Student Engagement
At this time of year, with the pressures of state testing either behind us (or soon to be), how do we re engage our students? There are opportunities to both reflect on what has worked so far and try some new approaches that may require some change in practice and experimentation. Both opportunities will help you keep students engaged in instruction as the year starts to wind down and also start shaping new and more developed ideas for instruction next year.
What are some new strategies you will use to engage students in instruction?
What are some interesting project ideas or instructional approaches you’ve heard about and want to try?
I like to do some theme studies where all the subject are around a theme like the summer olympics, dinosaurs, beaches, or glow day. We make a day or week of it and transform the room into a learning adventure. Kids help pick themes and guide learning to make lessons even more engaging. I also call in parent volunteer to read and share expertise.
I like to do interdisciplinary or integrated projects. For instance, I asked students to make a marble run out of craft sticks with specific required dimensions using only a limited amount of materials. This was tied to the Gringot Wizard Bank’s underground rail to access vaults in the Harry Potter books. To bring in math standards, I gave them a set budget and they had to buy materials from me and do the math during the purchase. The project was done in teams in class and physics standards were used to solve many problems that occurred.
Something a little bit tied to this topic is how we integrate engagement activities into our intervention groups. We partnered with our occupational therapist and now we weave in quick 'mid-line crossing' and/or chair push ups, visual tracking or memory activities inbetween lesson skill development. Quick participatory bursts (i.e. 3-4 chair pushups) help students stay focused. We accompany all expectations with visual flip chart prompts.
One thing that I have done in my class is have the students make a game based on the content they have learned during the year. The students would be divided into groups of 4. I will give examples of different types of games showing students that rules and instructions of the games. The students will then construct their own game with written rules and how the game is played. In the past, I have had students created versions of board and card games, outside games (mother may I with parts of speech) and quiz games. The last week of school we all play the games.
I have been teaching my students about opinion writing. I have modeled it in the classroom by showing books like Hey Little Ant. The students have to decide if the ant should live or not live. I also have given my students a word such as fantastic and they have to see how many words they can make out of that word. When we are learning new trick words I have my students to come up with ways to help them remember the words.
