8 Ways to Make Lessons More Interesting.

  It is always a challenge to make lessons more interesting, especially math.  It seems that many times, we learn to teach the same way we were taught and the more modern books still follow the same basic pattern.

Lets look at some ways to improve your math lessons so students become more involved.  We have to catch their interest.  Remember, their minds will wander about 50% of the time.  These ideas are designed to help keep their attention for a longer period of time.

1.  Include a story so students have a better chance of relating.  The story might be about a basketball player (probability) or a famous chef, or even yourself.  The story can be about the origin of a concept, how someone grappled with it, or any thing to catch their interest.

2.  Create a hook. The hook could be a real world problem, a way of looking at a problem, or an interesting problem.  It could be a video, or other way of getting their attention.  "Teach Like a Pirate" is filled with ideas that can be adjusted to the math classroom.  I've made a few trailers to let students know what was coming in the next lesson.

3. Let students know the main points.  This should not be done once.  The material should appear throughout the lesson. Its important they know what is important in the lesson.

4.  Use images rather than words because the brain remembers pictures.  You need to connect the images to the story or the material. 

5.  Connect the math to when they will use it in real life so they don't have to ask the question "When will I ever use this?" 

6. Instead of going from abstract to concrete, begin with the concrete example so they can see how the math works before going to the abstract general formula.  Since students seem to be spending less time outside, they do not always have a grasp of certain topics like velocity, gear ratios, etc.  Its better to begin with the concrete examples.

7.  Use technology when possible for the drudge work in math such as finding statistical deviation, or the length of a curve. 

8. Ask more interesting questions rather than relying on the standard ones. As questions based on situations rather than just calculating  For instance, the questions could ask about the shape of a graph based on the acceleration of a skier going down hill.  It involves no actual math.  Simple sweet and easy.

We have to make sure we have our student's attention so these are some ways to make the class more interesting.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.