- What strategy did you use to promote student engagement in the classroom?
- Do you think that this strategy worked well for your lesson? Do you think students were more engaged with the use of this strategy than they would have been without it? Explain.
- What other strategy/strategies could have worked well in the same setting?
- If/When you teach this lesson again, what will you do differently to increase student engagement?
- What more can I do to support you with lesson preparation?
With this blog, I know I communicated often to you about the different strategies that I can use for engagement.
So far my favorite strategy to use is the white boards. It allows me to see their work and informally assess their achievement and understanding while keeping them engaged and focused on doing the problem with the entire class. The strategy allowed more kids to practice their skills rather than calling on a student to do it at the board. I used this strategy twice in math this past week and it seemed to work well. Other strategies that could have worked would have been popsicle sticks in this setting. But with popsicle sticks I can't see if everyone got it or not.
We also used think pair share during our writing of our introductions. I introduced what should be in a introduction and they had to think about what could make their introductions better and share with their neighbors about how their introductions could grab the attention of their readers. This is a real quick way to keep someone engaged in the topic. By walking around too, I could tell if they were ready to go on with their introduction or if they needed more time for learning.
Another strategy that I have used in the past was the move around the classroom. I have not got a chance to use it lately, but I like how it forces them to get up and pay attention because they might have to defend their answer by going to one place or the other.
During my writing lesson on sentence variation, I had them read a section of an article about sentence variation. Afterwards, they had to turn and share with their neighbor what they took from the article about how they could vary their sentences up. It kept them focused because they were held accountable for what their partner would not have read.
Wait time is also one that I have been working on. I am really trying hard to not call on the same people for questions and not call on the first person that raises their hand. I feel that no matter how long I wait, I am still getting only the same people raising their hand. Do you call on people that are not raising their hand?
I am still working on choral response. It is difficult to get them to choral respond. I try to word things the same as you and repeat myself and it still isn't working. This is new to me as I do not use this in the pool either. I tried with my swim team as well and it was the same thing. only about a fourth repeat then a third and then a half. What can I do to make this better? I see that you get a choral response with out saying the words repeat after me.
This week I plan to do ticket out the door and popsicle sticks as discussed in social studies.
One more question. How do we do clicker response. Is this done through infuse learning?
Great questions! Engagement can be so difficult...it's nice to see that you're reflecting on the strategies you have tried, and setting some goals to try new ones in the week(s) ahead. I'm going to try to hit all of the things you asked...please let me know if I missed something.
ReplyDeleteCalling on people who don't raise their hands: DO IT. I never want to stress kids out, but a healthy "level of concern" does wonders for student engagement. My advice on this would be to know what your response is going to be if a kid that you call on does not have an answer. Often, I repeat the question and give them a few seconds to think. If they still have nothing, I don't let them pass...but instead invite them to call on a classmate for help. I feel like this is a subtle way to make it very obvious to them that others were listening and engaging their mind in the instruction...and that they should have been, too.
Choral Response: As I'm sure you've picked up on over the last semester, this is MY FAVORITE engagement strategy. But, it comes with the kids knowing you well. Our students...both classes...know me well, and they can often predict what is going to come out of my mouth next. I LOVE this, because their ability to predict accurately - and share that prediction via choral response - tells me that they are engaged in my instruction. Choral response is a strategy that works best for things that you want kids to mentally tell themselves later, like steps for solving a problem or key words related to a topic. It is important that they have heard the terms/steps you are going to want them to say together, or if they have them visually available. Often I do something like this... "Sixth graders, the last sentence of an introduction, which states the topic of the rest of your essay, is called the THESIS STATEMENT. What is it called?" (Thesis Statement.) "I'm sorry...what was that?" (Thesis statement.) "Oh, bummer. I don't think I heard everyone's voice with me. What is the last sentence of an introduction, which states the topic of the rest of your essay called sixth graders?" (Thesis Statement!) "Oh, thank you! Yes. Thesis Statement." And then after I have made it abundantly clear that "Thesis statement" is a phrase that THEY are now responsible for...whenever I want to use it in my teaching (ex: I'm later talking about how all of the topic sentences have to link back to the thesis...) I never say the words myself. Instead I talk right up to the words, then pause for them to respond. If I don't have everyone respond, I repeat my instruction, right up to the words...pause...hear them say it...and repeat if necessary. They get annoyed (seriously, they will roll their eyes) if/when I have to do this multiple times...which I love. :) It encourages them to do it without me having to ask in the future.
The "yeah, but..." on Choral Response is that you have to be okay with students finishing your thought for you. Not everyone is, and I TOTALLY get that. Sometimes it is annoying. (When I get annoyed, I just say "sorry, it's going to be my turn only for this lesson" and they'll usually cool it.) But it's also such a powerful strategy for engagement.
HERE'S THE REST OF MY REPLY...It cut me off for exceeding 4,000 characters. OOPS! :)
ReplyDeleteI think Choral Response is also tough because students do not (thankfully?) apply the strategy to all adults once they learn it. Students will be doing a great job choral responding for me, and then turn it off for you/Brent almost seamlessly. This shows their maturity. They understand...whether they could articulate it or not...that not everyone likes this. So if you want to use it, you really have to start from scratch and help them understand the what/when you want them to choral respond. This is one of the big pit-falls of you student teaching with me, when I looped with students. You didn't - I'm sorry! - see all of the training that I did last year...so it seems like something that should be automatic. It takes a lot of work, rapport building, and training... It might also be helpful to have a signal phrase to get them responding? To help cue them for when you want the choral blurting? I hear myself frequently saying something like "The [blah blah blah] is what, sixth graders?" and then they respond. Ex: "The answer to question five is what, sixth graders?" or "The decimal equivalent to the fraction 1/2 is what, sixth graders?" And then if you don't get the response participation you wanted, ask the question again.
*whew* Lots of rambling on that one...I hope it makes sense...my fingers were just typing away all of the ideas that came to mind. :)
Clicker response works great through Infuse Learning or Socrative. I build my questions into a powerpoint with MC options in advance, and then have the "clickers" running in the background. We have a set of clickers in the building, too...but the program to run them isn't installed on my teacher computer in this room. I have asked...it's at the bottom of a LONG tech "to do" list, I'm told.
What did I miss?
I just had another thought (during your math lesson Monday morning) about calling on students who don't raise their hands. A strategy that I think I automatically go to when I'm feeling like I'm not getting a variety of volunteers is "talk to your elbow neighbor" or "talk to someone at your table". THEN I ask the same question and ask for volunteers. Often I think that students need to rehears what they would say if called on first, to become confident enough to volunteer. This is especially true when the topic is new or difficult.
ReplyDelete