Interest Approach - Lab AEE 412

On September 21st, our cohort had to teach each other an interest approach lesson. I decided to use my greenhouse production class and my lesson was going to be on taxonomy and binomial nomenclature of naming plants. This time around, I was much more relaxed. Last time I was a mess looking for things and shuffling through my papers. I felt more confident and I think I looked better in the Edthena videos.

So What is an Interest Approach?
In my own words, an interest approach comes after the class's bell work or do now is presented before class instruction. It brings excitement and an extremely high amount of curiosity to the table.

How Do I Create an Interest Approach in My Classroom?
I stumbled upon a website that gives some tips for getting an interest approach started in your classroom.
The top 5 tips for getting your students engaged are as follows:
1. Connect what you're teaching to real life.
2. Use students interests' and fascinations.
3. Give students choices.
4. Present information in multiple formats.
5. Teach students self monitoring skills.

The first tip is what connects your students to what they're learning. This will help them retain the materials better. If it is a smell, a memory from a neighbors house, or even a bad memory of getting kicked by a cow, your student might remember what poison ivy looks like, or the muscles in a cow that kicked your student. Think about other things that may be happening in the news. This is real life information and relevant to what they are learning so it will help them remember and think about it in different ways.

The second tip of using students interests' and fascinations is about bringing objects that they know well or know what is associated with them. For my interest approach, I know my students fairly well, so at McGuffey I would have brought items in for the boys to categorize like footballs, basketballs, and maybe a tennis ball too. My girls that I have are into makeup, bling as in jewelry or their belts, and then shoes. This way, students would be able to know that identifying and categorizing things would be easier when it starts with something you really like.

The third tip is extremely important, give students choices. From creating a brochure to a poster, an exam or an essay to deciding if class should be inside or outside. These questions help students create a comfortable learning environment and it gives them some power. Students are told what to do and when to do it day in and day out at home and in the classroom. Sometimes giving them the power and responsibility can be an eye opener of what they come up with and how it can help them learn and keep information.

Another helpful tip is to present the information in multiple formats. From videos, discussions, lectures, demonstrations, field trips and guest speakers, there can be a lot of different ways to convey information.  It is important to know your learners and do what helps them the most. Different formats of speaking, writing, reading and acting out information will help students remember a lesson and the key points.

Finally, it would be helpful to teach students self monitoring skills. These skills can help students stay on task. From the teacher to the student then asking themselves if they are staying on task and focused can increase quality production of work. Another way of administering this would to have students do a self evaluation of a research paper, group project and presentation that they give. It ensures success by having them review themselves by viewing a rubric more than once.

Sources: 5 Tips for Getting All Your Students Engaged in Learning:
5 tips for getting all your students engaged in learning. (n.d.). Retrieved September 22, 2016, from http://archive.brookespublishing.com/articles/ed-article-0212.htm