Looking to hire a new early childhood educator? Look no further than the student teachers that will be graduating in 2017 from Plymouth State University’s Early Childhood Studies department!
I recently had the privilege of teaching these impressive students for a second time this semester. Our focus was investigating how to create and plan an effective instructional unit. We also delved into difficult questions like “Why focus on engaging your students when planning?” and “What is the biggest challenge to engaging students?”
Well, why focus on engaging your students when planning? Looking at definitions for the word engage you will find phrases similar to “get and keep someone’s attention” or “to hold the attention of” and “induce to participate.” Are we as educators looking to get and keep out students’ attention? Do we desire to hold our students’ attention and induce them to participate? Absolutely! Why? Engaged students are invested learners.
Here is an analogy I presented to PSU’s students about the importance of focusing on engaging your students when planning:
Olive Garden wants to create a new entrée. They get their top chefs and administrators together to discuss various aspects of the entrée. They consider very carefully the ingredients, the complementary appetizers and sides, the compatible beverages, the perfectly-sized portions, and also the appearance of the entrée. But they forget one thing – how the entrée will taste!
Creating a lesson without focusing on how to engage our students is like making an entrée without considering how it will taste to the customers. Yeah, it’s that important!
And what is the BIGGEST challenge to engaging students? Is it making the subject matter appealing? Is it exhibiting an attractive teaching style? Is it planning instruction that produces quality lessons? Is it classroom management that creates an effective learning atmosphere?
When considering this question, Dr. Elisabeth Johnston’s students wisely came to the conclusion that the answer to this question is most likely dependent on the teacher’s strengths and weaknesses. They also pointed out that it is important for teachers to be aware of their own weaknesses so that they could work hard on improving in these areas. I was in total agreement with their insight, and impressed with their self-awareness in such an early stage of their educational career.
When all is said and done, I did advise PSU’s Early Childhood student teachers that I believe that creating effective teaching experiences can boil down to the following:
- Instructional planning that focuses on engaging students by preparing, reflecting and refining our lessons
- Classroom management that is constructed with a foundation of trust between teacher and students
Okay, so I didn’t get to my second point (epic fail on the instructional planning of my own lesson) but I intend to! I am excited and thankful to be preparing, reflecting and refining my future lessons for PSU and other colleges/universities around New Hampshire.
Click HERE for the instructional planning method I have created to support both new and seasoned educators
Click HERE for the classroom management fundamentals I have created to support both new and seasoned educators
Thom R. Smith 