As educators, we want our students to develop a love of learning. When we are asked to cover a certain part of the curriculum and in a way that engages our students, we may find it difficult to ‘develop a love of learning’. Students can easily feel like they are being forced to eat “stuff” that they need to regurgitate when it comes time to test. Once the test ends, the information that was recalled is simply lost. This just leaves room for the next test. Distribute these tests far enough and you should get what looks like good results. Put tests too close together and you’ll either get poor results or end up with stressed students who may have had to stay up for an unhealthy number of hours, ‘cramming’. They may have passed the ‘test’ with flying colours, but we have to ask ourselves, how much learning has taken place?
We’ve all experienced this when, as teachers, we’ve asked students to recall something they learned for a test they may have taken in a previous year, they can simply reply, “We haven’t been taught that before.” Why is that the way to educate our students? We have spent years of ‘research’ and developed a variety of resources that show us how to do this in as many different ways as possible.
Good teachers get recognition by repeating this process or coming up with creative ways to do essentially the same thing. There is an answer; there is a way to really develop a love of learning that ensures that important information sticks around and real learning takes place. It’s time to discover Passion Learning.