Keeping Kids Engaged

"How To Keep Kids Engaged" by Tristan de Frondeville

In this reading passage, the focus is eliminating lack of engagement in the classroom, which the author refers to as "dead time". It is explained how this decreased level of engagement is contagious and lays out a plan for increasing the level of active listening and active learning amongst your students. This actively engaged classroom model is one in which students are thoroughly and thoughtfully engaged with each other or the teacher during the entire course of the lesson. De Frondeville references a book by Merril Harmon and Melanie Roth, entitled Inspiring Active Learning to support her claims that there is room for improvement in the overall level of engagement amongst students in today's classrooms. Basically, the book encourages teachers to classify their students into four levels of student motivation; 4) Work Avoiders 3) Half-Hearted Workers 2) Responsible 1) Fully Active. The goal, of course is to move your students to the fully active category through the use of the stated 10 Rules of Engagement.

1) Mini-Mind Warm-Ups

2) Use Movement to Keep Kids Focused

3) Teach Students How to Collaborate Before Expecting Success

4) Use Quickwrites When You Want Quiet Time/ Student Reflection

5) Run Tight Ship When Giving Instructions

6) Use Fairness Cup To Keep Students Thinking

7) Use Signaling to Allow Everyone to Answer your Question

8) Use Minimal Supervision Tasks to Squeeze Dead-Time Out of Regular Routines

9) Mix Up Your Teaching Styles

10) Create Teamwork Tactics that Emphasize Accountability

Classroom Connection:

These rules are simple, and can easily be adapted into everyday practices in the classroom. I often use the thumbs up signal when a group has completed a think-share activity, use kinesthetic activities for math geometry review through the use of Simon Says as well as whiteboards or signaling ques for kids to have a 100% participation in the classroom during mixed review skills practice.