Are you ready to begin your lesson?

As a writer, I query a lot to major magazines. I have learnt the importance of saying a lot but in just a few words.

I suppose effective lesson beginnings are like a strong pitch to an editor. You have to do something to grab your students just like pitching your story.

Editors are also very much like students - they need to be engaged and quickly!

And like editors, students want to feel a sense of connection with their teacher.

So on that note, learning the art of effective beginnings is a real lesson for many new teachers because of the trickiness involved in building a connection.

Obviously, your aim is to engage all students 100% of the time but there is also the element of classroom management. So how is it possible to do that in just ten minutes and yet still build some sort of connection?

The trick is to build personal touch with students (in smallish doses) consistently with each student over a period of time which will have the full class effect. Don’t worry if you haven’t built a personal connection with all your students. Some students won’t respond as positively to the personal touch and that is fine. Students will notice and feel the kind of person you are and will connect to you in one way or another. The most important thing is not just keep to your role as classroom manager teaching academic content.

After all, you are not teaching x number of students, you are teaching 30 INDIVIDUAL students with individual needs. There is a real difference.

You will begin to also notice that building this connection will also affect how well you are able to engage your students right from the very minute you enter their class.

If they don’t feel a connection with you however slight as it may be, they may not necessarily feel compelled to learn. with that said, I’m not suggesting you go out to be their best friend, but connecting with your students does not necessarily begin with teaching academic content.

So in order to help you build the right classroom environment for starting a lesson, pay attention to the following issues, which can substantially affect the ‘pitch’ of your lesson.

1. Is the class calm enough? Maybe your class would use a little more personal contact with students. Start small. You don’t have to have a lengthy conversation just say something short and sweet like: “I noticed how well you did during that football game - well done!” Just keep it genuine.

2. Pay attention to external circumstances - temperatures, excessive heart, the time of day.

3. Entering the classroom with a smile on your face is humbling and brights up the room. A smile brings the students closer to who you are.

Have you entered this month’s giveaway? The end of the month is quickly approaching and this month’s theme is “Back to School.”