Would you rather have a perfect lesson that’s instantly forgotten or one that’s messier but helps students retain learning? It’s frustrating when students forget concepts previously taught. Learning should be permanent and retrievable. These five mini moments can boost motivation, engagement, and retention to make learning stick. At its core, it begins and builds upon students’ critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
These mini moments are built on a SMILE:
S = Shine Showcase
Prompt question: How have we or someone in this class helped us learn?
This first idea allows students’ strengths to shine. In this 10-minute activity, students showcase their superstar skills around what they know. Our job as educators is to bring out the best in our students. This activity shines and highlights individual and classroom strengths.
At the beginning of a lesson, ask students what they already know about the topic. Collect these ideas on chart paper or digitally. Ask students to think about their biases, their beliefs, and their expertise around the subject.
After collecting their responses, take a moment for self reflection about their learning journey. Create a list of positive ideas that directly relate to the learning journey. Students are exploring and realizing their own academic growth.
Keep this chart and their positive posts handy so they can revisit at the end of a unit to see their journey. Keep it available throughout the lesson to capture their learning. Use it to remind students that failure is part of the journey, but with the skills they possess and the support of their peers, they can keep learning moving forward.
By taking a few minutes, you are using strategies of active recall and awareness around how the learning is happening (metacognition). You are also building a collaborative learning community and reinforcing a positive identity where every student’s journey is valued.
M = Motivate the Matter
Prompt Question: How does (insert learning objective) connect to something you care about or a real world problem you see?
Student motivation is the golden ticket to making learning sticky. Students need to see themselves in the learning process and understand how the content makes sense to them. In the first idea, we recognized that failure is part of the learning process. Here, we want them to persevere beyond failure. We need students to be passionate about learning and find ways to clear the roadblocks for their success.
Take a few minutes to connect the subjects to real-world concepts.
- Propose an authentic application, such as creating PSAs or persuasive essays.
- Identify the Challenge by having students complete this sentence: “I struggle with, but I’m motivated to keep trying because I know it could help me with…”
- Explore careers where the concepts taught are relevant. For example, I need to learn geometry to pursue a career in engineering, game design, etc.
It is up to you and your students if these concepts are explored personally or shared within your classroom community. What is most important is creating those synapses between the student and the learning objectives.
When focusing on intrinsic motivation, you are exploring choice, relevance, and authenticity, which are all essential for fostering retention of the information. By creating a personal connection, students will feel more embedded in the learning. This will also foster a growth mindset and increased engagement.
I = Inspired Superpowers
Prompt Question: Envision yourself doing or using (your content) to inspire opportunities beyond the four walls of the classroom?
If your learning objective is to analyze primary sources or explore a concept, you can inspire students to see the potential within themselves.
For this activity, use your favorite digital platform that allows you to post text, images, or links. Remind students what the learning objective is first. For example, let’s say they were exploring a character’s development. Have them find a quote that relates to the character’s journey. Alternatively, have them create their own mantra to connect with the character.
Take their quote or mantra and have them generate an AI image. Have students use an AI chatbot to explore the meaning behind their quote or to chat with the main character. Encourage students to be creative and innovative to showcase their learning.
Take this further by connecting with another class or people in the careers you are exploring. Encourage your students to learn from others authentically. Host a global event or join one offered by companies like Take Action Global.
Expand horizons, open doors to opportunities, and make learning relevant. By creating connections between the content and its real-world applications or future technologies, you inspire the next generation of innovators.
L = Learning Connections
Prompt Question: What have you learned? How can you communicate the learning to others?
We might love what we are teaching, but students are not always as enthusiastic. Fostering a growth mindset will make learning last.
To achieve this, we need to establish a connection between the content and the learning.
The best way to have students showcase what they have learned is to have them immerse themselves in the process from start to finish. For this activity, consider using a digital or physical bridge that allows students to demonstrate the connections and simplify the concepts they have learned.
Use this as a way to visually represent the progress students have made from the initial concepts to the end of the unit.
Active, multi-sensory learning fosters a deeper understanding and creativity, moving students from passive consumption to active interpretation.
E = Elephant Tamer
Prompt Question: Think about a specific obstacle (the elephant) you’ve faced when learning. What distractions and other obstacles, both external and internal, did you face?
Have students write the following:
- Describe the elephant that made learning difficult. This can be a list of obstacles and feelings, a word cloud, or a visual image that showcases the struggles.
- Identify three solutions that helped ‘tame’ the elephant.
- Conduct a class discussion to help students learn strategies from each other to overcome learning obstacles. Reflection is a way to foster that growth mindset and open up a world of possibilities.
Apply these mini moments to anything you teach. It transforms learners from consumers to active innovators and creators through strategic, provoking strategies. It closes the loop in the learning process, making the learning more sticky. Students will be more motivated and engaged because they feel a sense of ownership in their learning.