Engaging every student has been a perennial challenge for educators. However, research in this area has revealed much about how teachers can design learning experiences that interest students and maintain their engagement.
This substantive engagement in the learning process drives them to become invested in evaluating and reflecting upon their academic growth. Students need to be engaged in rigorous assignments and mentally committed to their assignments.
Lessons must move beyond rote learning and superficial understanding to the development of higher order thinking skills and application of knowledge to new and novel situations.
Here are 10 Ways to Increase Student Engagement:
1. Create an emotionally safe classroom
Emotionally safe classroom settings encourage respectful interactions where children feel they can express themselves without fear. Failure is a normal part of the learning curve and does not mean that a child who experiences it is actually a failure. Children who feel that they are in an emotionally safe classroom feel free to explore, debate, problem-solve and practice. It allows them to easily harness higher-order thinking skills.
2. Create an intellectually safe classroom
Begin each class with an activity that 95% of the class can complete on their own. Activities like this gets the lesson started with everyone on board; feeling confident and ready to participate.
3. Cultivate appropriate intermediate steps
When it comes to project-based learning, building in appropriate intermediate steps can help manage the process with the extra guidance students may need. As opposed to assigning the project with a week’s deadline and cutting the students lose from there, a teacher may decide to create a few steps to do together so that everyone is on board. For example, interviewing an adult may seem intimidating at first, but if the brainstorming and other critical pieces are researched and outlined together as steps, it can make tackling this project a lot more manageable and enjoyable for the students.
4. Practice journal or blog writing to communicate with students
Using the last five minutes of class time to reflect, review, and summarize can prove to be incredibly helpful in reaffirming what students have already learned and also provides an opportunity to get some additional clarity on the points where they are still struggling. Encourage students to reflect on the day’s lesson via their journal or blog. You may also choose to respond to journals with comments to continue the conversation and encourage those reflections.
5. Create a culture of explanation instead of a culture of the right answer
Create a challenge that can be solved in three different ways and encourage students to find all three solutions. This practice helps engage students to think critically and thoughtfully observe different approaches to arrive at solutions. Helping them to practice seeing solutions from different viewpoints cultivates creativity, awareness, and tolerance.
6. Teach self-awareness about knowledge
Encourage students to honestly self-reflect about their understanding before moving onto the next lesson. For example, try creating a formative assessment for each lesson with 3-5 questions to gauge student understanding. The questions can reflect what was taught and also incorporate another component: how the student is feeling about their grasp on the concept. Encourage each student to rate their understanding from 1-3. By helping students to take greater responsibility for their understanding, they will be more apt to take initiative as soon as they feel they need more clarification on the concept.
7. Use questioning strategies that make all students think and answer
In most classrooms when a question is asked, the same reliable hands will raise each time. This issue leads to inattention in the classroom. Another method to everyone participating is to ask a question and have all students give an answer at the same time. One method could be done by coming up with “finger signals”: one finger for ‘yes,’ two fingers for ‘no’ and three fingers for ‘unsure.’ By gauging students frequently using this method, you will have everyone participating in their learning processes.
8. Practice using the design process to increase the quality of work
Many professionals like engineers and artists use the design process to continually refine their work and arrive at their final masterpiece. They often start with a sketch or rough draft and submit it for feedback and continuously refine their ideas based on constructive criticism. By encouraging this process to be used by your students, the quality of their work can improve a lot more than being graded on the initial effort.
9. Market your projects
Making sure students understand exactly why they are participating in a learning activity or engaging in a specific concept is crucial to building trust in their learning environment. Engaging in authentic tasks that help students grow in their lives, relationships increases participation and ownership of the learning process.
10. Give specific feedback often
Giving specific feedback is supportive and helpful in the student’s learning process. Providing specific feedback grounded with evidence enables students to make informed decisions on how to refine their work. They also get a clear understanding of where they stand with their teacher, fostering confidence and safety in their learning environment.
Source: Interactive achievement
DashPlace at 08:02am
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