Incorporating Games Into The Classroom
As someone entering teaching for the first time I found working at a community college to be extremely challenging. My learners had been mandated to attend college from the job centre under threat of sanction of having their benefits stopped. Their attitude was very much ready for “flight or fight” in their first days. The “New Deal” course was a roll on, roll off course and so there was no definite start and end date but a continuous stream of disgruntled learners each week to disrupt the make-up of the existing class.
It became quickly apparent that I needed to engage the learners very quickly to avoid problems. Whilst it would be nice to say that I wanted them to become motivated learners it had more to do with classroom management. Often the learners did not want to learn but simply wanted to pass their time.