How to Help Students Learn Through Themselves

Do not tell the students to “Write about what you did over break.” That is an essay that should never be assigned as it is a filler assignment that holds little meaning to the class unless it was a vocational school for  travel agents. Instead of using the above mentioned idea, why not challenge their thinking?

Here are some provoking ways to do the same assignment while connecting it to the classroom objectives:

• What did you experience that changed the way you think?
• Did you see anything that made you feel different?
• What did you think about what you did and what can you do to make it better?
• How did you experience math over the break?
• Did you see anything we studied in class?
• When did you think about school over break and why?
• What was the funniest thing that happened?
• If you could have taken anyone in the world on your trip, who would it have been?

By simply spinning the question into something more thought provoking, you can segue the essay into a lesson or unit on creative writing, mathematics, science, history, social studies, you name it! Always try to think outside of the box in order to take everyday assignments and make them memorable ones that facilitate learning.

Here are more Articles on Education by the Author

• Teaching Change Management in the Classroom: NTeQ Introduction
• Silent Ball Assessment Game for the Classroom 
• Standards Based Curriculum and Assessment for Teachers 
• Mapping a Curriculum Online for Teachers

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