Getting Their Attention Before Teaching
By Adam Cirnigliaro
EDI 600 Psychological Foundation of Education
School of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
June 2, 2009
Yesterday we discussed a topic that I have found to be one of the most important aspects of teaching a lesson. It is critical to initially engage students and grab their attention. Using a concept that is novel to them and gets them to participate is a crucial strategy. The lesson will intrigue them, also allowing them to make the information personally relevant. Students are much more likely to process information when the subject has individual meaning to me. Another important reason to do this is it will help cut down on disruptive behavior. One major reason children do not pay attention is because they are not involved in the learning process. By eliminating boredom, students will be too engrossed in what they are learning to act inappropriately.
Another theory we examined during class was the information processing theory. I was surprised how difficult it was for me to remember my partner’s phone number. Even after only 20 seconds, I was unable to accurately recall the information. After learning more about it, the reason I forgot made more sense. We exchanged numbers by also including our area codes. The problem was that there were ten numbers, or ten bits of information. We can only process 5-7 bits of information at a time. I think if I had tried to chunk the numbers together in groups of three, I would have been more successful. Many of the other students were more successful because they only exchanged the seven digit number. The information was going into my sensory memory, but it was not processed into my short term memory.
I was successful at learning the Chinese words. I believe one of the reasons was because the teacher grabbed my attention. The teacher also used strategies to help us recognize the words. She linked them to English words that created similar sounds, making it easier to remember. We also recited the words many times, creating a lot of repetition. I talked to a student who took this course during the previous fall semester. I told her how we learned Chinese words and she immediately began to accurately recite the words and their meanings. This shows that the way the information was presented was an effective way of presenting the material and allowing her to store the words in her long term memory. I was surprised how effortlessly she recalled the words, including some that we didn’t go over yesterday.
Long Island University, C. W. Post
June 2, 2009
Yesterday we discussed a topic that I have found to be one of the most important aspects of teaching a lesson. It is critical to initially engage students and grab their attention. Using a concept that is novel to them and gets them to participate is a crucial strategy. The lesson will intrigue them, also allowing them to make the information personally relevant. Students are much more likely to process information when the subject has individual meaning to me. Another important reason to do this is it will help cut down on disruptive behavior. One major reason children do not pay attention is because they are not involved in the learning process. By eliminating boredom, students will be too engrossed in what they are learning to act inappropriately.
Another theory we examined during class was the information processing theory. I was surprised how difficult it was for me to remember my partner’s phone number. Even after only 20 seconds, I was unable to accurately recall the information. After learning more about it, the reason I forgot made more sense. We exchanged numbers by also including our area codes. The problem was that there were ten numbers, or ten bits of information. We can only process 5-7 bits of information at a time. I think if I had tried to chunk the numbers together in groups of three, I would have been more successful. Many of the other students were more successful because they only exchanged the seven digit number. The information was going into my sensory memory, but it was not processed into my short term memory.
I was successful at learning the Chinese words. I believe one of the reasons was because the teacher grabbed my attention. The teacher also used strategies to help us recognize the words. She linked them to English words that created similar sounds, making it easier to remember. We also recited the words many times, creating a lot of repetition. I talked to a student who took this course during the previous fall semester. I told her how we learned Chinese words and she immediately began to accurately recite the words and their meanings. This shows that the way the information was presented was an effective way of presenting the material and allowing her to store the words in her long term memory. I was surprised how effortlessly she recalled the words, including some that we didn’t go over yesterday.
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