3c: Engaging Students in Learning

Student engagement in learning is the centerpiece of the Framework for Teaching; all other components contribute to it. When students are engaged in learning, they are not merely “busy,” nor are they only “on task.” Rather, they are intellectually active in learning important and challenging content. The critical distinction between a classroom in which students are compliant and busy and one in which they are engaged is that in the latter, students are developing their understanding through what they do. That is, they are engaged in discussion, debate, answering “what if?” questions, discovering patterns, and the like. They may be selecting their work from a range of (teacher-arranged) choices, and making important contributions to the intellectual life of the class. Such activities don’t typically consume an entire lesson, but they are essential components of engagement.

A lesson in which students are engaged usually has a discernible structure: a beginning, a middle, and an end, with scaffolding provided by the teacher or by the activities themselves. Student tasks are organized to provide cognitive challenge, and then students are encouraged to reflect on what they have done and what they have learned. That is, the lesson has closure, in which teachers encourage students to derive the important learning from the learning tasks, from the discussion, or from what they have read. Critical questions for an observer in determining the degree of student engagement are “What are the students being asked to do? Does the learning task involve thinking? Are students challenged to discern patterns or make predictions?” If the answer to these questions is that students are, for example, filling in blanks on a worksheet or performing a rote procedure, they are unlikely to be cognitively engaged.

In observing a lesson, it is essential not only to watch the teacher but also to pay close attention to the students and what they are doing. The best evidence for student engagement is what students are saying and doing as a consequence of what the teacher does, or has done, or has planned. And while students may be physically active (e.g., using manipulative materials in mathematics or making a map in social studies), it is not essential that they be involved in a hands-on manner; it is, however, essential that they be challenged to be “minds-on.”

Danielson, C. 2013

Artifact 3c-1

Cooperative Lesson Plan .pdf

Cooperative Social Studies Lesson Plan

Cooperative Lesson Plan Worksheets .pdf

This lesson was designed to engage students in a lesson that required them to work cooperatively across multiple different group sizes (ranging from whole class to independent work). As part of the lesson, students will be completing a jigsaw activity. Due to the nature of group work, it would be entirely possible that some of the students may not participate fully in the group work. To combat this, I created jobs for each student to accomplish during their jigsaw as well as a self-assessment of their efforts and a group assessment that will help keep students accountable for their work. This lesson also contains multiple different forms of content delivery and allows students to get up and move about the room as they share their information with each other. I have included the assessment I designed and the RAFT activity so that you can see an example of what the students would be filling out. If I were to actually deliver this lesson, I would likely make some of the activities shorter to better keep the students engaged and attentive to the lesson. However, I believe this lesson would be very engaging for the students.

Artifact 3c-2

Integrated Literacy

For many students, math can be overwhelming, unengaging, or seem irrelevant. In order to keep students engaged in a math lesson and help them understand the application of some concepts, connecting math to an outside resource, such as a book, can be extremely beneficial to some students. In this artifact I explain four different math-based books and how they can connect to a math skill. These explanations are from my STEM Methods One class and are just a small sample of the math library that I would like to create in my future classroom. For that class, I read several studies that discussed the ways that connecting math to literacy methods and stories can help students be more engaged and more confident in their math abilities. By connecting my math lessons to a story, the students become more engaged in the lesson because the story can help make the concept more concrete to the students. Throughout the week, I would challenge my students to connect their thinking and math practice to the story so that they are mentally active in their practice.

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