1. Creating a Positive and Challenging Learning Environment by Using Interesting and Innovating Strategies

As teachers, our purpose is to help students empower their skills and develop their potential. We want our students to learn meaningfully, and meaningful learning can only take place in a positive and challenging learning environment. Students need to be engaged and involved in the learning process. For this reason, teachers must constantly find ways to motivate and challenge students. Effective lessons are always enjoyable and purposeful. Here lies the importance of implementing interesting and innovating strategies in the classroom.

The strategies we choose to implement in our classes must be oriented to make our students take an active role rather than a passive one. Classroom discussions, for instance, encourage students to be active participants in the class. There are a variety of “discussion strategies” we can use according to what the lesson objectives are or what topics we are dealing with (talk tokens, extended talk, audience talk, or paired talk). 

Using innovating strategies brings an “element of surprise” into our lessons, preventing our classes from becoming tedious and monotonous. For instance, we can ask students to try unfamiliar note-taking techniques (graphic organizers, or pictorial prompts). Regardless of the area we are working on, it is essential to keep our lessons varied so that students remain engaged. Other area, for instance, could be reading. In this case, we should incorporate different “reading strategies” in the class (keeping a reading agenda, small group reading, silent reading etc).  

Our ultimate purpose, when using new strategies and presenting new challenges to our students, is to make them work outside their “comfort zone” and think outside the box to overcome difficulties they may encounter. Little by little, students improve their critical thinking and create new competences, learning for life.