Facilitating Classes That Strengthen Student Engagement

1. Facilitating Classes That Strengthen Student Engagement Lindsay Estes lestes@howardcollege.edu

2. You will leave with…. • 9-low prep ways to engage students during class

3. Background • Why is student engagement important? • After two weeks we tend to remember… P A S S I V E 10% of what we read 20% of what we hear 30% of what we see A C T I V E • 50% of what we see and hear • 70% of what we say • 90% of what we say and do Edgar Dale, Audio-Visual Methods in Technology, Holt, Rinehart, Winston

4. Write • Describe a time your students were highly engaged in class. • What do you believe contributed to this engagement? Content, process, structures, planning?

5. Share • De-brief

6. Balance Engagement Independent Work Partner Work Teacher Talk Group Work

7. Ways to Engage to Students Prior to a lesson During a lesson After a lesson

8. Activate Prior Knowledge Anchor Learning happens when you connect new information to existing information

9. Activate Prior Knowledge • Should be: • Low Risk/Low Stakes • All students should be able to contribute something • Focus on what the STUDENTS know • Connect what the students know to what they will be doing

10. Vocabulary Predictions • Post images and/or key vocabulary that will be taught/used in the day’s lecture • Using the vocabulary, students write a prediction of what they will learn or discuss • Students share predictions

11. Vocabulary Predictions • Import Export Expansion • Using these vocabulary words write a predication of what we will learn about America’s growth in the 1800’s.

12. Talking Drawings • Introduce new topic to students. • Give students a few minutes to draw whatever comes to their mind when they think of the topic. • Lecture/Present new information • After the lecture, have students draw what comes to their mind related to the topic. • Next students write about what changed in their drawing and why. • Students share with a partner.

13. Activate Prior Knowledge • Up-front/front loading • Its worth the time • How could you use some of these engagement ideas in your classes?

14. During the Lesson Engagement Ideas • Serve as Checks for Understanding • Break up the monotony of “sit and get” • Allow students to discuss and process new information directly after receiving it

15. Roll the Dice • Teacher introduces topic and presents information • Half-way through the lesson, students “roll the dice”

16. Roll the Dice • Roll the Dice: US’s Involvement in WWI 1--Predict 2—Explain- the difference… 3—Summarize…3 key ideas 4—Evaluate…Do you agree with… 5—Question…Write 5 questions 6--Connect to Prior Knowledge

17. Quick Talks • Quick Talks (Energizers/Checks for Understanding) • At mid-point of a lecture, stop and have students give “quick talks” about what they have learned so far. • Students get in teams of 3-4, they must speak for 60 seconds to share all they know about the topic (WITHOUT STOPPING); when one stops talking, the next one must start. • Give student teams a few minutes to prepare, but only have 1-2 teams share.

18. Questions • Half-way through the lecture/lesson, stop. • Have students write two questions they have about the content of the lecture. • Collect the questions and answer.

19. During Lesson Engagement Ideas • How could you use some of these ideas in your classes?

20. After the Lesson--Ideas • Assimilate and process information • Learn from others • Checks for understanding

21. The First Word The First Word • Assign key vocabulary from the lecture to groups or pairs of students. • Students generate a short phrase or sentence for each letter of the word vertically

22. The First Word First Word Examples: • Sun is the star at the center of the solar system • Orbits are the paths that planets take around the Sun • Lunar eclipses occur when the Moon gets blocked by the Earth • Asteroids are big rocks that orbit the Sun • Rings-- the planet Saturn has them

23. The First Word • First Word Examples: • Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun • You can see some planets with your naked eye • Some other planets are: Earth, Venue, Mars, Jupiter, Pluto, and Neptune • The Earth is the only planet with life on it • Every year, the Earth orbits the Sun once • Mercury is the planet closest to the Sun • Lipton, L., & Wellman, B. (1999). Patterns and practices in the learning-focused classroom. Guilford, Vermont: Pathways Publishing.

24. Chalk Talk • Silent activity • After the lesson/lecture, post a question(s) on the board. • Students write a response to the questions on the board. • Students respond to each others’ writings by simply drawing a line from the response and writing their thoughts.

25. Word Wall • Key Vocabulary • Interactive • Connections • Shows understanding

26. Word Wall • Key words from today’s lesson Roll the Dice Vocabulary Predictions activate prior knowledge The First Word Quick Talks student engagement Talking Drawings Chalk Talk

27. Word Wall • On your own: Choose two words from the word wall that you did not know prior to today. What do they mean? • With a partner: Using five words from the word wall, describe…

28. Share • Choose one strategy that you could use with your students. How would you use it in your classes?

29. Remember • The hardest working person in a classroom should always be…. the student