I engage student interest with every lesson
The first phrase that teachers should think about when engaging and motivating students is student choice!
I have a few ideas for keeping learning relevant and interesting to students. For example, our first literacy Unit focuses on why we need the government. In this unit, students will explore the laws, jobs, and safety that the government provides. I can plan to make learning interesting and relevant by providing students with a sense of control, purpose, and competence throughout the lesson. Students can feel a sense of control by having a short list of community helpers to pick from rather than only learning about police officers. Students can feel competent since they will get to choose a community helper they are most familiar with or have experiences/connections with. Finally, I can help students to feel a sense of purpose by explaining that they will all have the opportunity to teach each other about the community helper they chose. I provide students with a short list of 3 community helpers (with one option being to create their own) to learn about and share. (Goodwill & Hubbell, 2013)
Teachers can also spark students interests by giving the students a choice of HOW they share their learning with the group. (sharing a video, sharing their writing aloud, creating a collage/poster, etc).
Guest Speakers
Bringing in Guest speakers helps to add coherence to any lesson. Students love surprises anyway so why not link a few surprises to learning? Here are a few pictures showing how guest speakers have the potential to produce 100% student engagement! We had been learning about animal adaptations and members of the Denver Zoo came in to give us some real-life observations of animal adaptation!
References:
Perks, K., (2010, March). Adolescent Literacy in Perspective: Creating Effective choices to Motivate Students
Perks, K., (2010, March). Adolescent Literacy in Perspective: Creating Effective choices to Motivate Students
