Keeping children engaged throughout the day can be challenging. Children are expected to maintain their attention throughout the day for school, co-curricular activities and tuition classes after school. Naturally, children will get tired and worn out from all these activities. As such, it is essential that your children are interested and hence, absorbing the content during the classes. Here are some ways you can better engage your child during tuition classes.
Incorporate breaks during the class
Children, teenagers and adults alike should take breaks between tasks to help them focus better. Sitting at desks for hours and studying can be tiring, resulting in bored, inattentive students.
One way to incorporate breaks is creating a time-based schedule that includes rest after working for a certain period. For instance, the schedule could be 30 minutes of work and 5 minutes of rest or 50 minutes of work and 10 minutes of rest. This strategy can be adapted to fit your students' needs and attention spans.
Short breaks in between work allow them to give more attention during work time and restimulate them. This gives the children time to refresh their minds and be more effective in retaining content.
Get children to stay focused with a to-do list
Having children stay focused can be a struggle. One way to help them stay focused is to create a to-do list at the beginning of every tuition session. This allows them to understand the schedule beforehand and know what to expect from the lesson. Checking off each task can also encourage and motivate them to get through the lesson. Lists created must be achievable and realistic so that they do not feel overwhelmed.
Use an active learning approach
Teaching tuition and teaching in school has their differences. Students may not be open to sharing with their parents or teachers about their difficulties. Tuition classes allow students to receive special attention and guidance to apply what they have learnt in school. Traditional tuition classes may involve reviewing content, textbooks and assessment books to determine the weaknesses. However, these methods– while they may be effective to some extent– may be repetitive and may not address the fundamental issues the students may be facing.
One way to keep the students engaged is to use manipulative-based teaching methods to keep them actively engaged. Manipulatives are objects that allow students to explore a concept and connect ideas and symbols to physical objects. This can be particularly helpful in subjects such as mathematics and science as the children can grasp the concept in a visual and tactile manner. You can also try out some fun and safe science experiments with your children to help them better understand scientific principles.
Conclusion
Learning does not mean having to go through books for hours and being confined to a desk. When lessons are more engaging, the lessons are more impactful for the students, allowing them to learn more. At Heuristic Science, we aim to provide a holistic learning experience for the students. Heuristic Science is a science tuition centre that offers primary science tuition as well as lower secondary science tuition. If you want something more flexible, sign up for our workshops and science enrichment classes during the holidays.
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