Students better understand material when it is connected to information they already know or to their own life experiences. Ensuring that students have the prior knowledge needed to be successful in an activity is imperative. Without this background information, they will become lost or quickly disinterested. Another way to keep students interested in the material is to incorporate their life experiences. Each week we review the phonics and grammar skills prior to the weekly skills check. I created several Power Points that included all of my students names and their interests. By being able to read sentences about their peers, the students were more engaged and exhibited a higher level of success at retaining the desired information.
|