Ways to Increase Engagement in the Classroom

In 8 ways to increase the engagement in your classroom, John Almarode writes that engagement requires monitoring students’ emotional engagement (how a student feels about a lesson and in the classroom), cognitive engagement (what a student is thinking about), and behavioral engagement (how a student interacts with an activity). 
So how does Auburn Day School increase engagement for students? Emphasizing specific characteristics in curriculum and instruction can engage learners in the lesson and sustain engagement to give students the best opportunity for gaining new knowledge, understanding, and skills. In 17,000 Classroom Visits Can’t Be Wrong (2015) Antonetti and Garver studied eight features of classroom tasks, activities and strategies associated with sustained engagement: 

• Increased levels of social interaction
• Emotional safety
• Student choice
• Opportunities for personal response
• Clear and modeled expectations
• A sense of audience
• Novelty
• Authentic learning

This post will focus on how teachers at Auburn Day School use the first three characteristics to engage students in learning. ​

• Increase the Levels of Social Interaction:

Does the learner have opportunities to socially interact with his or her peers?  Providing students with opportunities to talk about their learning and interact with their peers supports their meaning making and development of conceptual understanding. Have you ever heard the saying "The person doing the talking is doing the learning"? At Auburn Day School, our teachers act as facilitators of learning rather than the stars of the show. We encourage students to partner to share ideas and listen to one another so they can work together to solve problems.

• Ensure Emotional Safety:

Does the learner feel safe in asking questions or making mistakes? Students have to feel comfortable, respected and encouraged in order to engage. At Auburn Day School, our goal is create an environment where persistence is the goal, not mastery.

• Offer More Choice
  

Does the learner have choices in how s/he accesses the learning? As learners engage in content and process skills at Auburn Day School, we offer choices around who they work with, what materials and manipulatives are available, and which strategies they can use. In addition, students have multiple ways to show what they know.
In the photos below, the children are making their own egg shakers. After experimenting with creating different sounds from the same instrument, the children choose which materials they want to use to create egg shakers that produce different sounds.

We can't wait to begin our journey together at Alabama's only STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Preschool! Parents may sign up for drop-in classes beginning October 2019.