Engagement: Strategies for involving kids in their own learning

Motivating students is one of the major challenges many teachers face on a daily basis. Student engagement can be described as the tendency to be behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively involved in academic learning. One of the biggest ways to get students motivated and involved in their learning is to make sure the material speaks to them. This simply means that the students are able to connect with or relate to the material on some level. In this blog, I will be providing 3 strategies to help get students involved in their own learning. Here are the strategies:

1. Connect the material you are teaching to real life

   • One way to help students feel personally connected to what they’re being taught is to talk about how they can apply the material in their life.

2. Include student interests in the lesson

   • Students are more likely to be engaged when learning and doing activities that interest them.

3. Allow students to have choices

   • Students feel empowered to make their own choices about how they learn

The key with any strategy in the classroom, however, is to understand that every child and class will be different. Your job as a teacher is to get to know your students and how they learn. Once this is done, you can choose the best strategy that works for you to get your students engaged in their learning.

Written by: Kristen Arney