Keeping Your Students Engaged:
Tips and Tricks
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According to Herrmann (2013) engagement is defined as emotional involvement or commitment. As a teacher, keeping your students engaged may seem like a daunting task. Using the same strategies day in and day out may get boring and frustrating for you, and your class will most certainly feel the same way. Constantly using professional development to update your strategies is a great way to ensure that your class is always engaged and never gets bored. You can ask new and experienced teachers for ideas they may have on how to engage the class as well as research online. Upon doing my own research I found TONS of ways to keep your class engaged. Pinterest has some excellent ideas for engaging and keeping your class awake and ready to learn!
Some of my favourites were:
- Using a foam ball, toss the ball to students when asking questions. Having students aware that there may be a ball coming their way will keep them alert and focused on the task at hand! It is also active and will entice those who have a difficult time sitting still for those seemingly never ending 40 minute periods.
- Use a special, fun and enticing word and shout it during class. Explain to the students that this word means they must do something active (i.e. clap their hands twice, or do a drum roll on their desk). A word such as "Bazinga!" or "BAM!" shouted slightly louder than your normal teaching voice will wake the kids up, and the action they are required to do will energize them to make sure they are staying focused.
- Change up the classroom a bit. Allow the students to get up and move to a different desk in a different part of the room than they are in right now. Again, the idea of getting up out of their chair is always helpful and will allow them to interact with their fellow classmates they may not be used to! Or another example could be allowing students to sit on their desks with their feet on their chair! For students, (especially in the Primary/Junior grades) the idea of doing something somewhat "forbidden" will be very exciting. With this activity its important to let the students know that this is a special classroom only activity!
The video below, describes 7 other ways in which you can keep your class engaged.
These are just amongst the thousands of ideas that are available out there! However, it is important to realize that some ideas may work better in certain grades and be a total bore in others. When deciding on classroom engagement ideas, educators must be aware of their audience and ensure that the type of engagement he/she chooses is age appropriate! For example, shouting "Bazinga!" in a grade 8 classroom may not be accepted as well as it may be in a grade 2 or 3 classroom!
Furthermore, it would be a great idea to have a few of these engagement tricks up your sleeve all the time. Seeing as the elementary and secondary school year is 10 months long, the trick you used in September may get very boring and not exciting for students come December/January. Changing it up and keeping students on their feet is exciting for not only them, but for you too! I firmly believe that school should be fun, not having your students sitting there with you teaching AT them. I think we should teach WITH them! Allowing your students to be part of the lesson or even teaching the lessen themselves. This type of engagement will increase their intrinsic motivation exponentially.
Herrmann, E. (2013, Dec 11). Compliance or engagement: When are students truly engaged in class? Multibriefs: Exclusive. Retrieved from http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/compliance-or-engagement-when-are-student-truly-engaged-in-the-classroom
R. Lynette. (2015, Oct 5). Minds in bloom: 20 ways to keep your students attention. (Web log comment). Retrieved from http://www.minds-in-bloom.com/2012/04/20-ways-to-keep-your-students-attention.html?m=1
References
Herrmann, E. (2013, Dec 11). Compliance or engagement: When are students truly engaged in class? Multibriefs: Exclusive. Retrieved from http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/compliance-or-engagement-when-are-student-truly-engaged-in-the-classroom
R. Lynette. (2015, Oct 5). Minds in bloom: 20 ways to keep your students attention. (Web log comment). Retrieved from http://www.minds-in-bloom.com/2012/04/20-ways-to-keep-your-students-attention.html?m=1
