Tips for teaching Teens

Worgan M. describes some aspects of the teacher- student relationship that have worked for her and hergroups.

1. The First Day: The first few days are crucial to the way the course will run. This is the time when the students will make unconscious decisions about what kind of teacher you are and it is essential to let them know that, while you may be relaxed and friendly, you will not accept any nonsense.

Make sure they are conscious of the amount of work they will be doing both
in and out of class if they want to reach their objectives (pass a course or an exam, learn English, etc.) Most teenagers expect to have to put in a bit of effort, and this usually motivates them. It is really important that they feel motivated.

2. Being strict: Research has shown that firm but fair teachers are preferred by this age group. Many times teachers are tempted to treat a group of sixteen year olds as adults, but the fact is that  emotionally they are not. If you talk to them as if they were your friends or peers, they will often use this as an excuse not to study or do as you ask.

At the end of the day, most teenagers
don’t have the maturity to choose learning over fun and games and it will be much more difficult to get them to
put in the required effort. However, this doesn’t mean that teachers have to be strict all the time!

Students should be rewarded when they work hard and rewards, such as games and other fun activities, can be a great
incentive to get the task done. Transmit the idea that you are in control of the class, this is something teenagers consider as a qualification of a good.teacher.

3. Short-Term goals: For the teacher, the school year may fly by, but for the average fifteen-year-old, though, a year can be a very long time. Set them regular,
achievable goals in order to keep motivation as high as possible, and discuss and negotiate these goals with your students keeping them involved.

4. Motivation: Worgan M. mentions that one of the questions teachers of teenagers constantly ask is “How can I motivate them? They aren’t interested in
anything!” They usually don’t like the books and the topics in them. If you ask teenagers what topics they would like to cover in class they, usually, don’t know or
will come up with just a few.

Even if you bring in materials about their interests they will most probably show very little enthusiasm. The problem is not the actual topic of the lesson, but the type of activities involved.

I have used the following activities with
teenagers and they have worked well. Imagine you have a text about someone who found a bottle on the seashore. In the bottle was a message which was written many years ago.

Instead of just asking your students to read, tell them the story from the writer’s point of view from the beginning, but stopping before the end.

Now ask what happened next, encouraging all kinds of funny answers and, then, get them reading! The gist of it is to find fun ways to exploit the materials they already have in their course books.

5. Humour: A good laugh now and again can motivate teenagers to want to come to class. Make up stories or ask them to help you solve a problem or to introduce a grammar point that they actually know. My favorite problem-solving activity used to be a story which was partially true.

I would tell my students that I had
received a horrible birthday present (an orange blouse for example) from my husband and I didn’t know what to do with it, without hurting his feelings. The students would come up with all sorts of solutions, have fun and, actually, practice their English.

This will give you and the students an opportunity to relax. They will be much happier about working when they notice the teacher is prepared to tell a story or
joke. As a follow-up activity you can ask them to share similar problems they have or have had and their peers should suggest solutions.

Teenagers will be eager to
participate (as long as it is done in English) and our teaching objective will have been reached (2 nd Conditional: if I were you, I would…).

Effective Teaching Methods for Teenagers
Louanne Piccolo states in her article Teaching Teenagers: How to Motivate and Interest

Them, that t eenagers look for meaning and significance in relation to their own lives in what they are taught. An intelligent teacher will use this knowledge to personalize their lessons and relate this to what is going on in the lives of the students at the moment.

Teenagers want to know about now, and not about what happened a hundred years ago! Keeping up- to-date with technology and the topics that may interest teenagers may take a lot of effort on behalf of the teacher, but it is of utmost importance to getting and holding their attention.

Most teenagers like to talk about themselves, what they think, what they don't like and are quite emotional; so, teachers must be creative and organize activities like sharing journal entries or writing articles for a magazine students have created themselves.

This allows students to express themselves freely and talk about a topic they are interested in: their own ideas. Piccolo further explains that, prior to learning, teenagers need to know why they are doing something, how it can help them and how it relates to their lives.

Although everyone prefers interesting classes, this is not always possible. Teenagers are aware of this and even though they are, generally, in favor of fun they know that good learning takes an effort.

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Six Resources a Teacher Should Use When Teaching Teenagers

Piccolo suggests six resources which help put teaching methods into use, through appropriate and adapted
activities.

Here are some particularly useful resources when teaching teenagers:
Not quite-yet-adults and not-still children is a difficult thing to be. The average teenager is an inquisitive contrast of innocence and worldliness and has a thirst for knowledge that is endless, in spite of the fact that
their interests, emotions and frustrations vary enormously.

A teacher who understands the characteristics of a teenage learner, effective teaching methods and the resources to put those methods into
practice, is a teacher who will motivate and challenge a teenage class to learn with interest.

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Multimedia boards are coming into Lagos Classrooms

The Lagos state Government has concluded plans to acquire 2,000 multimedia interactive solutions for all secondary school and Tertiary Institutions in the state to replace the traditional chalkboards.
The state will also host the first Cambridge-Hitachi Virtual Teaching and Learning Center in Nigeria. The state Governor, Babatunde Fashola stated that the government would be partnering with Cambridge-Hitachi to make the dream a reality.

A statement on Tuesday by the Director, Local Organising Committee Cambridge-Hitachi Virtual Teaching and Learning, Ms. Adebukola Oluderu, quoted  Fashola as saying the move was to upgrade the educational sector in the state.

Fashola said, "All tertiary institutions and secondary schools, totaling about 10,000 in Lagos state, will have the multimedia interactive solutions in each of their classrooms to replace the traditional chalkboards which will allow for world-class teaching and learning."

Oluderu said the state's partnership with the company was a result of a roundtable meeting on education in Africa held in October 2014.
According to Oluderu, the decision of the state government was indicated in a bid forwarded to the Hitachi Group for tertiary and the secondary schools in the state. She added that the meeting was yielding result with the Lagos state Government pioneering the hosting of the center.

Oluderu said a team of delegates from the state would meet with the Cambridge-Hitachi team at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom to sign the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the commencement of the center.

The multimedia solution is vital and important to teaching and learning as it is the hub in which the gains of the Cambridge-Hitachi International Virtual Teaching and learning Center will be transferred and transmitted to all schools," she added.

The Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, said the approval given to Lagos State to host the center was based on Outstanding  performance, availability of infrastructure, and the determination of the state government to improve teaching and learning quality in the educational sector.

What it takes to be a teacher?

A teacher they say is expected to be an epitome of knowledge, creative, inspiring, motivating, a Role Model, just to mention a few.

We are challenged in terms of :

TIME: Most of  our time is spent on school work- writing lesson plans, thinking of institutional media, marking home works, test, examination scripts, observing kids, making evaluations, member of a School committee, ensures discipline,do publicity for our school sometimes, take kids on excursions, visits to places, etc.
We hardly have time to look after ourselves although people in other sector thinks we have more time than they do.

WORKLOAD: The workload of teaching as it involves research, mastery of the topic, directing classroom activities,understand facts, realities of the society, the concepts of each topics and its dynamics - whether Abstract or concrete, understand the values of the society and how it can be related to the topic, etc.


LOW PAY : We are the least paid, with no regular salary, no special bonuses, no extra time pay, least appreciated by parents and School Management. When there is a slight issues between us and parents the school authority would prefer to only hear from the parents and all they do is sack us straight away, if everyone should be sacked at every little mistake they make, no Good teacher would be teaching today. Employers think they are helping us by giving us employment.... Hmmmm.
Even parents detests us to a great extent having seen the way school management treat us.

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT:  After getting lesson plan ready, we have to ensure the classroom is well arranged with the needed materials, kids are not in danger, learning is achieved, kids are not fighting, kids are participating in teaching learning procedure, ensure the class is neat and condusive for learning.


COMMITTEE: We are also active members of the various school committee - school events, yearly activities, Teacher's welfare, etc.  We are expected to also give in our very best, we organize school events, school outings, etc.


PARENTS & COMMUNITY :  We ensure that we have cordial relationship with the parents as well as the community because we are in many ways representing our school within our community.


After doing all this and lots more, we are the least paid and appreciated.

Over the Years these trends remain, Nigeria is 54 years Old today
We need make up our minds as Good Nigerians not to :

Never look down on our Teacher's

Please always respect and honor our Teacher's, we actually train and teacher our professionals in all others sectors of the economy

3;
I would suggest we need;
A labour force to protect unfair  treatment of teachers by their employers

Teacher Labour law to protect our teachers against unruly activities of our Primary and Secondary school teacher mostly from our private School owners

Proper Enforcement of the Teacher Labour Force if they really exist  by honest and diligent Nigerians.

If need be we need to set up laws to has to do with our teachers are work so as to see that we too are truly diligent with our work as we need a revamp of the image of our Profession.

Happy 54th Independence Day NIGERIA !!!!

Our Ideal School 2

TEACHING - LEARNING ASPECTS:
The students should have more project works so that they can enlarge
their creativity.

There should be a specific period where the teachers and the students can share new ideas and knowledge about different and innovative things.

The students must be allowed to the extra curriculums, as some students might like singing and dancing and others might have interest in sports.

Study tours should be organized each year to allow students swell their knowledge about certain things.

CURRICULUM:
Every school needs a curiculum upon which every subjects, extracurricular activities are based on.

The adpoted school curriculum should be well implemented and adequately followed.

SOCIETAL BALANCE:
The students should also have idea about their culture and society.

The teachers are the most important part, because an ideal school must have ideal teachers.

There have impactful, colourful school evemts frequently

The students will learn from their teachers just like a new born baby learns from his parents.

TEACHING STAFF:
The teachers must be well trained and adequate enough.

Besides having the ability to teach the teacher should also know how to motivate the students.

Our Teachers should be of integrity, modesty, true role models, approachable.

Our whole life depends on how we grow up just like a building depends on Its foundation.

An ideal school can be said to be:

It is intellectually stimulating.

It is safe.

It has positive energy.

It reflects the interests and cultures of all the students.

It is a place students wouldn’t mind visiting even if they weren’t in class.

It reflects the challenges students have faced and conquered within its walls.

It is a place in which studying the English language is interesting, fun, challenging, and seems worth every minute.

It is a place of change and growth brought about by learning.

It uses other types of tests that affect the psychomotor, affective domain of a child apart from the standardized tests are not accurate measures of intellectual growth and only make students anxious about going to school.

Some of this looks unachievable for schools just starting up and a lot of fund is required, Nigerians why not unite with other small schools around the location legally to do big things as one.

This shows that we love each other more and the impact in the lives of our students are more important than our egos.


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