Design Question 5: What Will I Do to Engage Students?
Module 15: Additional Cognitive, Affective, & Social Interaction Strategies for Promoting Student Engagement (pgs. 187-198)
As we also discussed in Teach Like a Champion, your enthusiasm toward the subject has an impact on your students. Activity Box p. 190 asks, "How well do you show enthusiasm in the classroom? What are your strengths? How might you use some of the strategies presented in this section?"
Activity Box p. 192 asks "Why do you think friendly controversy has the effect of enhancing engagement?
Please add any other thoughts or discussion you may have for Module 15.
I must admit that it's hard for me sometimes to seem excited or enthusiastic about teaching reading programs. I know it's important for me to be engaged in what I'm teaching! I need to do a better job stating why students are expected to learn what we're learning and find ways to connect what they're learning to their personal interests and the world. For me, it's easier with math, social studies or science. But this is something I need to work on.
ReplyDeleteIt would be great if I could incorporate students telling more about themselves into our learning. I do want them to have a greater level of ownership as the book suggests. I could easily start the year with an interest survey of some kind to get to know my students a bit more. That would be a fun way to start the year.
I love the idea of having guest speakers come to the classroom when possible. When I taught 1st grade, this was something I enjoyed doing and the kids loved! I also thought the idea of "Ripley's Believe it or not" was a fun way for older students to get excited about learning and sharing with peers.
Friendly controversy: We learned a strategy at AVID training called Philosophical Chair. It is a strategy that we can use to allow students the opportunity to have a controversy or debate. Students choose their opinion on a question and then have to be able to defend it. Great way to help students understand that they can have an opinion that differs from their friend and they can still be friends. They learn that their are varying perspectives that must be defended by what they know. They also learn that someone else may be an expert on something you didn't think about and they may actually sway you to change your thinking. A great process of engaging in friendly controversy!
ReplyDeleteQuestion 5-Module 15
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, if the teacher's tone and manner aren't enthusiastic, how can the students be excited about anything? We all laugh at the movie where the teacher asks the bored students, "Anyone, anyone?"
Providing opportunities for students to talk about themselves and their experiences when it is appropriate is effective. Most people like to talk about themselves! This strategy can provide a connection to the content for the student. Students can create metaphors and analogies about the content and how it relates to them.
Another way to engage students is to present unusual content. Discussing little known facts can capture their attention. An example could be, "Do you know where the term it's raining cats and dogs came from and what does it mean?"
My two little boys are teaching me so much as a mother this summer that I think I could share stories that would last all year. I love to make the lesson personal and I do that through my stories and then take a few students personal connections as well to get a lesson going. I think that loving what you teach is vital to getting students to love that they are learning.
ReplyDeleteThis last year my student teacher brought in some guest speakers and they incorporated what they do as a living with our lesson. In doing this, my student teacher amazingly and brilliantly answered the "Why do I have to learn this? When am I EVER going to use it in my life?"
We used google a lot in my room this past year. We would be discussing something for ELA or Social Science and without fail my one inquisitive student had to ask a question that related to the topic but stumped my teacher knowledge. So we would "Google It". We found out some interesting facts and they were even more interested in finishing our lesson. Oh Val if one of my students is in your class and uses "Global Warming" as a way to describe something that is hard, frustrating, or just something they don't necessarily like....that would be our great use of google.