math problems often require established procedures and knowing what procedure to apply. To create procedures, you have to be familiar with the problem situation and be able to collect the appropriate information, identify a strategy or strategies, and use the strategy appropriately. Problem-solving  requires practice. When deciding on methods or procedures to use to solve problems, the first thing you will do is look for clues, which is one of the most important skills in solving problems in mathematics. If you begin to solve problems by looking for clue words, you will find that these words often indicate an operation. Look for Clue Words Think of yourself as a math detective. The first thing to do when you encounter a math problem is to look for clue words. This is one of the most important skills you can develop. If you begin to solve problems by looking for clue words, you will find that those words often indicate an operation. Common clue words for addition  problems: SumTotalIn allPerimeter Common clue words for  subtraction  problems: DifferenceHow much moreExceed Common clue words for multiplication problems: ProductTotalAreaTimes Common clue words for division problems: ShareDistributeQuotientAverage Although clue words will vary a bit from problem to problem, youll soon learn to recognize which words mean what in order to perform the correct operation. Read the Problem Carefully This, of course, means looking for clue words as outlined in the previous section. Once you’ve identified your clue words, highlight or underline them. This will let you know what kind of problem you’re dealing with. Then do the following: Ask yourself if youve seen a problem similar to this one. If so, what is similar about it?What did you need to do in that instance?What facts are you given about this problem?What facts do you still need to find out about this problem? Develop a Plan and Review Your Work Based on what you discovered by reading the problem carefully and identifying similar problems you’ve encountered before, you can then: Define your problem-solving strategy or strategies. This might mean identifying patterns, using known formulas, using sketches, and even guessing and checking.If your strategy doesnt work, it may lead you to an ah-ha moment and to a strategy that does work. If it seems like you’ve solved the problem, ask yourself the following: Does your solution seem probable?Does it answer the initial question?Did you answer using the language in the question?Did you answer using the same units? If you feel confident that the answer is â€Å"yes† to all questions, consider your problem solved. Tips and Hints Some key questions to consider as you approach the problem may be: What are the keywords in the problem?Do I need a data visual, such as a diagram, list, table, chart, or graph?Is there a formula or equation that Ill need? If so, which one?Will I need to use a calculator? Is there a pattern I can use or follow? Read the problem carefully, and decide on a method to solve the problem. Once youve finished working the problem, check your work and ensure that your answer makes sense and that youve used the same terms and or units in your answer.