The Engagement Gap

Another way to build student motivation and engagement is to give them real world problems to solve. By doing this, natural conflict arises, and students have to work together in order to resolve the conflict and continue developing a solution to the problem. When this happens, students learn so much about the problem they are trying to solve, but they also learn skills that will help them become successful in life.

Engaged learning, within a highly supportive environment, enables our students to develop strong communication skills, excel within collaborative settings, effectively address complex problems with innovative solutions, and lead with integrity and compassion throughout their lives and careers in a diverse and rapidly changing world.

Throughout this year I have been given various amazing opportunities for professional development. Being a reading anchor classroom has given me a variety of opportunities to complete professional development. Two of the most impactful pieces of professional development that I received were, training on the architecture of a mini lesson and creating a demonstration notebook. These two pieces have significantly helped me to increase student engagement for my whole class as well as in small groups and individual conferences. I have also worked very hard to consistently be aware of the level of engagement in my classroom. When I notice students aren't engaged I try to change my approach in order to increase engagement. After a math observation

I agree with the author that nowadays school are slacking off in hands-on classes, because my personal experience confirms it. When I was in high school, the required hands-on classes were very few. The variety of these classes in school were very limited. Students who are interested had very few choices to choose. I found out that I learned from these classes more than I expected. They not only helped me with critical thinking but also with hands-on practice to express my creativity.

In Rachel Vail’s article there are multiple topics I can relate to, but two parts of the article were very conspicuous. As a student, I can vouch for all of my fellow classmates, that sitting through a lecture is monotonous. Sitting down for thirty minutes straight and listening to something that you’re not enjoying is awful. Hands on learning is a much greater technique for teaching your students. We won’t become uninterested in what we are learning. Questions are essential so you can confirm that everyone is understanding what you are teaching. Focusing on the lesson is much easier if we are doing something rather than sitting down and listening to our teacher’s ramble on about anything, we might not understand. It is crucial to connect with

Educational focus is shifting its direction to interactive learning and the hands on knowledge needed to support the economical trend we are facing world wide; much like the method parents use to teach their children preparing them for life.

My fondest memories of Kearny High School were the hands-on experiences and education I received from the teachers who thought “outside the box”. These teachers took the quote, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.,” from above our entrance doors and integrated the meaning into the curriculum. Learning is a lifetime course and one with many different approaches, like the trends Tina Barseghian states could be the key to forever building your knowledge and advancing education.

"It requires the educators to impart in an unexpected way," he says. "A few educators propose it drives them to consider adequacy and engagement much all the more effectively and improves them

The film The World in Claire’s Classroom, 2000, shows us an alternative first and second grade classroom dynamic that Claire helps facilitate by her teaching style and beliefs.While certain parts of the film are socially problematic, in regards to some methods when learning about other cultures, Claire practices very progressive teaching methods and concepts that our class has covered. Because of using these varied teaching methods, Claire is also creating a more indepth and engaged learning environment that appears to have a positive impact on her students. Two concepts that I will be introducing and comparing to Claire’s classroom are Self-directed Learning and The Four Aspects of Engagement. Both of these concepts connect to multiple

Twenty first century jobs call for high levels of education to secure open positions. Job openings in the first quarter of the 21st century will require higher levels of education with 36% of job openings calling for a bachelor’s degree or higher, 30% will require some college, and only 12% of open positions will require less than a high school diploma (Carnevale, Smith, & Strohl, 2013). To reach economic demands upon educational needs, national accountability initiatives for public education call for an increase in student performance as measured by standardized testing (Polikoff, 2017). In order to meet these needs for higher levels of educational completion, different approaches of teaching and learning may engage students in more

My mentor teacher Mrs. True, kindergarten teacher at Woodsboro Elementary School, emphasizes observation and exploration in her class. Mrs. True allows her students to discover science and learn by play. Last semester, the students explored with magnets, by walking around the classroom and observing which objects were magnetic or not. Also, Mrs. True encourages her students to observe and ask questions; she believes that conversations can teach students a lot of information. Most importantly, Mrs. True believes that she should lead the discussion, but provided open-ended questions to students. I agree with Mrs. True’s beliefs, but I believe as students enter higher grades, teachers should expand upon the skills emphasized in prior grades. Similarly,

Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice illuminates a social courtship between the proud Mister Fitzwilliam Darcy and the shrewd, unconventional Miss Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth is proud of her own identity. She astutely justifies herself as “a gentleman’s daughter” (Austen 337) in her confrontation with the prejudiced and class-conscious Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Mister Fitzwilliam Darcy, who shares Elizabeth’s sharp tongue, comes from a family of high social status; his privileged upbringing instilled in him “pride and conceit” (Austen 349) that blinds him from acknowledging the similarity and equality between him and Elizabeth. Upon first proposing to Elizabeth, he does not realize that he is not raising her social status by marrying her.

All students have a different learning style and can benefit from hands on or real life activities in the classroom.

The staff also generally believes that providing the students with choices in the classroom increases the student’s level of engagement with 43% very much agreeing with that assertion, 33% agreeing with the statement, and 24% remaining neutral on the statement. No staff members indicated they disagreed with the assertion that when students are given the opportunity to make choices in the classroom, their engagement level increases. Moreover, the staff overwhelming agreed with the assertion that utilizing various resources in class helps increase student motivation. Nearly 88% of the staff voiced their agreement with this statement, no staff members voicing their disagreement and only 12% stating their neutrality.

Engagement is central to learning; is affected by students’ motivation level (Reading, n.d., p. 2). A motivated student is more likely to explore and make a personal understanding of the knowledge they need to learn than a student who is uninterested. Kearsley and Shneiderman (1998) suggested technology can give us more creative ways to help engage a student in his / her learning process. The question is how PBL can engage secondary students in order to increase their participation level in ICT learning. Kearsley and Shneiderman (1998) proposed that there are three main principles of engagement- Create, donate and relate. They advocated the use of PBL in accomplishing at least one of the basic