Using "Our Discovery Island" for fun and motivating lessons

Using “Our Discovery Island” to give fun and motivating lesson

Theo NavarroMethodologist

Study InnPearson©

• Motivation is “WANTING to learn”• Motivated pupils work harder and learn

faster• Studies show that pupils who lose

motivation usually get bad grades, participate less in class and have problems with behaviour.

• Pupils who are NOT motivated will usually distract other pupils, so they do not feel “alone” in the classroom.

What is “motivation” and why is it important?

• Motivation is DIRECTLY related to self-esteem. If a pupil doesn’t feel confident, they won’t feel motivated!

• Pupils need to be ENGAGED in class. Don’t talk AT them, talk WITH them. Involve them in the lessons!

• There are many things, such as family, friends, health and other school work, that influence a pupil’s motivation. These things are outside our control. We CAN control how the students feel in OUR classes though!

What affects motivation?

How do we motivate our pupils?

Use the evaluation sheets to give your students feedback on what they have learned. Spending one minute talking to a pupil to let them know that we SEE them can make a huge difference.

When pupils have something to show to their parents that makes them look good, students become happier. Most parents reward positive test scores in one way or another, and this increases pupils’ motivation to continue doing well

Pupils feel a sense of personal accomplishment when receiving high scores. The evaluation sheets do not ask pupils for too much because the designers of the book understand this. The series was designed to not only teach English, but make pupils ENTHUSIASTIC about learning English.

Use visual storytelling to keep your pupils engaged. The “comic-book” style stories allow students to understand a great amount of information, even when they only have a small amount of language to use

• Also, using Acting activities in class promotes “Full Body Learning,” which is EXTREMELY important for young children. Acting gives children an opportunity to “be someone else,” to get up and move, to laugh, to be creative and to practice language from class.

We need to use games to keep our kids interested. Children love playing games, and we should use that active, creative energy to help them learn.

“Our Discovery Island” is FULL of games and activities that do exactly that! We want to ENGAGE the kids. Having them just sit and translate text, or just read a book isn’t good enough for us. We want to use all the natural resources that come part and

parcel with teaching children.Games also help develop children’s logical and thinking skills, helping them not only in our own

classroom, but in all others.

Every game MUST have educational merit, though, games which exist only to “kill time” are NOT welcome in the classroom. The aim is to make

learning fun, not to have fun instead of learning.

What DOESN’T help motivation?

Shouting at the students doesn’t help anything. The teacher loses control of the situation, the child who is being shouted at feels horrible, and all the other children then feel terrified. Teaching children is one of the biggest tests of patience known to man, but we CANNOT fail that test. The people who suffer are the children, as a dislike of the teacher soon becomes dislike of the subject.

Many teachers like to give rewards, these are usually sweets, chocolates, gold stars, etc. While the student who is receiving an award feels great, EVERY OTHER student suddenly feels like they have failed to achieve something. We need to stop giving rewards and include EVERYONE in the praise, not only the single top-performer.

Some teachers try to motivate students by making every second of every lesson fun. The problem with this is that they forget to include EDUCATION into their lessons. Lessons SHOULD be fun, but it is only a temporary fix to a motivation problem. Students need support, structure, fun, achievement and work to feel truly motivated.

Don’t call children names like “stupid,” “lazy,” “slow,” “bad” or “horrible.” Merton, an educational sociologist, defined a “self fulfilling prophecy.” This means that when we label students, our label affects their behavior and performance. Children who are told they are stupid often perform more poorly in tests and in class after being given their label.

We cannot show favourites in class. As teachers, our public motto must be “All of my students are equal.” While you and I know that we are only human, and we DO have our favourites, we MUST NOT let this be seen by any of the students. The “favourites” feel highly motivated, while the others feel like hard work is useless, because they’ll never be noticed anyway

How do motivate OURSELVES?

There are moments when the teacher’s motivation goes down. This

is natural!

As teachers we have to deal with the administration in our schools, our

students, the students’ parents and our own personal lives. This is A LOT!

It is HARD!

In those moments where I don’t feel motivated, I try to think of what my students are seeing when they look

at me. Then I think of a lesson where I was REALLY motivated, and

compare what my students saw then, and what they see now.

Say NO! There are times when our families, administrators, students and students’ parents ask us to a million things at the same time. It is OKAY to say no.

Your students will benefit because of it.

If the problem is your personal life, close the door on it. Don’t let it into the classroom. As teachers, we don’t have the

luxury of being able to have “a bad day at work”. We have to separate our lives from our work. This is DIFFICULT, but our

students can’t suffer because of that.

Using “Our Discovery Island” to give fun and motivating lesson

Theo NavarroMethodologist

Study InnPearson©