Are you a new teacher that needs to speak all day long either live in the classroom or perhaps on zoom?
To be an effective teacher, you need to be able to hold the attention of your captive audience for many hours every single day.
So, if you have trouble holding people’s attention and keeping the room under your control, then this blog is for you.
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INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES:
I have been training speakers, coaches and educators for more than 30 years, and today I am going to share 3 tips that will help you educate, engage and inspire your students of any age!
Let’s go!
Today, we dive into some super handy tips to help you become a better educator.
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TIP #1: SETTING THE TONE .
One of the most important skills for any speaker or presenter to master is the opening. You have to set the tone. Your audience needs to see that you are confident and have the authority to command the room by these three things: The way you walk into the room, the way you stand and the way you open your teaching session. Students can see, hear and feel when you are not in charge. I remember years ago at school, one of my teachers were so ineffective, that the kids would throw things, swear at the teachers and be blatantly disrespectful. It was embarrassing to watch a teacher with absolutely no control over the room. And the worst part is, I almost failed that class because of all the disruptions to the lesson! So, to avoid all this, I want you to take control immediately.
Walk into the room on time, and march in with your head held high as though you are on a mission and have no time to waste. Next, you are going to know exactly how you are going to open the lesson, what you are going to teach, what you expect from the students, and what outcomes they will achieve by the end of the lesson.
If you walk into that room with an air of confidence, organized and well prepared, you will give the right impression right off the bat and be able to set your expectations clearly and succinctly. It may take a bit of rehearsal to look and sound the way you need to but keep at it, and you will improve every time.
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TIP #2: ASKING QUESTIONS THE RIGHT WAY
Many speakers and presenters have no idea how to ask an effective question. Have you ever noticed that sometimes, when a speaker asks a question, nobody is game to put their hand up? It’s not because the audience is defective, it’s just that the speaker has not been trained in knowing HOW to ask a question for maximum engagement.
So, here are two really great ways to ask a question that will ensure the audience (your students in this case) pay attention and engage with you.
The first way is to ask what I call a “bounce question”. This is where you are bouncing the attention over to the audience so you have them thinking about something you said which means they are paying attention!
A bounce question is simply this: A question that you KNOW they will mostly say YES to. Here are some examples for you in the context of classrooms:
If I offered you $100 dollars right now for free, would you take it?
Well, that would be an obvious HELL YEAH right for most people especially kids? If you nodded yes, then that bounce question works for you too.
Now, this is super easy to do, but you have to KNOW your audience, what they want, what they don’t want, etc. So, you will have to think about this a little bit in advance to prepare some easy bounce questions you could ask your students.
The second way is almost as good as the first. Its simply this: ask a question that can be answered by YES or NO.
Here is an example: Did you know that we provide free tutoring after school for those who need some extra help? Hands up who knew this was even an option? Hands up if you have never had a tutor before?
Another simple one is this: Do you like math? If yes, put your hands up. Ok. Who hates Math?
You see, when you are engaging them with your content, they are paying attention.
Do not ask an open-ended question, as the students will go off into their own head and start to day dream about the answer. Bingo! You’ve lost them. So stick to Yes and No questions only. Super simple.
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TIP #3: BREAKING THE ENERGY OF THE ROOM
One trick we learn as speakers and presenters is easily transferable to teachers and is called breaking the energy of the room. For example, if you are teaching a class that requires a lot of heavy thinking time, you will need to break up the thinking tasks with some doing activities.
One way is to hold a quick game or in the world of video we call it a pattern interrupt. In other words, something completely different to the mentally draining activity you are currently doing.
One simple game is called match pairs. It goes like this “Ok everyone stand up at your desk. Now, I want you to go and find someone with exactly the same height as you and stand next to them. (You can have groups of two or more people in a corner if need be). Next, I want you to go and find someone with the same hair color as you and stand next to them. And lastly, I want you to find someone that has the same favorite food as you. Go stand together. “
This game is called a Theatre sports or Improv games. There are literally hundreds of these types of games that are suitable for any age player. It breaks up the energy, adds some fun and excitement to the room and will bring everyone back in focus together. As a bonus, you are actually creating more team work and camaraderie as well to the classroom experience.
Do not forget: Speak up. Speak out. Be ready to be heard because remember: YOUR VOICE MATTERS.
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