Make It Fun

Many years ago I showed the father of a tutoring student how to do a phonics exercise with his son, who had difficulty with reading. I told him to make it easy and fun for the child to do. In a bewildered voice he asked how he could do that. This parent couldn't conceive of reading being easy or fun for his child.

Over the years I've learned more and more about making lessons easy and fun for struggling students. There are several principles that I follow. First of all, new learning has to be connected with the internal frameworks already present in the student's mind. Sometimes the appropriate foundation isn't in the student's mind. In that case, the next learning step is to construct a framework of experiences that will enable the student to derive meaning from the lesson. For example, the biology student who is studying plant classification benefits greatly from actually observing moss or ferns growing in damp places. Likewise, a child who is learning to spell needs to see a letter pattern in several familiar words before being able to recall the pattern. Math students must understand the meaning of numbers and symbols before trying to memorize facts and processes. Math students who attempt to remember without reference to underlying meaning eventually become hopelessly confused.

On the other hand, rote memorization that doesn't connect internally takes tedious practice to acquire. The student who perceives no use for information quickly forgets it. If a student has enough experiences with working hard to learn something, only to forget it soon afterwards, the students begins to actively avoid the task. Work refusal and incomplete assignments follow, and the resulting negativity furthers interferes with learning. Meaningless fact acquisition is discouraging and inefficient. It's neither easy, nor fun.

Of course, projects and presentations seem to take more time than just repeating assorted facts. Many teachers say that they don't have time for such "extras". It seems more important to make sure that the children demonstrate their knowledge of facts by repeating them. Unfortunately, many teachers demonstrated knowledge mostly by verbal repetition when they were in school. They consider the tedium that comes with rote learning a necessary part of education. In their minds that's just the way it is.

How can there be teaching without tedium? There are many ways available today. Graphic organizers, such as pictures graphs, or diagrams, present information in ways that students remember. Graphics are readily available from the Internet and in the newer textbooks. Children can even use a computer at home or in the library to find some for themselves these days. References to previous pleasant experiences can also implant knowledge into a student's mind. Travel to various places makes history and geography fascinating. Playing on a sports team throws light on the study of the human body. In addition, using the information to accomplish a task contributes to the permanency of learning. Students remember the projects they do and the presentations they give. Involving all the senses makes learning interesting and fun. Costumes, music, dance, dramatization, and building things produce enthusiasm and permanent learning in students. We don't have to teach with just lectures, books, paper, and pencils like they did in the schools of yesteryear. We don't have to limit ourselves to the read the chapter and answer the questions method. We have more resources now. Let's use them.

Mary Sue Laing, M.Ed.
Resource Teacher, St. Ambrose School
newskill7@msn.com

by Mary Sue Laing, M. Ed., New Skill, Inc. Academic Tutor