Imagine yourself in a room full of kids, running in all directions, doing what they want, and making too much noise that you can’t even call their attention. If this situation catches you on a bad day, you’re done for!
Being a teacher in the 21st century can be challenging. Kids today have a wider range of skills and learn at a faster pace that you’ll need to keep up with them to be effective. There are tools, such as classroom kits or worksheets that teach students how to write, that have been available for teachers to help them conduct better classroom learning. But one of the best tools a teacher must have is creativity. As one of the 4 C’s of the 21st century student’s learning skills, creativity plays a crucial role in teaching as well. Here’s how you can be creative enough in your classroom for your already creative students:
Think Out of the Box
This is another way of explaining what creativity is. It’s improvising when you need to or seeing things in color instead of just black and white. Try to approach a specific lesson from different angles. Then you’ll be able to come up with learning activities for it that are out of the norm. As your students experience doing things differently, you’ll also encourage them to express themselves the way they want to.
Overplan
When teaching the younger age range, it’s important to have a lot of arrows ready to shoot when needed. This is because children aged 5 to 7 years old only have an attention span of 10 to 25 minutes. Those 25 minutes can probably only happen when an adult is also focused on helping them. Having a list of activities ready is important so as not to bore your active-minded students. This is one situation where overplanning is a necessity.
Be Ready for Diversity
Kids’ minds are more advanced today than when you were a child. Because of this, they have more reasons to try new things, test which activities they like or don’t like, and express more emotions. You may have one student who’s proactive, one who’s an introvert, and one who’s been overprotected by his family, all in the same class. You’ll have to be ready to know how to manage each one of them if their day goes bad. When kids feel that their teacher understands them, it encourages their inner strength and creativity.
Make It Personal
Teaching a child requires emotional stability. Children don’t respond well when they know that their teacher is angry, distant, or not paying attention. You should know your students individually—not only by name but also by their hobbies, their favorite colors, or their favorite cartoon shows. Knowing these things will help you create a more personal atmosphere in your class and motivate them to bring out their true personality.
As a children’s teacher, you’ve been given a skill that not all educators possess: the patience to manage a lot of kids all at the same time. Every teacher has her own creativity that she can use to her advantage. Incorporate these tips in your teaching method, and you’ll be shaping your students into the confident, successful adults they are meant to be.
