The Challenge of Student Engagement
Carolyn Boyles
May 26, 2008
Having students engaged in learning and invested in school has significant payoffs at the elementary level as well as through secondary schooling. At the younger grades, the engaged student is less likely to engage in inappropriate and off-task behaviors or to mentally "check-out" on active learning. Students at the middle and secondary level who are engaged in the academic and social aspect of schooling are less likely to drop out of school or become disenfranchised with school before finishing.
While engagement does not take the place of effective planning and focused teaching strategies, it does provide teachers with a more willing recipient of that effort. How then do we keep them engaged? Based on researchers who have looked at student engagement, there are three factors that can improve engagement of students throughout their school experiences if they are used to guide decisions that educators make about choices of activities, scheduling of students, selection of materials and organization of space, time and energy.
Providing students with activities that are meaningful and interesting are more likely to capture and hold the attention of learners. That means that teachers need to know and understand what is meaningful and interesting to their students by understanding their developmental level, life experiences and cultures. If teachers are to apply new skills to real life experiences of students, it is imperative that the application is real to the students - not just the teacher. If a teacher has students use math skills to solve a real situation in their neighborhood or town, it should both be relevant to the student and respect their community. Applying lessons from science to understand environmental issues, or having students write letters or stories for real audiences are other ways to make content more interesting. Using students' names in word problems gets their attention.
Most students become frustrated when most of their tasks are too difficult and failure is anticipated. At the same time, students become bored when all tasks are too easy and they are not challenged by their assignments. It is important that students are provided with challenging but achievable task. Students who read at lower levels can be provided with alternative sources of the same information so that even the most at-risk learner has an opportunity to interact with text and understand the content. There are websites that will search for content at requested reading levels to reach the students who can understand at a higher level than they can read.
Being organized for instruction and using students' time and efforts with respect contributes to student engagement in several ways. Students of any age lose interest when they have downtime, wait-time or wasted time. Instead of having students raise their hands to respond and wait to be called on, have a way for all students to respond - white boards, cards, thumbs up and down, etc.
The first part of any lesson, class period or block are important times to capture students' attention. Students need to have engaging activities as soon as they enter the classroom to decrease inappropriate behaviors or mentally "checking out" for the period.
The organization of materials and their appropriateness for the tasks are also ways that maximize students' engagement in assignments. Teachers need to plan in order to be ready to teach with well-planned lessons and materials ready. Spending time at the beginning of every class searching for pencils, paper and other activity supplies can take the enthusiasm out of any learner. Instead have a supply of the needed tools for students' use and have students help to keep the supply stocked.
Strategies that are marketed for home and personal organization can be very effective in classrooms. Using colored file folders, hanging shoe holders for supplies, and well labeled cubbies and shelves help teach students organizational skills. Well organized teachers and classrooms communicate higher expectations for success and respect for the learner.
There are many ways to engage students that utilize these three concepts. Use them to assess the learning environment for this upcoming year. It is important for teachers to know their students well and to understand the components of engagement in order to grab students' attention and to keep it.
