Student Engagement

1
Student Engagement

• Christine Prosser
• Bob Efken

2
Content Objectives

• Identify activities that promote interaction and
  student engagement.
• Recognize strategies to increase student
  accountability, elaborating student responses,
  and support student learning.

3
Language Objective

• Discuss the importance of planning and allowing
  for interaction activities.
• Explain how some of the strategies presented can
  work in your classroom or building.

4
Effective Teachers

• Time is often wasted when teachers are not
  prepared, lack classroom management skills, spend
  too much time making announcements, or passing
  papers. Effective teachers minimize these
  behaviors and maximize time spent actively
  engaging students in the content.
• (Mastropieri Scruggs, 1994)

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Leinhardt et al. (1982)

• When teachers spend their time and energy
  teaching students the content students need to
  learn, students learn the material. When
  students spend their time actively engaged in
  activities that relate strongly to the materials
  they will be tested on, they learn more of the
  material.

6
Consider This

• When you walk into your classroom or are sitting
  down creating lesson plans, what is your mindset?
  Use backward design!!
• Mindset A
• What are we going to do today?
• What am I covering?
• Mindset B
• What are the students going to learn today?
• What do I want them to know by the end of the
  class?
• How are they going to do this? (this is when you
  dig in your toolbox)

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Student Engagement Through Interaction

• Interaction with the content student to student,
  student, and teacher to student

• Cognitively engaged in the content related to the
  desired outcome

• Approximately 90 to 100 of the time

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Interaction

• Teachers tend to do most of the talking in the
  classroom. Effective student engagement with
  interaction balances teacher talk with student
  talk. Learning is more effective when students
  have the opportunity to participate fully in the
  lesson by discussing ideas and information.
• IF STUDENTS DONT VERBALIZE, STUDENTS DONT
  INTERNALIZE!!

9
Teacher Talk

• How much do teachers talk?
• Research shows that teachers talk in a regular
  classroom 80 of the time!
• 60 minute class period
• Teacher talk 48 minutes
• Student talk 12 minutes
• 30 students in class
• 24 seconds for each students to practice
  academic language

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Why do we need to increase interaction and
student engagement?

• Makes our students accountable
• Students retain more with greater depth when they
  interact with the content in meaningful ways
• Allows students the opportunity to explore
  content and language on their own
• Provides opportunities for student to student
  interaction to help students develop language
  skills
• Promotes an environment of academic risk taking
• Teaches students structure, responsibility, and
  deadlines

11
Ways to increase student engagement and
interaction

• Sentence Frames
• Randomizing
• Student to Student discussion
• Teach students what to say instead of I dont
  know!
• Well structured activities linked to desired
  outcome
• Meaningful content focused activities

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Interaction in my classroom

• How can I reduce the amount of teacher talk in my
  classroom?
• How often should interaction occur?
• How can we make our interactions more meaningful?
• How can I maintain control of my class when
  students are having discussions?
• How can I encourage and support elaborated
  student responses?

13
Ideas

• Provide structures, sentence frames, randomize,
  scaffold and support, let go!
• Often, often, often!
• Directly relate it to the content and learner
  outcome, be efficient.
• Clearly outlined routines and expectations from
  day one! (First Days of School, Wong)

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Elaboration Ideas

• Tell me more about that.
• What do you mean when you say
• What else
• How do you know
• Why is it important to
• What does that remind you of?
• In other words

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What to say instead of I dont know!

• May I have more information please?
• Could you please repeat the question?
• May I have more time please?
• Where could I find more information?
• May I please ask a friend for help?
• When you allow students to say I dont know,
  you are telling them you are not important and I
  know you cant do this.

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Randomizing

• Develop systems for randomizing.
• Index cards
• Popsicle sticks
• Numbering
• Its not just about equity, but paying
  attention. Its about the mental rehearsal that
  occurs in your head when you think you might be
  called on.

17
Accountability

• We cannot allow students the opportunity to
  check out.
• When we have an academic conversation NO ONE is
  excluded.
• Provide sentence frames to support language and
  accountability.

18
Strategies that promote accountability.

• Carousel
• Yes, No, Maybe
• Each Teach
• Stay and Stray
• Round Table
• Gallery Walk
• Graffiti Writes

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Sentence Frames

• I heard...
• I wrote....
• I want to mention...
• I remembered...
• I want to learn more about....
• I already knew....
• I wish ....
• I was impressed with ...
• I will use .....
• I might....
• I liked...
• I loved...
• I agree/disagree with _________
  because__________________.
• The difference between
• One interesting point is.....
• It is important to remember.....
• The main idea of the section is.....
• One thing I noticed.....

• Today I learned.....
• I think.....
• I feel....
• I didn't understand.....
• I need more information about....
• I am....
• I know.....
• I used.....
• I am confused about......
• I need more time on ......
• I wonder.....
• I will......
• I hope.....
• I need....
• If I could .....
• My favorite.....
• I saw...
• I read...

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More sentence frames

• Music Music has many different articulations,
  including _________. This articulation makes
  music more interesting by __________.
• Math I know this triangle is a __________
  triangle because ___________. There are several
  ways to find __________, including ___________.
• Science The _______ of a cell is important
  because __________. If I add ________ to the
  mixture, the result will likely be __________.
• Health __________ is an unhealthy habit
  because __________. If I ___________, then my
  body will likely respond by _____________.

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More

• Comm. Arts The sentence I wrote could be made
  better by ____________. The improved sentence is
  ______________.
• Social Studies If World War III broke out
  today, our economy might _________. My opinion
  is based upon __________.
• Art Art can be an expression of ___________.
  The artist likely chose the color __________
  because ____________.
• Drama My characters motivation to move from A
  to B is _________. The line _________ shows me
  that my character is feeling the emotion of
  __________ and so my character would
  ______________.

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And more

• Nutrition If I add more ________ to this
  recipe the result would be _________. I know
  this because ___________.
• Business One action that may be taken to
  increase profits in a business is __________.
  Taking this action increases profits because
  __________.
• Computers If my antivirus software shows the
  error __________, I know _________. In the EXCEL
  if I want to __________ I need to use the
  function _______.
• Foreign Language The word ________ may be
  derived from the word ________. The evidence I
  have to support my opinion is _________.

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Grouping Configurations

• Grouping configurations need to support the
  desired outcomes.
• Explicitly plan for grouping opportunities.
• Do not use grouping configurations if students
  can complete the task on their own, or without
  purpose.

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Student Engagement Considerations

• What modalities (reading, writing, listening,
  speaking) do students need to use to access your
  content?
• What are the important content concept words I
  want students to understand and be able to use?
  (vocabulary)
• What scaffolding and structures are present to
  promote student engagement.

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Vocabulary Strategies

• Personal Dictionaries
• 4-Corners Vocabulary
• Use Cognates
• Text Scavenger Hunt
• Classifying
• Who In This Room?
• White Boards speed game
• Smartboard game templates http//www.murray.k12.
  ga.us/teacher/kara20leonard/Mini20T's/Games/Game
  s.htm

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Student Engagement Misconceptions

• I have too much to get through. I dont have
  time for my students to interact with each other.
• Students never stay on topic when they are
  talking to each other. It becomes chaotic.
• I am dummying down my content if I have the
  students talk about it.
• I dont teach language in my class. In my class
  they do.
• When I have students talk or call on them
  randomly, it causes them anxiety. I cant do
  that to them.
• Groups just dont work.
• Interaction means I have to do silly games.

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Triads Discussion

• In your triads, use the sentence stems below to
  discuss the following ideas. Each person in the
  triad will respond to one stem.
• Students should have the opportunities to
  interact
• We avoid allowing interaction
• I agree/I disagree/I also think

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Content Objective

• Identify activities that promote interaction and
  student engagement.
• Recognize strategies to increase student
  accountability, elaborating student responses,
  and support student learning.

29
Language Objective

• Discuss the importance of planning and allowing
  for interaction activities.
• Explain how some of the strategies presented can
  work in your classroom or building.

30
For More Information

• Bob Efken [phone]
• befken_at_bayless.k12.mo.us
• Christine Prosser [phone]
• cprosser_at_bayless.k12.mo.us