Education Trends We're Inspired By

As an educator, trying to understand the latest trends and how they can fit into your classroom may be challenging and confusing. However, it is still important to pay attention to these trends as many are based on research and current events that allow instructors to help teach and guide students more efficiently. 

Yet, to help with some of this confusion and better understand which methods may be best for your teaching style, we have compiled a list of some of the current education trends we are inspired by. The following post will provide you with unique ideas that can help not only with your classroom management style but also assist you with improving your students' overall mental well-being. 

Keep reading to find out what they are.

Develop a More Personalized Learning Approach 

A personalized learning approach centers around a customized teaching method based on a student's skills, interests, and strengths. Each student receives a plan developed according to what they know and how they learn best. 

This education trend works because it adapts to a student's needs, allowing them to move at their own pace while still ensuring they do everything the curriculum requires. Plus, because this method is tailored to each student's journey, teachers can quickly figure out problem areas and issues the student is having and take care of them before things get out of hand. 

Implement Genius Hour

Genius Hour is a fairly new movement and educational technique that helps students learn outside a standard classroom setting. Under this trend, students can work on a self-chosen project for an hour each day, allowing them to explore their interests and passions while helping spark creativity and independent thinking skills. This movement started with the need to improve students' engagement in the classroom and help them take ownership of their education to become life-long learners. 

Help Students Practice Mindfulness

Mindfulness allows people to feel present by focusing on what they are experiencing without judgment. Today, teachers are beginning to incorporate the practice of mindfulness in their classrooms to help increase engagement and concentration, improve focus, increase attention spans and self-esteem, and even develop a student's response to better handle stress and overwhelmingness. 

Simple mindfulness techniques that you may want to consider incorporating can include the following:

• Body scans
• Focusing on the five senses
• Mindful breathing

Give Your Students a Brain Break

Allowing students to have a short break to stand up, move around, and even stretch helps them stay focused in the classroom for extended periods of time. The best way to implement this technique is to allow students to have five to ten-minute breaks throughout the day, where they can dance, hop, and eliminate distractions that can interfere with their learning. Not only will this short break reset their energy levels, but it will also allow them to stay on track, retain more information, and help them focus on critical tasks. 

Use a STEAM Curriculum

Although a STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) curriculum is nothing new, many educators use it to provide students with valuable and practical skills. Today, teachers have been adding the arts to this curriculum to help improve the student's overall academic performance. 

A STEAM curriculum includes art, such as physical art, music, language and visual arts, and much more. This inclusion of these arts has not only been known to spark imagination and creativity but ultimately helps students understand STEM subjects better. 

Make Learning Fun

Another trending learning technique is incorporating fun into the classroom by turning learning into games. Gamification is often a strategic attempt to enhance learning by creating similar experiences when playing games to motivate users. This strategic attempt often incorporates point scoring, rules of play, and competition with others to create this gaming opportunity. 

While this learning technique can be incorporated into several educational courses, it is often used to help teach students different languages, vocabulary, and even coding. 

Incorporate Social Learning

Social learning stems from the idea that students learn better when they observe others, events, surroundings, and patterns. As a result, many teachers have been using this trend in their classrooms by having students watch videos, play games, read blogs, and talk to others as a better way to get challenging concepts across. This method works exceptionally well because it allows the students to pay attention longer, retain the information better, and motivate them to continue to learn more. 

Allow Students to Receive Full Points for Late Assignments

Another educational trend that teachers, professionals, and instructors have begun incorporating into their classrooms is not taking points off for late assignments. Rather, they still allow students to turn in their work, even if it is late, and provide them the opportunity to receive full credit. 

However, in addition to this credit, they will also receive a grade focused on organization and planning. This method allows teachers to grade the students on their skills while monitoring those who received low scores on their organization and intervene when necessary to help them focus on time management strategies instead of academic issues. 

The Bottom Line

While these have been some of the more popular educational trends, numerous other techniques and processes can help you inside the classroom, reaching students in ways that will work for them. 

Better yet, you will not have to figure out these processes and trends on your own. At Classavo, we are here to support you in your educational pursuits, providing you with the ultimate teaching and learning tools to improve student engagement.

For further information regarding our programs and other teaching methods that you can start integrating, contact us today for more details.