Instant Connections
Throughout the course of my work as both mentor and private coach I have observed countless lessons and noticed that the majority tend to start in a very similar way, with two distinct phases. During Phase 1 students wander in and spend time getting settled, chatting, getting equipment out, taking coats off and putting bags away. In some lessons this phase takes longer than others. Phase 2 begins with some sort of introduction from the teacher and/or register call. Again, the time spent on this second phase varies but there is an interesting correlation: the more time spent on these two introductory phases, the more restless, bored and unsettled the students become, with less likelihood that they’ll be engaged in the ensuing lesson activities.
Prevention, if you’ll excuse the cliché, is better than cure - so engage them from the moment they walk in the room to maximise the lesson’s chance of success.
In ‘Engagement and Motivation sessions 1 and 2’ we presented several ‘attention grabbers’ - the main difference between those strategies and the following activities is that there is often no link between the attention grabber and the lesson topic. Attention Grabbers do exactly what the name suggests but no more. Imagine a rabbit transfixed by car headlights. Its attention has been grabbed, but it has nowhere to go - except, alas, bunny heaven.
By contrast, with an ‘instant connection’ you will grab attention and steer students on to connect with the lesson topic. Here are some activities designed to engage students as soon as they walk through the door, and make that connection.
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BEHAVIOUR NEEDS ENGAGING LESSON ACTIVITIES