Improving student engagement is critical in today’s classrooms.
Do you want any of these?
1. You to enjoy teaching.
2. Your students to enjoy school.
3. Your students’ test scores to improve.
4. Your day to pass smoothly and quickly.
5. The administration to stay off your back.
6. Your students to learn!
Then student engagement is what you want to make a science of!
Many permissive teachers with out-of-control classrooms believe they have engaged students. They think, “This is what the kids want to do, and if I don’t let them, they won’t like school.”
The truth is it is quite the opposite. The truth is it is like a sugar high, and in the end, it leaves students feeling bad about how they spend their days.
Student Engagement Defined
Years back, student engagement centered around “time-on-task.” Modern interpretations center on students’ willingness to engage in learning and to engage in learning the curriculum.
1. Are students attending class? When things go great, students attend class. You want your attendance rate to be at the top of your schools. If it is, you are halfway to true educational success. But beware, kids also love to attend crazy, out-of-control classes. They just don’t feel good about it afterward.
2. Are students turning in and completing the daily classwork and their homework? Kids feel a burning desire to get the work done when engaged. They will be trying their best to keep up with the assignments.
3. Are students following directions? When students are not engaged, they continually test the boundaries. They are more interested in keeping up than testing the limits when engaged. Kids will stop chit-chatting with other students when they feel that burning desire to finish their work.
4. What is not there is also important. The absence of negative behaviors and attitudes clearly indicates that students are engaged. You don’t want to see cheating or the destruction of school property. These are two actions that scream, “I am not engaged.”
Monitoring Student Engagement Through Monitoring Cognition and Concentration
1. Students can give feedback on their own learning and engagement. You can use checklists, surveys, and questionnaires to determine students’ engagement. You must develop a great system for this to be truly effective. If you do, you will receive fabulous insights into your students’ engagement.
2. There is no substitute for direct observation and note-taking on what you see and don’t see. You can also maintain portfolios and use rating scales.
3. Use a timer to check for specific behaviors at predetermined intervals. Track their engagement.
How to Use Your Passions to Fuel Student Engagement
Find the areas where you excel and use your passion to engage students.
My passions are math and teaching writing. I became an expert at teaching writing using the Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay writing program. For math, I use manipulatives as much as I can. Since most teachers find math manipulatives difficult and time-consuming, I ended up with most of our school’s math manipulatives. It makes things much easier when you have enough to go around!
Warning: Using math manipulatives too much can be a time vacuum. Inexperienced teachers often get questionable results. Also, you do need to put the time in AFTER SCHOOL for preparation. The more manipulatives you have, the less prep time it takes. If you have a huge box for every group, it solves many problems!
