How Do We Engage Students in Meaningful Learning? ASK THEM!

This past week I had an opportunity to sit and chat with a group of high school students about meaningful learning and WOW was it powerful! I was blown away by their incredible insight.

Directly from the mouths of students:

• Teachers should provide more hands-on activities for students who need and want to understand better.
• Students get bored by doing nothing.  When a teacher leaves time unfilled in class, students play on their phones, talk to their friends, or sleep.  I want less down time and more learning time.
• Talk to the quiet students on a personal level, making sure they understand the problem. Don't necessarily call on them, just walk over and talk to them one on one.
• Yes, taking notes is important, but once students are done jotting them down they won't look at it until next class.  I want to leave class saying, "Wow, I didn't know that!"
• Students need to learn every day activities such as filing taxes, balancing checks, buying a car or house, how to pay bills, knowing the difference between debit and credit cards, and taking out loans.  I want to be prepared for the real world.
• Some teachers aren't excited about teaching, which makes class boring and no one enjoys the class.  If teachers were more happy and cheerful it would make the class more interesting.  We understand there are bad days, but we have a hard time paying attention when we aren't interested.
• Students normally go with what the teachers say and that's how teachers like it, but we should change up the way things are taught for different ways of thinking.  Is there a way teachers can change up the thinking/teaching process since everyone learns differently?

This conversation has been playing back in my mind all week.  We try so hard to figure out the best strategies to engage students in meaningful learning, yet how often do we ask them? How often do we really listen to what they have to say?  When these students started talking about learning, they were passionate.  They want to learn.  They know how important it is for their future.  How can we tap into our student's passions? How can we tap into our own passions and bring our best teaching and learning to the classroom each day?  How can we make learning come alive for every kid that steps into our class?  What an honor we have to educate our youth and to make a lasting impact on how they view learning.  We need to listen to our kids....they have a lot to teach us.

​

---