Keeping learners interest in block timetabled sessions

[Mazhani]

I am conductig an action research keeping learners interested in a session for the entire 2hour period. What I have experienced is that at the start of the session learners show interest in the topic but when it is 30minutes towards the end of the session, interest levels drop drastically.

This just sends me into panics and I end up rushing through the material so that the session ends quickly. Can I have some ideas of how I could motivate learners into learning from the start to the end of a session?

[busbus]

I am conductig an action research keeping learners interested in a session for the entire 2hour period. What I have experienced is that at the start of the session learners show interest in the topic but when it is 30minutes towards the end of the session, interest levels drop drastically.

This just sends me into panics and I end up rushing through the material so that the session ends quickly. Can I have some ideas of how I could motivate learners into learning from the start to the end of a session?

Good Morning,

I think that learners' interest during a block schedule, particularly when it two hours, is lost because of ill-planning. Oftentimes, the teacher knows the plans while the students are left in the dark.

I would suggest creating an agenda, with the activity time indicated, for all students to see and follow.

As an example, you might -

*begin the period with a "warm-up" assignment
*follow with a "homework check"
*next, a "lesson overview" activity
*next, a "summarizing lesson activity
*then, a homework review
*follow with an overview of another part of the lesson or topic activity
*"summarizing" lesson activity
*assign homework
*prepare room for next class and dismissal

The most important thing is that the teacher is not lecturing for the entire block or that students are talking for the entire block. Activities by teacher and students should be a mixture of things. In addition, try to include activities that address the interests, learning styles and intelligences of the students.

The entire block should be well-structured and organized with different activities. Pay attention to "time on task," based on prior observations, the teacher can expect that students' interest will be lost after a certain amount of time on an activity.

Just my ideas. :)

[Spectre]

the key to any block schedule is to do a variety of things and to keep the action fast paced. Excessive talk (either by the teacher or by the students) will spell trouble as will excessive lag or down time.

middle schoolers have a notoriously short attention span and don't handle unstructured time well at all.