Tips and Strategies for Student Engagement

Student engagement can literally feel like pulling teeth at times. Should I be hanging from the ceiling fan? Tap dancing? Wearing a costume? I mean – MAYBE. Just kidding! Here are a few ways to pull your kids heads off their desks and get them engaged in the lessons you’re spending so much effort creating.

Incorporate movement

We have learned through research how important movement is in our classrooms. Student engagement can really increase when students are invited to move and exercise as a group. While brain breaks are crucial, it’s even more meaningful if we can add movement in naturally. This means movement during math, reading, and core instruction lessons!

Use choice boards

Choice is such a powerful engagement tool! So many of our students crave power and control, so let’s give it to them. Choice can be as as simple as asking students what they’d rather do first, taking class polls to determine what read aloud happens next, or what writing utensil they’d like to use. I also like using choice boards for coping skills (what tool do you want to try?), early finisher activities, and homework options if that’s part of your classroom routine.

Create shared experiences

When a group of people engage in a similar experience, it creates bond and community. One way I love fostering this is through Morning Meetings. Having these rituals and routines increases student engagement and kids feeling connected to one another and the classroom. These experiences do NOT have to be elaborate room transformations or big field trips. Even simple videos, songs, chants, and games can help kids feel rooted and connected!

Try involving art and music

Art and music can really bring kids in! I love using YouTube videos and directed drawings as attention getters for kids. My favorite YouTube channel is Art for Kids Hub. They do a fabulous job of making drawing accessible to kids as young as preschool. I love the variety of drawings they have. This makes it easy to find something that can connect to the lesson you’re about to start!

Teach outside

Sometimes just a change of scenery is enough to change the level of student engagement. Fresh air and nature is SO good for kids. Roll out your white board and give kids clip boards to write on.

Use primary sources

As much as I love resources like Brain Pop, I really believe there is something powerful about primary sources. Using the REAL photographs and artifacts from science and social studies lessons is sure to increase your student engagement. Often historical context is lost when students can’t make real connections. Showing videos and photos to make lessons REAL can be a game changer.

Make it relevant with current events

Tying our learning into reality is my favorite way to up the student engagement. Using sources like NewsEla, Flocabulary, National Geo Kids, and Time for Kids (there’s a LOT more where that came from) makes students understand the importance of lessons. When learning about weather, show the most recent natural disaster facing our world. When learning about math concepts, talk about architecture and scientific discoveries with vaccines and cures. Helping students see the connection to what they’re learning opens up the world for them.

Tie learning to future jobs

It can be frustrating to hear questions like, “When am I ever going to use this?!” when you’re teaching specific lessons. Get ahead of that by making it an essential part of your units! You could go as far as talking about what careers use this skill, what that career looks like, the training required to do the job, and salary ranges. Seeing this spelled out for students can help solidify the need for learning and connect them more concretely to lessons.

Involve building and projects

STEM to the rescue! We can add STEM, building, and project based learning into all that we do. Involving some hands-on elements to lessons (even simple ones like manipulating pieces or turning a worksheet into a puzzle) can change the student engagement for some kids. Don’t overthink it, even the simplest tweak can make all the difference!

 

Looking for a simple infographic for yourself and your colleagues to remember these engagement strategies? Here ya go!