Increasing Student Engagement In The Middle School Classroom

Increasing Student Engagement In The Middle School Classroom Presentation for Northbridge Middle School October 7, 2016 Nancy Spitulnik, Ed. D. spitulnn 1@yahoo. com

Agenda for Today What is true student engagement and what does it look like and feel like in the classroom? What are the categories of student engagement strategies? How do I incorporate different categories of student engagement strategies into my classroom?

Prior Work on Student Engagement Definitions of Student Engagement from teacher and student perspectives: NPS teachers facilitate student-centered learning by providing ALL students with high-interest learning tasks, real-life applications that promote higher order thinking skills, and effective and actionable feedback. NPS students are active learners who engage in higher order thinking and have meaningful classroom discussions about the learning with their teachers and peers.

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What Does Student Engagement Look Like? Engaged students exhibit three characteristics: 1) They are attracted to their work. 2) They persist in their work despite challenges and obstacles. 3) They take visible delight in accomplishing their work. (Phillip Schlecty, 1994)

Student Engagement Shift in Thinking Less of a focus on teaching the content, and more of a focus on what students will be doing to learn and understand the content.

Five Levels of Student Engagement (Phillip Schlechty) Authentic Engagement Strategic Compliance Ritual/Passive Compliance Retreatism Rebellion

Levels of Engagement Authentic Engagement Strategic Compliance Passive Compliance Retreatism Rebellion

Student Engagement Relationships Relationsh Teache ip Studen r Meaningful t Engageme Expertis nt Relevan e ce Content (Drew Perkins, 2013)

Promoting Student Engagement: Categories of Strategies 1. Higher-order thinking skills 2. Variety and novelty 3. Collaboration 4. Choice 5. Relevance 6. Project-based learning (Adapted from Olatunji, Sockwell, & Milan, 2009)

Categories of Strategies Jigsaw Divide into groups of 6 people. Each person takes one article from the handout packet. Read or skim article and highlight a few important points. Can also use information from Power. Point slides. Take turns sharing information with others in the group to fill in chart: What the strategy is Why it’s important to engagement Examples of the strategy

1. Higher-Order Thinking Skills Students need to be engaged in challenging activities, not low-level assignments Questions, discussions, and assignments need to include higher-level tasks Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy and Webb’s Depth of Knowledge Chart provide models and specific language for incorporating higher-level cognitive skills

Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy

NPS Teacher Observation Form Student Thinking Skills Demonstrated Remember (recognize, recall) Understand (interpret, classify, compare, explain, infer) Apply (execute, implement) Summarize Analyze (differentiate, organize, attribute) Evaluate (check, critique) Create (generate, plan, produce)

Webb’s Depth of Knowledge

2. Variety and Novelty Human beings crave variety and novelty. Students get bored quickly if instruction is repetitive and low level, hindering engagement in the lesson. Students usually rise to a challenge to do things in a new way or learn new, interesting information. Need to constantly work to find new ways to present material and engage students.

3. Collaboration Encouraging students to reach out to each other to solve problems and share knowledge not only builds collaboration skills, it leads to deeper learning and understanding. Teachers must be willing to give power to students to lead discussions, make choices. Teachers need to directly teach and model how to collaborate and have productive group discussions. Important to focus on the process, not the right answer.

4. Choice Students are motivated when given a choice in their education – assignments, assessments, etc. Students build self-esteem and sense of mastery through making choices, and experiencing the consequences of their choices. Being able to make such choices “leads to learning rather than just remembering. ” (grade 10 student) We cannot expect children to accept ready-made values and truths all the way through school, and then suddenly make choices in adulthood. (Constance Kamii)

Incorporating Academic Choice Seating Homework Choice boards for classwork Summative projects Learning celebrations Assessments Unstructured innovation time (Ronan, 2015)

5. Relevance of Activities In a teaching/learning setting, relevance should draw and hold students’ attention. No matter how disinteresting content may seem, once students have determined that the content is worth knowing, then it will hold their attention and engage them. (Roberson, 2013) Students need a personal connection to the material, whether that's through engaging them emotionally or connecting the new information with previously acquired knowledge. (Bernard, 2010)

Adding Relevancy Brainstorm what students already know and connect it to the new lesson or unit of study Have students describe personal connections to the new material being presented Introduce lesson with an engaging story that ties in the new material with student interests Let students choose a topic of their own interest for an assignment that’s related to the unit of study

6. Project-Based Learning (PBL) “In-depth investigation of a real-world topic worthy of children's attention and effort. " (Chard) “When educators provide rigorous and authentic projects and give students voice and choice, students will accept that challenge. ” (Andrew Miller, 2014) Students learn more rigorous information, retain what they learn, and make connections and apply their learning to other problems. (Curtis, 2001)

Components of PBL 1. Significant Content 2. 21 st Century Skills 3. In-Depth Inquiry 4. A Driving Question 5. A Need to Know 6. Student Voice and Choice 7. Revision and Reflection 8. A Public Audience

Project Learning Phase 1 involves an initial discussion of a project topic, including student’s firsthand experiences related to the topic. Phase 2 involves fieldwork, sessions with experts, and various aspects of gathering information, reading, writing, drawing, and computing. Phase 3 is the presentation of the project to an audience. (Chard)

How to Plan for Engaging Strategies

Carousel Brainstorm Chart paper placed around the room with different types of engagement strategies listed at the top. Break by grades: 5 -6 and 7 -8 Group by subject (Math, ELA, Science, Social Studies) Related Arts (2 groups) Sped and Title I pick group to join Working as a collaborative group, rotate through the charts and list examples of activities or lessons that you use or could use that integrates the strategy listed

Strategy Review 1. Higher-order thinking skills 2. Variety and novelty 3. Collaboration 4. Choice 5. Relevance 6. Project-based learning

Strategies for Student Engagement: List from Middle School Students 1. Work with peers (We want to interact with others. ) 2. Work with technology (Kids now living and learning in the digital world. ) 3. Connect the real world to our work (How does learning relate to what’s happening now? Do project -based learning. ) 4. Clearly love what you do (Show passion in the way you teach. ) 5. Get me out of my seat! (We learn better when we’re active and not just sitting. )

Strategies for Student Engagement: List from Middle School Students (2) 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Bring in visuals (Makes learning more interesting, helps me understand better. ) Student choice (Helps us use our strengths, be creative, enjoy learning more. ) Understand appreciate the students (Give us credit for what we know and can do. ) Mix it up! (Find ways to add variety to lessons and assignments so we don’t get bored). Be human! (Have some fun yourself!) (Wolpert-Gawron, 2015)