Captivating students is not always easy. In fact, it is often one of the most difficult tasks a teacher has. With the latest technological gadgets and video games competing for their interest, capturing students' attention is critical. If students are not interested in a lesson or determine that it is irrelevant, why would they pay attention? Why would you pay attention?
Teaching is both an art and a science. The artistry of teaching comes into play with your personality. The science of teaching, on the other hand, is the research that supports pedagogy. Like creating an opening for a paragraph, there are many ways to hook a student's interest. The more you integrate your creativity with pedagogy in designing the hook, the more likely your students are to be engaged.
When you try to hook a student, you often have to be creative. The hook doesn't necessarily have to be fun. However, it does have to pique students' interests. After designing and implementing a hook, you may find that it did not engage all of the students. That is completely OK! Although you want to hook 100 percent of your students, it will not always happen. Sometimes, you might find that you engage none of the students. So, what does that mean? The answer is simple: When you implement the lesson again, try a different method for capturing students' attention.
To increase the chances of hooking all of your students, you must get to know them by familiarizing yourself with their learning profiles and interests. If you design your hook based on their needs, you will be more likely to engage them from the onset.
Keep in mind that hooking students is more than just getting them interested in a lesson. An effective hook prepares students for learning and aligns with the lesson's objective. Therefore, when designing your hook, determine the key ideas, concepts, and skills in the lesson and then design your hook around them.
As a classroom teacher, I spend a great deal of time during lesson planning determining how I will hook my students, because I understand the critical role that this engagement plays in every lesson. Sometimes, my hook plays out for one to two minutes; other times, it may last five minutes or more. Honestly, it depends on how intrigued the students are. Sometimes, their discussions increase the time that I initially allotted.
Establishing Problem and Context
When I taught a lesson on water pollution, water shortages, and unequal distribution of water in the Middle East, I hooked my students by establishing the problem and context. When students entered the room, I assigned them to groups, each of which focused on a different country in the Middle East. I provided each group with the following supplies: different amounts of water, different types of water, and a map of the Middle East.
While I gave some groups had a lot of clean water, I provided others with no water, very little water, or dirty water. As a group, the students analyzed the map to find their country, and analyze the location of available water resources locally, or in neighboring Middle Eastern countries. Students had three minutes to analyze the information and discuss their water issues. After three minutes, I asked groups to stand up if they would drink their water. I then facilitated a discussion among the groups about why they would or would not drink the water, possible causes of pollution, possible effects of not drinking the water over an extended period of time, feelings about having clean drinking water or a lack thereof, and the effects of the problems.
During our focused and impassioned discussion, I could discern that students were emotionally connected to the lesson; that is when I knew that they were hooked and ready to delve into learning about environmental issues in the Middle East.
Below are a few of the many strategies I use throughout the school year to hook students.
- Storytelling. Tell a brief story related to concepts or ideas that you are going to teach. From my experience, students who struggle to remember details from reading and direct instruction are often able to recall more details after hearing a story that engages their interest and empathy.
- Setting. Although this strategy can be costly and time consuming, it is likely to get students' attention. When students walk into your room, they will immediately begin to wonder why the room is decorated and make predictions about what they are going to learn.
- Music. Play a song, and ask students how it might be related to the lesson.
- Videos. Show a video connected to the lesson, and then facilitate a brief discussion about key ideas and how they affect students' feelings.
- Presentation. Create a word splash or slideshow of pictures related to the lesson using PowerPoint or Prezi software. Ask students what they know about the pictures and words. Ask them to draw conclusions about what they will learn.
- Word sort. Have students complete an open or close (or fill-in-the-blank) word sort related to the lesson. For some students, this will arouse their curiosity and help them focus on salient details during the lesson so that they can return to the vocabulary activity and complete it with accuracy, using their new knowledge, after a lesson.
- Artifact. Display an artifact and ask students to think about how it relates to the lesson. Then ask them to develop questions about the artifact. Prioritizing the students' curiosity will motivate some to seek answers, which means that they are intrigued.
- Questions. Facilitate a discussion using thought-provoking questions related to the lesson. For example, when I taught a lesson on the world wars, I posed the following question: When is war necessary?
Developing a hook is critical to gaining students' interest in a lesson. To create effective, meaningful hooks, use your knowledge of pedagogy, infuse your personality, keep students' needs in mind, and connect the hook to the learning goal.
