Engagement by Empowering Students

 

     I became inspired after reading an article sent to me by one of my Tech Coach partners, to write this blog that does more asking than it does telling, sharing or showing.  So many times as we are starting to plan lessons, we tend to get bogged down with the question of, “How do I engage the students?”  The topic plays on our minds constantly. 

     We look for ideas on Pinterest, in Facebook Groups, on Twitter, in blogs and in articles we find on the Internet.  We have a preconceived notion of what the engagement should look like in our classrooms.  We make sure that it fits within the parameters of how we want our students to behave or respond.  We take care to see that the rubric we have set up gives strict guidelines as to how we want our project based learning assignments to turn out.  We work ourselves silly trying to find that magic prompt or magic idea that will send our students into ecstatic and joyous modes, capable of anything…now that we have set that leaning spaceship into orbit!

     And if it doesn’t have the desired effect…we wilt under the strain of all the effort we originally put into the project or lesson, and believe me, students can tell. 

     As I have said over many years of being a teacher, coach, Tech Coach and Principal…”Find ways to work smarter, not necessarily harder.”  You don’t have to reinvent the wheel for all you do.  Share with and borrow successful ideas from colleagues.  Team up with a colleague to tackle an issue.  Group together with other teachers in your building and change up the status quo. 

     Here are some questions that may help you help students…especially in this remote and virtual environment:

1.    1.  Are students allowed to choose how they show comprehension? Allow students to make a choice over how they demonstrate mastery: writing, drawing, doing a skit, or creating a video. Everyone doesn’t shine in every area, so why not give the opportunity to work within their own gifts and confidence levels. Give them a Choice Board and let them make the call on how and when they learn the material.  

2.      2. How quick do student get results? Give quick and helpful feedback.  Grades are grades, but feedback empowers.

3.      3. Are teachers or students creating response sheets?  Have students create their own documents to respond to teacher prompts and lessons, rather than keep shoveling worksheets out there for them to regurgitate facts.

4.      4.  Do you have a central theme to focus the learning?  Missions and Vision and Goals statements are usually long and sometimes confusing, and we always support those overall statements.  But maybe bring those into focus like this...Years ago, I came up with a slogan that I used in several schools and coined it “Achievement Beyond Comprehension.” The idea was to have teachers provide opportunities for students to demonstrate to them how students solved a problem, or how they approached an issue or an assignment.  I recently changed what the “A” meant, to now read “Application Beyond Comprehension.” I want students to know what they did to solve something and be able to explain it to someone else.  Have students document their work along the way, and show evidence of their progress.

5.      5. Who sets the way we do our projects?  Get out of their way!  I was working with a teacher a year or so ago and the teacher had a great tech project idea for the students.  The rubric was concise and understandable, and gave them a choice of two different tools to use.  The question then came from a student, “Can we use something else to show our project?”  The teacher was hesitant and told the student, “I’ll give it some thought.”  The teacher asked me, and I said, “I would say, yes…and then get out of their way!”  The teacher gave permission for the students to use methods other than the original prescription…and we were extremely pleased with what many of the student created and turned in.

     All of these suggestions may not work for you, but at least I hope it will provoke thought toward new ideas.  I hope it gives you the courage to take a risk in how you want work turned in.  I hope by doing so, it models for the students that taking a risk is okay, and helps foster collaboration, creativity, initiation, and the confidence that students need to take those kinds of risks.  It also encourages students to take more responsibility for their learning. 

Teachers like to be empowered…and students like it as well.  Ramp up student engagement by empowering them to take charge of their learning.  Try it out!

Keith Brown

Instructional Tech Coach