The 4 R’s of learning| How to motivate all students

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I recently realized that the last post I wrote on education or educator tips was in October 2020! How did this happen? I am a full time educator and love my job. One of the key components of my blog writing is sharing information about learning and teaching. As you may know from reading my blog, dawnandhope is a motivational lifestyle blog with niches of family, self care, educator tips and traveling. It looks like in the COVID times past year, most of my posts have been about family and self care, hence the need for this post. Today I am writing about the four most important R’s for all students’ learning.

Introduction

So what are the 4 R’s for learning? Why are they important? To actively involve students in learning, be it at a private or public school or homeschooling, it is important to keep engagement and innovation at the core of it. The 4 R’s – Rigor, relevance, relationship and real-life experiences are the basis for any type of learning. The old traditional model of teacher being the sage on stage, and students being on the sideline as passive recipients, is long gone.

Research shows that the traditional way of learning does not work, period. In today’s world, embracing the 21st century skills and getting all our students ready requires motivation and active engagement from students. Engagement and motivation only comes from students who are actively involved in the learning process – be it project based learning, cross curricular projects, design based instruction, or thematic units. Education sectors all across the globe are embracing ways to connect to students to make learning authentic.

In addition to academic learning, meeting students’ social and emotional needs are very important. In my earlier posts, I have written about equality and equity, social emotional learning and culturally responsive teaching. Teaching is an art and science. If you are interested, read this book below by Robert Marzano who has written many successful books for educators around the world. This one includes more than 50 instructional strategies to reach and teach kids.

The 4 R’s of learning

Read on about each of the 4 R’s of learning below to make sure students are learning to the best of their abilities and potential.

Rigor

Rigor means to meet students and challenge them academically, intellectually and personally. As an example, worksheets and multiple choice questions are not rigorous as students may not have to think outside their comfort level. In opposition, asking for an open ended response, doing a debate by taking a stand, having a choice in the way of presenting a project/product, and using dialogues or discussions are some ways to try to make content rigorous for students. In the education sector, the zone of proximal development (ZPD) emphasizes the need for teachers to reach students at their level and then teach them in a way they understand and comprehend just above their comfort zone. Learning should not be too easy or too hard.

If interested, you may read the book “Rigor is not a 4 letter word” by Barbara Blackburn. Click on the below click to buy from Amazon.

Another recommended reading is “Understanding rigor in the classroom” by Robert Marzano.

Relevance

Relevance or students’ understanding of why they need to learn something is very important. Students who are not academically challenged may have this question of Why? Why do I need to learn this? This may be a tough situation for teachers but finding relevance and connecting them to students’ interests gives rewarding results to both students and teachers. Effective teachers make sure to give examples and model how and why the content they are learning has importance and relevance. This leads to better engagement and involvement from students.

If interested, read the book by Robert Marzano about classroom instruction that works to improve student achievement. Click on the link below to buy from Amazon.

Relationships

I believe relationships are the core and basis for all learning. This does not mean that all teachers should know all students on a personal level. No, that is not possible, but connecting with students and taking some time at the beginning of school year and all through the year getting to know your students helps a lot! My personal experience working at both high school and middle school level supports this data. Sometimes students will work just for you, the teacher, even if what they are learning may not mean much to them. There are multiple ways to build relationships with your students. Ice breaker activities at beginning of school year, using homeroom time to have open dialogues with students, giving learning styles surveys, and involving parents/community are just some examples of trying to build relationships with students.

Read this book about how authentic relationships in the classroom make learning real and relevant. Click on the Amazon link below to buy.

For more information about student engagement, you may read this book by Robert Marzano.

Real life experiences

Although we can not take students out of the four walls of the classroom every day, there are multiple ways to add real life experiences to learning. Real life concepts make learning fun, engaging and motivating. Every core subject like Math, Science, Social Studies and English (reading and writing) can be taught in context. It is also doable for elective classes be it art, foreign language or even Physical Health. As I mentioned earlier, using projects for learning topics and units are great way to integrate relevance and real life experiences.

Food for thought

Whether you are a parent or a teacher or a caretaker or a family member, I hope every member of society understands the importance of education. In the 21st century, skills like collaboration, critical thinking, creativity and communication are vital for deeper learning and long term retention of information. When there is hands-on learning, and students are able to connect it using their schema, the real education begins. I love this quote by Dalai Lama.

When educating the minds of our youth, we must not forget to educate their hearts

Dalai Lama

Wrap up

To conclude, authentic learning happens best when it is rigorous and relevant, and has real life connections along with relationships. In addition to academic learning, it is important to have a holistic approach where students’ social emotional needs are met as well.

Dear readers, we would love to hear from you. Do you or your kids have a personal experience with these in education? What engages your child the most? Share any other tip you may have that makes learning fun and motivating for your kids. You may comment below or send an email to nishtha@dawnandhope.com.