From time to time, as a teacher, lecturer, facilitator or trainer you would have come across the students or participants in your class who displayed signs of frustration at the learning process. They are often openly disruptive and ignoring them in the hope that they might become interested in your lesson seems to antagonize them further. Let’s explore ways of shifting them from frustration to learning?

.

We’ve tried some strategies such as smiling benevolently or ignoring the behaviour or demanding co-operation or threatening dire consequences such as failure only to exacerbate the situation. We know that if we keep doing the same things we will keep on getting the same results, according to the Law of Cause & Effect. Let’s take a road less travelled and see where it takes us … we’ll call this “The 5 Secrets to Learning”.
.

1ST SECRET: CONFUSION IS COOL, FRUSTRATION SUCKS!
Every time a student says she is confused, celebrate your effectiveness! Confusion implies that the brain is seeking to make associations and connections between what it already knows and the new learning. This seeking process is natural and healthy and must be encouraged. After all, we could argue that breakthroughs in understanding and learning are always preceded by confusion, could we not?

.
To be continued …