Best ways to make boring topics interesting
Best ways to make boring topics interesting
Not everything in life will hold our interest, but somehow we need to push through these things. Here are some ways to help your students do so.
Interesting your students in a topic is really challenging. This is because there are various factors that affect their engagement. Their lack of interest can be caused by factors like trouble concentrating, family problems, emotional difficulties, and learning disabilities. Of course, there are also times when sheer boredom is the problem and students need to learn that not everything is about fun all the time. Nevertheless, as a teacher it’s still your job to get your students to learn at least the basics of the subject at hand. There are several ways of doing this.
Use Multiple Resources
Your DOST says you should use multiple resources to keep students awake and engaged in the subject you’re teaching them. Studies show that the human voice is very hypnotizing to some people. It’s also something that can cause other people to become really easily distracted. This is why it’s so important to include other things like videos, music, slideshows, toys, games, and special guests into your learning environment for your students to learn from.
Make Learning the Material Achievable
You never want to set yourself up for failure, which is something that you’ll do if you introduce a new topic by saying something like, “This is a really complex subject and you’ll be in trouble if you don’t manage to learn this information.” When your students hear something like this, they’re bound to overreact because they’ve come under pressure. Instead of seeing these messages as a challenge to excel, they see it as an omen instead. This is why you not only shouldn’t make a statement like this, but you should also do your best to tell your students that you have faith in them and their ability to learn the material at hand. As such, you’ll want to say something like, “While this material is complex, you can learn and master it. I have faith in your ability to do so.”
Motivate Them
Using statements like these aren’t the only thing you can do to motivate your students. Step back for a moment and think about what you do to motivate yourself. Whether you listen to the motivational speakers or you set easily attainable goals for yourself, you know what it takes to help you stick to things long beyond when you’d rather have given up. These motivators are things you can also help your students use to make their way through a subject when they feel stuck or they’re experiencing thoughts of negativity and boredom. You can also go out of your way to be an inspiration yourself by taking time to learn and explore new things that you can then share with your students. Herein lies a great opportunity for you to also encourage your students to work as a team. Reminding them that success is never an individual effort can be magical for them.
Make Learning Fun
While you’re bound to encounter some topics that simply aren’t fun, you still get the choice of how you’ll teach this “boring” subject to your students. You can choose to find ways to make these topics fun – or at the very least, more interesting. This doesn’t have to be something elaborate or difficult to do. You can try to create some kind of competition, or game, that helps your students learn the material at hand. Sometimes you can even find songs or videos that will help with this. At other times, all you may need is a funny cartoon that makes your students laugh in such a way that they never forget what you’ve taught them.
Add Humor
Studies have shown that humor has a way of sticking with people. Think about it this way: While you may not remember all the math formulas and science or history lessons you learned in school, you probably haven’t forgotten about the classic childhood jokes you told your parents or friends. The reason for the difference here is simple: You enjoy telling the jokes so they leave behind a good feeling in your mind. This is something that’s easy to reconstruct in today’s digital age where almost all content is available in a wide variety of forms. You can easily find books and videos that are able to add humor to topics you’re teaching by presenting them in a way that makes them easier for your students to remember.
Take a Different Perspective
Helping your students look at things from a different perspective may open their eyes up to the topic’s beauty. While beauty does lie “in the eyes of the beholder,” at least your students will now have another opportunity to see things from a different perspective. As their teacher, Emerging GED Tech says it’s up to you to try different learning strategies with your students to help them find the one that works best for them.
Make it Spectacular
Think about what makes things fun. For instance, reading a comic book is much more enjoyable for most people than reading a novel. It’s important to find things like this because what pleases our eyes will easily find a place in our minds. This is why you should constantly be on the lookout for infographics and pictures that explain your topic in an enjoyable way.
Form a Questionnaire
Create a questionnaire about your topic’s important points then have your students try to find the answers to these questions. Don’t go overboard here. Short, sweet relevant questions that are “fun” to answer will spice up the learning process.
Create a Case Study
While you’re creating materials, make sure you also create a case study that goes over all your topic’s boring rules and examples. This will help your students get to know the subject in depth by seeing how it applies to the real world. Case studies also familiarize your students with real-world challenges so they know all its nuances.
Understand their interests
To make all these things work in your classroom, you must get to know what your students are interested in. By knowing their hobbies and goals you can better relate the subject to their lives.
