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Indicator 24 – Energy and Enthusiasm

Delivering Instruction

Presenting Instruction

Indicator 24 - Energy and Enthusiasm

Effective teachers are energetic and enthusiastic and display a clear interest in their subject matter.

IDEAS/SUGGESTIONS:

  1. If you are enthusiastic about your subject and show this interest to your students, they will absorb your excitement.
    • Avoid falling into a rut and find yourself doing the same thing with the same notes, day after day or year after year.
    • Make sure you are knowledgeable about what you are teaching.
    • Stay up-to-date on changes in your content and/or curriculum.
    • Be creative in your classroom presentations. Always try new things.
    • Be animated when presenting a lesson.
    • Share relevant personal anecdotes, and encourage students to share their personal experiences.
  1. Allow students to feel successful in the classroom. Strive for student mastery of each core concept.
  2. Enthusiasm frequently comes with the involvement of both the students and yourself in the lesson, especially if the lesson can be related to personal experiences.
    • If the lesson concerns great explorers, talk to students about doing things that present anxiety and fear of the unknown. Ask students about their first few days at a new school or a new summer camp to help make personal connections to the content. A teacher may ask, “Why did you feel this way during the first few days at your new school?” or “Why are we uncomfortable when we do something for the first time?" The discussion can then proceed to broaden and examine the feelings of explorers as they traveled in unknown countries.
  1. Keep students anticipating by doing unusual things to introduce new activities:
    • Set a mood for a lesson on discovering new worlds by darkening the room and hanging up a banner "The Sea of Darkness." Tell the class, "Let's pretend we are on the Pinta. We have been at sea for two months. It is now completely dark, and the only noise is the roar of the sea and the creaking of the boat. What will we run into in the darkness? What will our destination be like? Will there be any people? Will they be hostile?"
    • Similar questions in similar situations stimulate profitable discussion and help create student enthusiasm.

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