Introduction to Teaching

Retention Strategies

 

Let your students know, from the beginning, that you’re interested in them as individuals and their progress in the class. Students tend to work harder and respond more positively if they believe the instructor is genuinely interested in their personal learning goals and success. Once your students realize that you care about them as people, you are well on your way to a rewarding class.

 

Create a sense of community in your class

People learn best when they are engaged and their intellectual curiosity has been sparked. Make sure that your first lesson has an exercise that gets students to talk to each other or engaged in a problem-solving activity.


Students will probably come to class with questions about you and the class content. In your opening remarks, address their concerns about prerequisites, the workload and expectations, the appropriateness of the class to their learning needs, and your abilities as a teacher.

 

Here are simple teaching techniques that are very effective ways of letting your students know that you care about them. These techniques will help you set the tone for the rest of the semester.

 

Greet the students as they enter the room

Think of yourself as the host and the students as the guests. Creating a friendly and inviting atmosphere, gives you and your students a sense of belonging.

 

Take attendance

This is a prime opportunity to make eye contact, to check name pronunciation, and to let your students know you recognize them as individuals. Address your students by their preferred names. You will be amazed at how much difference it makes to speak to your students by name. To help yourself learn names, you can play name games as icebreakers at the beginning of class. For example, give the students a few minutes to interview the student to their left. Each student then introduces his or her colleague. Another is to have each student say his or her own name--the twist is that each student has to repeat ALL the names before theirs. Let people take notes, of course, and make it as much fun as possible. Other choices are to create name cards, seat maps or any memory prompt that will help you recall names.

 

Open your class with survey questions

Simple questions can help you gauge the students, lets them tell you something about themselves and starts to create camaraderie for the group. For example, at the beginning of a class on Web design, a teacher might ask, "How many of you can use a word processor?" or "How many of you have taken photographs before?" By reminding students of previous, relevant experience, you'll help them feel confident about learning new skills. Equally important, those few minutes of interaction at the beginning of the class help to set a tone of mutual attention and respect.

 

Hand out and address the course syllabus

One activity is to break into groups, read the syllabus, and then have each group pose two or three questions about the course or the instructor. This can help the students get to know each other, the expectations of the class, and you.

 

Finally, personalize the class material

Once you know a little about your students, through introductions and name games, use what you know to create examples and stories that have relevance to their lives. For example, use geographic locations, occupations, hobbies or activities that might be familiar to class members.