strategies and learning tasks to re-engage students (including what you and the students will be doing)
“ Students do become behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively involved in the learning activities their teachers provide (e.g., write an essay, solve a math problem), and their extent of effort, enjoyment, and strategic thinking does predict important outcomes, such as achievement. But students also do more than this. Students also, more or less, proactively contribute into the flow of instruction they receive as they attempt not only to learn but also to create a more motivationally supportive learning environment for themselves ( Bandura,
5). Further, “When teachers use effective practices, they maximize the probability that students will be actively engaged in instruction. Student engagement is one of the most well-established predictors of achievement…” (Harbour et al., 2015, p. 5).
Every teacher encounters the challenge of getting students engaged in work in the classroom. While some students enthusiastically walk into a classroom each day, others need motivation and inspiration to focus in school. This issue is significant for school leaders because the role of the school is to provide a place for students to engage and interact with knowledge. If students are not
When looking back on high school, I realize that I typically learned more from teachers who made their classes interesting. By doing so, these educators utilized student interest as method of building a desire to learn. They camouflaged learning in the colors of discussion, making it seem as though we simply were carrying on a normal discourse. But each class inevitably resulted in the acquisition of a better understanding of the subject material. As a student, I found myself wanting to go to these classes. The teachers who conducted these courses made education seem enjoyable and thus created in students a desire to engage in further learning. As a future educator, I would like my class to operate in a similar manner. I want my class to be one that students look forward to attending. Mine will be an intellectually open classroom environment—one in which
Another way to build student motivation and engagement is to give them real world problems to solve. By doing this, natural conflict arises, and students have to work together in order to resolve the conflict and continue developing a solution to the problem. When this happens, students learn so much about the problem they are trying to solve, but they also learn skills that will help them become successful in life.
As I progressed through my undergraduate career, I spent my summers teaching literature, history, and reading at Breakthrough Collaborative in Miami. The program strives to bridge the educational gap of minority students through summer enrichment courses, college visits, and post-secondary education planning. After three summers at Breakthrough, I realized that education is how I want to leave my mark on the world, deciding to pursue a career in teaching. The past year and a half I have been teaching at KIPP Delta Collegiate High School in Helena, Arkansas. My first year I taught three courses in English I
A lack of motivation and engagement are two of the main factors that impact many of today’s middle grades classrooms. With all of the technological advancements made in the past few decades, our societies teaching and learning styles have changed. This generation of students are oftentimes thought of as lazy, entitled, and needing immediate gratification. Perhaps they are rebelling against the traditional “skills and drills” of educational practices by refusing to complete assignments and disengaging in classroom activities.
In the beginning of the semester, I had little knowledge on how to engage students in a lesson. I have learned that there are numerous methods to improve student engagement, but these methods vary with different classes. In the first lesson, I found that the students were “extremely distracted and inattentive” at various points in the lesson. In order to encourage student engagement in this specific class, I found that hands on activities were effective. The students had a short attention span and I found that spending less time on each part of the lesson also improved the students attention and engagement. Keeping students engaged in a lesson is a skill that will improve with experience. I included the image of the raised hands to symbolize how I have developed this skill throughout the
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.
When teaching students (following an initial student assessment) I plan various methods to ensure all students are engaged within the learning process. This can be practical involvement, paired and group work, problem solving, reflection and writing notes. During this time, I am able to continually assess the learning progress through observation, written and oral questions, completion of work books and by using peer and self- assessment. I engage the students by using various mediums, video
Engagement – the fact of being involved with something – (Cambridge dictionary online) is a vague term; it is poorly defined and it is difficult to measure. Student engagement is more than not skipping class, or to pay attention to a lesson; it requires dedication, and feeling of sense. Acting without feeling engaged is just involvement, without being really committed. A student who is not participating but quiet may be as disengaged as the one who is talking or the student who didn’t attend a class (Trowley, 2010). An engaged student is the one who is curious, intrigued, and constantly seems thrilled by a new challenge. Researchers categorized the different types of engagement into three categories that will be explained in the next few points
In this essay I will briefly discuss differences between engagement and compliance and then some approaches regarding motivation and conclude by answering the question of whether or not it is possible to always motivate students?
Engagement within the classroom is vital because it is directly associated with reading achievement (Ivey & Johnston, 2013). Engagement within the classroom proves to be most effective when it emphasizes interest, enjoyment, and enthusiasm (Parsons et al, 2014). As stated by Skinner and Pitzer (2012), “engagement is a robust predictor of students’ learning, grades, achievement test scores, retention, and graduation” (p.21). Engagement is the only way for students to be academically successful, and learn continuously (2012).
They can also help motivate student’s desire to learn by being engaged with both the content and students themselves.