5 Tips to Make Teaching Aids MEANINGFUL AND AWESOME

Teaching Aids can help teachers to make teaching more meaningful if used well in the class. Effective use of Teaching Aids can enhance students' memory of the topic being taught and can create concrete connections.

Well, here are 5 tips to use when preparing your Teaching Aids to make the learning meaningful and awesome:

1. Adapt the Teaching Aids  to the learning objectives

When planning teaching and learning, review the objectives. Ask the question: Are my Teaching Aids in line with the objective? Are my Teaching Aids pitched too low or too high for the students? For example, if we want to teach students how to fish, we should not take a bike and teach them how to ride a bike. Teaching Aids need to fit the objectives we want to achieve!

2. Encourage students to participate in learning activities

This is important. Use Teaching Aids that can stimulate students to develop a sense of involvement. Use Teaching Aids that can add to their curiosity and desire to connect education with other things in their lives. Let Teaching Aids help them to continue to explore and exams the knowledge that they have learned.

3. Clear descriptions and instructions

The Teaching Aids may be powerful but the information is hard to understand. This can create a problem. Maybe before we use them in a class, once in a while try to practise how to use the Teaching Aids to make sure they are easy to use and help the pupils understand. Make short notes if necessary. If our explanation of using the Teaching Aids is complicated, maybe it is the time for us to consider to use simpler Teaching Aids or another method!

4. Not only looks beautiful but has a high impact on students' understanding

Beautful Teaching Aids are good but they must have an impact on the topic to be taught. Even if you decide to only use a stone, that simple stone makes our lessons a big hit! The important thing is not that that our Teaching Aids are attractive but that they are engaging, and can attract students' attention. If they don’t look good the first time you see it, don't worry, remember it’s what you do with them. Remember - don't judge a book by it's cover. So let's focus on the impact of Teaching Aids.

5. Understand students’ multiple intelligences

Remember multiple intelligences? For example Visual-Spatial, Linguistic-Verbal, Bodily-Kinaesthetic, Interpersonal, Intrapersonal, Logical-Mathematics, Musical and Naturalistic. No matter how good the Teaching Aids are, always remember that our students have many different ways of learning. So make sure our Teaching Aids suit the topic and their different intelligences. Sometimes use songs, sometimes use concrete materials and sometimes use blank paper! Explore students’ multiple intelligences. 

Any other tips to add?

PS: Keep calm, relax and ideas will come to you!