MIS Navigator
May Edition

This Month's Focus: M-10
M-10 Student Engagement:
Students consistently engage in multiple activities that result in ownership of learning and mastery of skills that lead to increased academic achievement.What does it mean?
"So, how do they know if a student is engaged? What do "engaged" students look like? In my many observations, here's some evidence to look for:
Teacher-Directed Learning
You will see students...
- Paying attention (alert, tracking with their eyes)
- Taking notes (particularly Cornell)
- Listening (as opposed to chatting, or sleeping)
- Asking questions (content related, or in a game, like 21 questions or I-Spy)
- Responding to questions (whole group, small group, four corners, Socratic Seminar)
- Following requests (participating, Total Physical Response (TPR), storytelling, Simon Says)
- Reacting (laughing, crying, shouting, etc.)
Student-Directed Learning
You see students individually or in small groups...
- Reading critically (with pen in hand)
- Writing to learn, creating, planning, problem solving, discussing, debating, and asking questions)
- Performing/presenting, inquiring, exploring, explaining, evaluating, and experimenting)
- Interacting with other students, gesturing and moving"
Source: "How Do We Know When Students Are Engaged? - Edutopia
What does it actually look like at MIS?
- Incorporate instructional strategies that allow for student discussion (Think-Pair-Share, Turn and Talk, Jigsaw, Scenarios and Debate, etc.)
- Provide multiple methods for learning and engaging with content within the unit
- Allow students opportunity to express their creativity as part of learning activities
- Use chunking to keep students moving and fresh
- Plan games, learning challenges, contests and other activities that incorporate competition (such as Kahoot, Quizizz, Quizlet Live, Trashball, Hotseat)
- Incorporate different learning styles (visual, hands-on, auditory) within each lesson
- Provide opportunities for students to move frequently within a lesson
- Use learning stations and centers to keep students active
- Research instructional best practices in a student-centered classroom
- Incorporate Discovery Ed SOS Strategies to use more than one sense when interacting with content
- Use leveled task/QR cards to keep students continually working at an appropriate level
- Use hands-on, experiential, and inquiry-based learning to help students internalize what they learn
- Show a passion for learning that is contagious with your students
Educational Articles
- Five Powerful Ideas for Student Engagement - Teaching Channel
- The Icing or the Cake? Strategies for Engagement - Educational Leadership
Strengthening Student Engagement: What Do Students Want
(and what really motivates them)? - Educational Leadership
Self-Paced PD
"Techify It!"
Quizlet
| DE SOS Strategies
| SeeSaw
|
Quizlet
- Students practice skills with audio, visual, and text-based cards and games
- Quizlet Live games feature teams working together to connect material
DE SOS Strategies
- Research instructional best practices for engaging with digital content
- Choose methods for summarizing, comparing, and more with engaging activities
SeeSaw
- Give students an audience for their work by sharing SeeSaw classes with families and others.
- Incorporate text, video, photos for engaging content
- SeeSaw link
Additional Ideas:
Discovery Ed - Virtual Labs and Interactives
Discovery Ed Boardbuilder - Allows for student creativity and ownership.
Kahoot, Quizizz, & Quizlet Live - Game-based learning and practice
Aurasma and Plickers - Digital tools that add an element of fun/engagement to learning
MGSD Top Ten Tech Tools Focus
Spotlight #1: icurio
