Five Surefire Ways To Creatively Engage Youngsters

With a new school year in full swing, I thought it would be timely to share highlights from a presentation I occasionally give titled "Five Surefire Ways to Creatively Engage and Excite Students" which summarizes some of the things that I do in my Life Lessons Personal Development series to get students excited about learning.

Since these strategies have worked so well for me, I thought that I would share them here in the hopes that they will assist you in providing a more robust learning environment for the youngsters and students that you work with, supervise, care for, or serve.

Whatever your role --- parent, educator, counselor, mentor, guardian, etc. --- one of the key things to remember is that youngsters are good at honing in on how you truly feel about them, and can generally discern whether you really care about them or not.

This will make a big difference in how they respond to you.

So along with the suggestions below, I've found that in working with youngsters it helps to be as open-minded, honest, flexible, and authentic as you can when relating to them.

Five Surefire Ways To Creatively Engage Youngsters

1) Ask a lot of questions. Youngsters beam when you show genuine interest in them and in what they know. They love to share information, and believe it or not, they know a whole lot of stuff, much more than what we generally give them credit for. Take time to ask them what they think and then take time to listen to the answer.

Here are a few sample questions you can use:

• - What do you think about . . .?
• - How would you feel if . . .?
• - Have you ever . . .?
• - Who is your favorite . . .?
• - Where did you learn or hear about . . .?

These are just a few ways to invite youngsters into a rich dialog. Once they start talking, look for opportunities along the way to introduce other subjects or ideas into the conversation.

2) Talk with them, not at them. Youngsters appreciate it when you value and treat them with respect. So rather than talking at or down to them by adopting an “I-know-more-than-you-that’s-why-you-need-to-listen-to-me” approach, it’s usually more productive to share what you know simply by talking with them while leaving room for discussion.

Let your wisdom and experience speak for itself. Behind this is the idea that true learning is a give and take process because we are all students of life, and as such, can equally learn from each other.

3) Value their opinions. For this to work, you have to create an opportunity for students to express themselves. Suggestions #1 and #2 are one way to accomplish this. The key is to allow youngsters to express their viewpoints even if their ideas are radically different from your own.

Rather than dismissing or minimizing their opinions, ask other youngsters or students who may be present for their feedback as to whether they agree or disagree with what was said. The discussions that follow can be quite informative and revealing.

4) Use creative repetition. Repeat yourself, repeat yourself, repeat yourself . . . often, but in a playful, fun way. And create room for youngsters to repeat themselves too. Repetition works, and you can make a game out of it as well.

For example, posing the same question in different ways can be both humorous and rewarding. “What did you say? Can you say that again? Did you hear what s/he just said? Wait a minute. I don’t believe you just said that. Can you repeat that please?”

The end result is positive reinforcement through playful repetition.

5) Make learning interesting, exciting and fun. You can turn just about any activity, assignment or lesson into a game that adds excitement, helps youngsters retain information, and transforms otherwise boring material into an enjoyable learning experience.

Youngsters can role play by acting out lessons in short skits, compete against classmates and each other as game show contestants, or even hold court as judge, jury and attorneys to argue the pros and cons of a particular subject matter.

I’ve used all of these suggestions and strategies in my workshops with wonderful results and they really work. So get creative, be imaginative, and let the fun begin . . .!