Why are we learning this?

Students change, they are no longer the humble students of our time who accepted every proposal of the teacher without murmuring. What does formative assessment advice on the question "Why are we learning this?"

If we do not take up the challenge and answer that question, we may "lose" many students.

Some teachers have a constant answer to this question - We are learning because it will be in the exam. However, such an answer does not satisfy reflective students.

So what to do so that such a question does not destroy our idea for a lesson?

A few suggestions that come from formative assessment that may work:

The key question

Develop a question about the topic of the lesson that students want to answer. It is not an easy task for the teacher, because you need to develop such a question before the lesson, know that it is inclusive for students and plan the lesson so that it can be answered.

Must Read: Teacher “ stop!

Objectives of the lesson

Provide students with the goals of the lesson, i.e. what we are striving for. Formulate them in a way that students understand. Do not use sophisticated vocabulary as students will not associate it with specific skills they wish to learn. Make sure students know what the aim of the lesson is. You can just ask them about it!

Understandable criteria

The criteria mean: how will we find that the goals have been achieved. First and foremost, the criteria must be understandable to students. If a teacher gives a criterion of the form "You will use compelling evidence to justify your perspective," then that is a criterion for the teacher rather than for the student. It is better to formulate this criterion like this: "You will formulate your pin so that it will be difficult for other students to deny it."

It is necessary to summarize the objectives of the lesson by verifying certain criteria.

Asking questions and reflecting

During the lesson, ask students questions that will encourage them to reflect on the topic they are learning.

It is worth pausing and reflecting on the stages of getting to know the topic. Students can be asked if they think the goal and criteria have already been achieved, or if they can already answer the key question.

Finally, it is worth summarizing the lesson with the students, what was important in it, what they learned, what was easy and what was difficult, what surprised them, and maybe why (in their opinion) we learned it. Thanks to reflection, the answer to the title question of this artical may come to mind.

Students' question - Why are we learning this? It is worth using them in the learning process of our students.