How to Teach Nursing Assistant Class & Make it Fun

Teaching anything can be fun as long as both the student and the teacher are willing to engage in the learning process. Activating motivation is the most important step in moving toward a successful and enjoyable classroom experience. Since becoming a nursing assistant is not compulsory, your students will already possess the motivation necessary for successful learning, now all you have to do is make the delivery of instruction fun! Although some of the suggestions below may seem juvenile, they are all sound instructional strategies that will support both learning and an engaging class.

Tap into your students' motivation by asking them each to share verbally why they are there. Ask questions that will encourage the students to examine with depth the source of their motivation. Use the different answers you get to inform the curriculum you deliver.

Create a warm classroom environment by encouraging discussion and collaborative learning. Arrange the class into small groups for learning tasks whenever possible. Give your students an opportunity to enhance their interpersonal skills (an important part of being a CNA) through communication and cooperative learning.

Play games when there is dry material, such as human anatomy or drug interactions, to cover. Use your students' interpersonal abilities to help them absorb knowledge by arranging trivia games or memory games. Build off of these fact based games as you deliver instruction in order to activate the recently obtained knowledge. Repeat every important piece of information at least twice, but in different ways.

Differentiate your instruction by appealing to many different learning styles. Vary your delivery so that it is not always a teacher lead lesson.