Shout out to everyone for being fully engaged in November's Increasing Student Engagement PD!
I loved watching you develop your critical eye and using a rubric to peek into a first grade math lesson, hearing reflection on your practice taking place, and seeing all of your enthusiastically share your thoughts on the article "The Icing or the Cake?" in our Jigsaw activity.
Is engagement the icing or the cake?
According to ISNP teachers...
"Student engagement is both. The students must know the purpose (cake) foundation of activity -- why we are doing this -- and when this happens, they perform authentically (icing)!"
"Yes, it (the icing) is the only reason to eat the cake!"
"Student engagement is the icing. The very best feeling is when you can see the students engaged in the lessons."
"Cake! Without engagement, there is no learning."
"I think it's the cake - or at least one of its ingredients...Students can't learn if they're not engaged."
"Cake! If students aren't engaged, you aren't reaching them."
Based on the Google Forms Exit Ticket, I will be scheduling times to plan and model engagement strategies...for now, take a look at some of the videos and resources below!
1. Use an Engagement Strategy:
--Circle Chats: http://www.gottoteach.com/2014/08/circle-chats-cooperative-learning.html
--Using Think Pair Share (video below)
2. Avoid excessive use of worksheets, and offer CHOICE:
Tired of making copies? Do students rush through their worksheet? Use a learning menu instead! Menus allow for students to have choice in how they present their learning. By allowing students to choose the type of product, they are then more engaged and take ownership of their learning (providing artifacts of their learning process). Sample menu packets are in your mailboxes. See below for other options.
-- Choice Board Blog: http://www.the-creative-classroom.com/2016/09/the-choice-of-engagement.html
Remember, even the highly engaged classroom will have multiple levels of engagement. The goal is to get a majority of students to be actively engaged. Please reach out to me if you need any ideas, etc. I will be observing during the month of December using the pink Engagement Rubric you received at the PD, and I will provide you with specific feedback once I've popped into your classroom.
How do you keep your students engaged?
