If you take teaching to seriously, you will never get out!

We’ve all had THAT teacher. The one who sounds like a broken monotone record that reads aloud from the textbook – and face it, it killed our souls. In today’s interactive day and age there are so many opportunities to not be THAT teacher. Smiles and excitement is what any teacher wants to see in their lessons. Those little bright faces that just don’t want the period to end. But how do we refuse to be boring teachers and have more fun? We all know that exercise gets those happy hormones flowing, just think of what an energetic teacher can do for a classroom full of intrigued little Jekyll and Hydes? Making teaching fun isn’t all about interactive lessons and smart boards, according to Saga Briggs, Managing Editor of InformED these ten teaching tips are sure to make your life and the life of your students less dull.

Discover new things together
It’s much more fun for both parties when students and teachers learn new things together. Your job is, of course, to educate, but why can’t that process include the joy of shared discovery? Make a point each day of letting down your authoritative guard, humbling yourself and enjoying the lifelong journey together – even if it’s just for a few minutes.

Incorporate mystery into your lessons

Learning is the most fun when it’s surprising. Don’t just word vomit the info, cloak it in mystery. Highlight the weird, the unusual, the unique. Ask questions. Start with a curious detail that can only be addressed by diving into the background of the subject and thoroughly exploring it. Pose a mystery at the beginning of the course and let your students work towards solving it throughout the term.

Be goofy; show you care and you know you want to!

Let your hair down and make fun of yourself once in a while. Don’t worry about sacrificing your authority. In fact, the latest research says authority stems from showing you care about your students and making them laugh and feel good is one way to do that. Remember those endorphins!

Participate in projects

Step down to the students’ level. How about bringing your own material to school for a class project and working on your own “presentation”? There is nothing like a bit of healthy competition and setting the standard…

Avoid “going through the motions”

If you feel yourself slipping into a rut, spending the same hours exactly the same way each day, stop and reassess your teaching process. It’s so easy to let it all become automatic AND overly dramatic, especially after twenty-plus years in the field, and to use the same lessons and techniques year after year with different students. But if it’s not fun for you, it won’t be fun for your students either. Make an effort to be fresh, try new things, take risks, make mistakes, enjoy the moment.

Flip your lessons

Flipping your lessons will help you avoid boring in-class activities. If students watch lectures or correct their own homework the night before, you can spend the course period focusing on deeper learning. Everyone will appreciate the chance to reflect on, instead of repeat the material.

Review, but don’t repeat material

It’s important for learning and memory to review new material regularly and to integrate it into the bigger picture shaped by old material. Spend an hour or two each week reviewing material from the past few weeks, but always position it within old material so that students see how it all fits together. Simply repeating new information represents a missed learning opportunity.

Share your passions

Show students how you have fun. Passion is contagious. If you’re having a good time, chances are your students will too. Talk about life and incorporate some personal experiences into lessons. Students sometimes like to know they are not learning from a robot…

Laugh at your students’ jokes

Students sometimes ARE the jokes, but that can’t necessarily be said out loud. The best teachers I’ve ever had got a genuine kick out of their students. It’s one of the best ways to ensure teachers and students have fun: enjoy one another.

Replace lectures with conversations

Why should teaching be so passive and aggressive at times? Engage your students in a casual conversation like you would a good friend. They are human too (even though it doesn’t always seem that way.) This doesn’t necessarily mean asking more questions, but it does require a stylistic shift whereby you and your students are actively exchanging ideas – not just responding to them.

Teaching is very much like life in general – you need to sink or swim. When life gives you lemons, grab the tequila and turn a negative situation into a party. Students especially love a party, so be the life of it!