10 Ways to Invigorate Students after the Vacations

Time is hectic before vacations, lots of things to do and too many things to wind up before the vacation starts.

Just like Christmas and New Year in the western countries, Diwali vacations are short but full of activity at home as it is festival time in India. Before closing for vacations, the school is abuzz with celebrations and activities which are associated with the biggest festival of the year. There are competitions and special assemblies which take place in the school.

Hence when the children rejoin after these vacations, they are still in their slumber. It takes time for them to get used to the academic routine and the daily humdrum of the school and especially of a classroom.

But a teacher does not have to worry. She can make use of these tips to energise the students and help them fall in the routine quickly.

Breaking the Ice-This activity has too many advantages. There are hardly any drawbacks to it. A good ice breaker generally puts in a lots of energy in the

children and eagerly await what is going to happen next. As their curiosity level is very high, they are all set to learn whatever you are about to deliver. 

I generally make it a habit to have a new ice breaker everytime the session starts. This keeps the energy level in me also very high. Once the positive notes flow down to the children, their response is very motivating for the teacher and teaching is a cake walk from then on.

Physical Activities-Come vacations and generally spend some or most of their time relaxing or sleeping late. So they are unable to quickly come in the grip of teaching learning pace which is soon going to come. To pull them out in the slumber and help them realize that it is study time, these physical activities can help you a lot. They will actually set the ball rolling for day one. 

But for any physical activity to take place, the teacher must be cautious and take care that the children are not hurt in her over enthusiasm. Making them do simple physical exercises or making them run around hunting something will help them pull up their socks and your job is already half done.

A tough task- Just to pull them out of their reverie you can also assign a somehow difficult task so that they start trying to apply their brains and come to conclusion. This is a good way to make them understand that it’s study time again.

Outdoor session-After the brief intro session indoors, take them out if the weather is fine. They love to be close to nature. They also feel more invigorated outside the classroom after a long vacation rather than the inner confines of a classroom.

Cutting and Pasting activity-

Abert Einstein has rightly said-“Creativity is intelligence having fun.”

Let the kids intelligence bloom by giving them an opportunity to be creative. Appreciate their work and see how well they respond to the positivity. Teaching would be fun for you and learning would be an easy go task for them.

Decorating the classroom- All of us love a warm and welcoming atmosphere and so the students. Do prepare your classroom one day in advance by putting up educational charts and attractive teaching material. This sets the mood for a welcoming feeling in the classroom.

Proper lesson planning-Vacations is a relaxing time for the teachers and we tend to let everything loose for sometime. But now gear up. Before you enter the classroom, the lesson planning part should be well rehearsed to ensure smooth flowing of the rest of the term. Make a check whether your assignment is ready. Have you calculated the working days and decided upon the curriculum? Are the desired worksheets already planned or will you have to plan it? The teaching aids are appropriate as per the topic or not?

All these checks are very important before the students start arriving.

Creative Writing prompt-

“Writing is the painting of the voice”-Voltaire

Keep a creative writing activity at hand. Do make the children write about their vacations. This is a good idea because a teacher gets to know the happiness or the sadness level in the child. It is then easy to counsel the child or make him proud of his achievements. So nothing gets unnoticed from the eye of the teacher.

Teacher should have a high energy level- High energy and feel good level of a teacher will help the students to fall in line quickly. Do leave your relaxing mode and enter a high charging zone for the benefit of the students.

Rewards and Awards- These have always been a success mantra in the classroom and I feel it will continue to be it forever. Children respond well to rewards and awards. They feel connected to the classroom when they are a part of achievements and recognition.

Vacations will come and go each year. Teachers have to be prepared after vacation to bring a successful end to a teaching year. Happy teaching.

7 Personality Traits of a Successful Teacher:

“Beauty attracts the eye but personality captures the heart.”

This stands true in the world’s most humblest profession-TEACHING

I have quoted in my previous blogs also that it is a teacher’s aura which inspires a child to learn. So if you want to make your teaching effective, you must leave imprints of a good personality in the minds of the child. We have noticed in all fields it is important to have an impressive personality to get the best results or to succeed. Actually success cannot be measured and it is not a constant factor in our lives. We tend to be happy at small amounts of success achieved in our day to day lives.

• For a teacher, every lesson which is well understood by the children will be equivalent to success. Below mentioned are some of the traits that a teacher must possess-

• 1   Humble demeanor-There is a variety of students with different temperaments in the classroom. Some are calm, some are hyperactive, some are attentive, some are distracted, some are focused, some are mischievious, etc. a teacher has to deal with all these children and their behavioural patterns. She has to string these pearls in one thread. Hence it is important that she has a humble demeanour. If she is humble, she will be able to listen and understand their problems or issues and resolve them. Only her humbleness will help her to reach out to every child.

•      patience-This virtue is a must in every individual who wants to be a teacher. If you are an impatient person, delve deep into your soul and fish out this virtue which has been gifted to every individual but they seldom use it. To understand and teach the students, this is a very important part of your persona. You have to speak, teach, listen, solve, understand, deliver, to remove the hurdles and much more.

• 3   A Disciplinarian-All is not well in smiles and laughter. There has to be reprimanding and correction of behavior. As a teacher you must establish what is right and what is not acceptable in your classroom. You must crack jokes to lighten the situation, but you must also control the class and bring them back to teaching and learning environment when you are finished with your humour.

 

44     A Keen Observer-As an educationist, one must be a keen observer. I feel children are like television screens when a teacher is teaching. Keep looking at each one of them from time to time. You will observe who is more focused, who is distracted, who is bored, and who is restless. When we watch television, we see the emotions on the faces of the actors and tend to foresee what is going to happen next. Similarly, if you observe the children very closely, you can predict a mishap and avoid it

55     Hot and Cold-Remember to give a hot and cold treatment to every student in your class. They must not take you for granted. A teacher must be unpredictable. Treat them lovingly for every good deed done and give them your piece of mind when they do not tow in line with you.

66    Freedom-I feel the students must have freedom to express themselves in the classroom. The more they express, the better they learn. They need to quench their thirst by asking questions and the teacher must provide answers to them. A teacher must be liberal to accepting their views in the classroom.                                         

77.  No Ego and Anger-These two negative qualities must never permeate your persona. Strength does not lie in carrying loads, the camels also do it. But the real strength lies in controlling anger and deflating ego. If you let these come near you, your students will be far away and the entire goal of teaching learning will be washed away.                 

                                                                            

To Conclude-A teacher must ingrain all the positive traits in her personality to achieve the ultimate aim of teaching.