Teaching is a work of art. However, teaching is hard. Teaching is hard because as educators we have to prepare lessons and content to teach to our students, but we must also ensure that our students are engaged at all times in order for them to learn as much of that content as possible. Students that are not engaged, are students that are not learning. That is a fact, and I know there is research out there that supports this idea. Marzano, a man not unknow to the world of education knew this fact about students. With this he created a classroom model on how to keep students in the classroom engaged in order to make sure they are learning.
Among all things with teaching engagement single handedly starts with solid classroom procedures and routines. The more that students have these down, the more engaged and into learning they are going to be. Just think about it for a moment, when students have less opportunities to goof off because they know what is expected of them and these routines are in place, they know that their purpose is to learn. If students don’t have any solid classroom procedures and routines, there are more opportunities for them to either goof off by themselves or get a group of friends to goof off with. It seems to me that everything in the classroom loops back around to solid classroom procedures and routines.
Another way to make sure students are engaged is to be relaxed, confident and focused. Easier said than done, right? Being confident relaxed and focused stems from simply being PREPARED. If you put in the time to prepare for class the next day or week, you are going to feel confident and relaxed. If you know the learning standards and targets that need to be met with each lesson, then you are going to be focused and looking towards the endgame. Now that’s not me saying that its all rainbows and unicorns from just being prepared, we are thrown curveballs everyday in the classroom and there is no way we could be 100% prepared for that. But, if students know that you are confident, they will be confident. It’s also important to keep in mind that students need positive affirmations and feedback when they are doing good in the classroom – don’t let this go unnoted.
The most time consuming yet rewarding thing to engage students is to think and brainstorm new ideas and challenges for the students to engage with. Engage students with a new game, a new project-based learning project or even by telling them stories that make the content relevant. Students are intrigued by the littlest things. Even starting a math problem with, “hey guys, I have a problem and I really need help solving it. My husband told me that I could, but a new gaming system and I need to know which one I have enough money for, and here I have these coupons, can you help me out?” This simple lead in could add a level of engagement to learning percent’s that you didn’t have before. Think of new ways for students to compete an assignment or learn content and this will help them become more engaged and ready to learn.
Marzano also said to make the learning meaningful. If learning is relevant to the students, they are going to be more hype about learning it. If they have no idea what you are talking about and they have no idea how it applies to them, they are going to look at you like you have five heads. When we speak on engagement, we just have to realize that students are programed to want to learn, thus we have to make learning interesting so that they WANT to learn.
Miss Trone 