Meaningful Lessons

It is important for students to be able to see why they are learning about something and to be able to connect it to their lives.  I’m sure we have all had a student who have asked “Why do we have to learn about this?” I believe a vibrant learning environment means that students are able to see themselves why the class is learning about a specific topic and wouldn’t need to ask this question.

There is a teacher in my school who is teaching a student who moved here from up North and it is the second time taking Social Studies 8 for him.  He came from a much more flexible learning environment, and struggled to adjust to the rigidity of learning in a large high school.  This teacher has made a point to include information about areas closer to where he is from without drawing attention to him.  She integrates this seamlessly into her lessons and as a result he is much more engaged in her class than he was in the same subject last school year.  Her efforts to create meaningful connections has made a significant impact in keeping this student engaged.  She makes this effort for all of her students in trying to integrate what she finds out about them into her course, thus creating a meaningful, vibrant learning space. 

Lessons are meaningful when “students have the opportunity to link their classroom activities to real-life experiences” (Relojo-Howell, 2017, para. 5).  This is an important thing for teachers to do, so students are more engaged and feel motivated to contribute.

 

Reference

Relojo-Howell, D. (2017, October 9). 5 Ways to Make Learning More Meaningful to Students. Psych Learning Curve. Retrieved January 22, 2023, from http://psychlearningcurve.org/learning-more-meaningful/

Comments

  1. Kendra10 February 2023 at 13:52

    Your post highlights two ideas-students' background knowledge can have a powerful effect on students' learning and when content seems relevant, students may be more engaged in learning tasks. Our division focuses on helping students to develop conceptual understanding of which there are three phases-acquiring a concept, making connections between concepts, and transferring these relationships to real life. I apply this to my teaching in Science by organizing unit projects where students apply concepts learned to authentic, real-world problems. Thanks for sharing what this looks like in some of the classrooms at your school.

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