My First Year Teaching For Student Engagement

The twenty-five stories that are contained in the book, My First Year As A Teacher, are about real teachers and their experiences during the first year of teaching. Each story is different. Some are about memorable students while other stories are about some of the hardships that are encountered as a novice teacher. The diverse sampling of stories in this book gives insight of what kind of problems one might encounter as a teacher, yet they also describe how rewarding the profession can be. I found it rather difficult to choose only ten stories as my favorite but after much consideration and rereading I decided on the following stories because in many ways I could relate to the students as well as the teachers that are given life in these stories.

Engaging students in the classroom can be a difficult task. Understanding the process of how students learn can help a teacher adapt the lesson to meet the needs of all students. I will encounter students that are not intrinsically motivated so I will need to find different ways to motivate each and every student. Understanding how my students learn can provide me with insights as to how to help each student learn which will minimize classroom management problems.

strategies and learning tasks to re-engage students (including what you and the students will be doing)

In order to thoroughly engage learners and their specific brain dominance it is important to discuss subject matter with a big picture approach and then to discuss the details. This will involve learning from the left side as the small details flow into a larger subject. The right side of the brain will also be engaged when learning a subject through visualization of the big picture. In today’s school systems subjects tend to be taught the same: different subtopics are broken up and taught at different times until all material is covered. The big picture of the new material is not usually united to the many small groups of details that create it. This makes learning much more challenging instead of a natural reaction that teachers should strive for.

As a resident of this town and part of this advisory board, I envision a more accomplished yet affordable education for our future generation. As a result, I suggest President Dugan to provide free metro cards to low income students who are registered full time at St. Francis College. Research shows that our current generation do not enroll themselves in college right after high school for several reasons, and one of them being losing their transportation resources.

Brain based teaching can be linked to organizational skills needed to be successful within a school setting. Brain based, also known as naturalistic learning, incorporates the natural way the brain is impacted by circumstances and experiences. Brain based strategies can help student learn and use their organizational skills. Strategies that can be incorporated within the classroom include repetition, use of images, color, movement, socializing, and development of thinking skills. Strategies that teachers can use within the classroom can motivate and engage learners in a practical and relevant manner (Hileman, 2006).

It is important to continuously evaluate the effectiveness of any learning or training program to ensure that the goals or objectives can successfully be met. Evaluation of the merits of a learning or training program are embedded into all of the phases of ADDIE. Evaluation of a course can happen in several different ways- reflective analysis, garnering learner feedback, using formative and summative assessment materials to judge effectiveness of learners are having with the materials and content. This paper will discuss feedback I’ve received regarding the creation of my online course: Maximizing Student Engagement.

Student who dorm on campus will have a lesser effect because not having to travel as much compare to the commuters. According to an article from the National Survey of Student Engagement did a survey back in 2000 and 2001 over a sample population of 105,000 first year students and seniors about their engagement, satisfaction, and management skills. Although this research is investigated on multiple universities and a bigger sample population where there is different setting and other contributing factors, however, the data does correlate and explain the effect it has on commuters.

There is extensive research on the first-year experience and how college affects students during the first college year (Upcraft, Gardner, Barefoot, & Associates, 2005). Additionally, multiple institutional studies have illustrated the effects of first-year colleges, such as University College, on student retention, grade point average, and graduation rates (Strommer, 1993). Further, the uses of NSSE data have illustrated the impact of educationally purposeful activities on student success such as retention and graduation rates (Kuh, 1993; Kuh, 1995; Kuh, 2003; Kuh, 2004; Kuh, 2008; Kuh, 2009a; Kuh, 2009b; Kuh, Kinzie, Cruce, Shoup, & Gonyea, 2007; Pike, 2004; Tinto, 1993). However, there are no empirical studies on how first-year

One of the hardest things about being a teacher is directing student engagement to keep them on track. This feat seems almost unattainable at times, especially when your target audience is a sixth grade classroom full of sugar-drunk, hormone laden adolescents (meant with love!). Bringing strong language arts lessons into the classroom early on will expose young learners to an array of literary tools and devices, and familiarize them with using these methods to increase in baseline literacy functionality and professional development.

The energy during the General Session while Marcia Tate spoke inspired me to go to her session Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites: 20 Instructional Strategies that Engage the Brain. This session was amazing. She taught the session the same way she was teaching us to teach in our classrooms. Not only did I realize I use many of the techniques she employed, but I was forced to think about how I can use strategies such as movement, and Cooperative Learning and Reciprocal Teaching in my online setting. This first session with Marcia Tate had me looking forward to the afternoon as I walked out of her session to meet with a coworker for lunch.

Majority of students come in with pre-conceived notions that math is boring or that they are incapable of doing it. Therefore I plan on changing the students’ mindset by planning interactive activities and lessons. I am not sure what exactly that will look like on a day-to-day basis right now. However I see that as having activities that get them up and moving or having an active role in the learning process. I think that my movement about the classroom will allow for me to monitor students staying on task. I have already been practicing the “look” (or eye) and my proximity to students in the classroom. I also think that breaking up lessons that may seem repetitive or mundane will also allow students to be engaged. This may look like them standing up and working problems out, having students come to the board or stations around the room. I am excited to use the many methods we have learned in order to keep students engaged and focused during my

Using technology while learning, enhances a student’s learning experience. Firstly, using technology, allows students to listen to music while working or studying, which has been proven to have a positive effect. Research done on the effects of music on the brain states that “… [music] improves attention, memory and even your ability to do mental math as well as helping lessen depression and anxiety.” (Goodwin). These are significant characteristics that are needed when retaining information. Students need to be attentive and alert when learning new material.

Keeping students engaged and on task can be, at times, the most difficult part of being a teacher. You have to come up with new ways to engage them and keep them focused on learning, especially at the end of the day when all they can think about is going home.

Reinforcing these ideas, Omar, Hassan, & Atan (2012) found in an online course the goal is to gain and keep the learner’s attention. Furthermore, engaging the learner by utilizing activities that capture their attention and build on their previous knowledge and interests will be beneficial to the students’ growth in the course. Facilitating student engagement and motivation, teachers are encouraged to provide constant and consistent feedback which includes questions and activities which spark reflection (Larsen, 2012). Additionally, the use of reflection was found to be a critical element to designing an effective online course (Iskander, 2014). Larsen (2012) found that one method of creating effective interactivity is to incorporate activities using reflection. Using reflection, learners are expected to communicate how the content relates to their own lives as well as any prior knowledge they may have about the content (Verpoorten, Westera, & Specht, 2012). The creation of activities using reflection effectively can be as simple as the teacher creating ‘dig deeper’ type questions for the students to answer about the content of the lesson. Additional studies by Barrett (2013) and Grosso, Smith, & Grosso (2012) found that effective online teachers facilitate deeper thinking by posing additional questions to students as they answer the initial questions. That is to say, using ‘how’ and ‘tell me more’ type questions will encourage students to fully engage in the