Joshua Miller Blytheville Middle School 7 th Grade Math Student Engagement

Discussion What does engagement look like? How do you use engagement in the classroom? How can you redirect student behavior in the event a student becomes disengaged?

What is Active Engagement? Refers to the joint functioning of motivation, conceptual knowledge, cognitive strategies, and social interactions in literacy activities Involves providing opportunities for students to meaningfully talk and listen, write, read, and reflect on the content, ideas, issues and concerns of an academic subject.

Active Engagement and Motivation Factors affecting the development of extrinsic motivation in a school setting: Compliance Recognition Grades Factors affecting the development of intrinsic motivation in a school setting: Level of challenge offered by tasks and materials Quality and timing of feedback to students about heir work Supports and scaffolds available to learners Students’ interest in tasks and content Nature of the learning context

How can I engage my students? Have multiple student-teacher interactions Be an effective teacher Use different strategies to engage your studentsw Have effective classroom management skills Distractions cause trouble Plan carefully, have deep knowledge of curriculum Deliver instruction effectively Zone of Proximal Development

Student-Teacher Interaction The most direct way to increase learning rate is by increasing the number of positive, or successful, instructional interactions per school day. It is important that students who need extra instruction to gain skill mastery get that instruction in a timely manner. After initial instruction, teachers need to determine who will benefit from reteaching or pre - teaching in small group and/or one-on-one.

What is an effective teacher? Awareness of purpose Task orientation High expectations for students Enthusiastic, clear, and direct Lessons consistently well prepared Students on task Strong classroom management skills Predictable routines Systematic curriculum-based assessment to monitor student progress

Knowledge of Curriculum Know the components of your subject Instructional content Instructional design Strategies Learning styles, activities Routines How will you transition? Sequence of Instruction Direct versus indirect instruction Assessments Formal or informal?

Active Engagement and Direct Instruction Components of Interactive Direct Instruction Teacher-directed learning. Teacher serves as the instructional leader for students, actively selecting and directing or leading the learning activities. High levels of teacher-student interaction. Students spend their time interacting with the teacher either individually or as part of a group as opposed to spending most of their time in independent study or seatwork.

Zone of Proximal Development Created by Vygotsky. The difference between what an apprentice can do without guidance and what he or she can do when assisted. The teacher’s role is to assist the students in moving through the zone to become expert users of their new knowledge and skills. Always maintain at least a 6-10 foot distance between students Anything above 10 feet may cause distraction and disengaged learners

Scaffolding Temporary devices and procedures used by teachers to support students as they learn new strategies To scaffold effectively Anticipate student errors Students tend to struggle and will need that extra assistance Conduct teacher guided practice vary the context and difficulty of the task within the assignment between your strong and struggling learners Provide feedback directly from the teacher, or through peer observations Recognize when it is appropriate to fade scaffolds

Discussion What are some ways you can keep engagement up now? Will you change anything in your classroom routines or transitions? You have five minutes to come up with a scenario in which one person is the student and one person is the teacher. The student will become disengaged during class time. The teacher will implement strategies to encourage the student to become engaged. The audience will critique and come up with alternative solutions to keep the class engaged.

References Active engagement strategies: projects/projects/garf/Georgia%20Active%20Engagement %20Strategies.ppt Active engagement strategies: projects/projects/garf/Georgia%20Active%20Engagement %20Strategies.ppt