How can I “up” student participation in the classroom? How can I create an engaging environment?
Over the course of three practicums (one three week, one four week, and one ten week practicum), I will be looking at how to engage students in the classroom and how to keep them engaged when we look at things they may not be interested in.
As a humanities teacher, I will be teaching required courses that students may not be interested in, especially in an English course which is required through grade 12. Students are often forced into these courses in order to graduate (like many other courses), and the lack of choice in these courses can often lead to students not being engaged (in my experience).
Student engagement is something that can be a struggle in high school (especially in older grades) as students may see school as something that is useless or not needed when they finish. They may also simply be uninterested in the subject (as mentioned in the previous paragraph) or they may not care for the work that they have to do in class (worksheets, projects, etc.).
For my spiral, I will be looking at different things and trying a few different ways to engage students in the classroom in attempts to up participation and keep engagement within the classroom.
I will be trying a variety of different things, including different projects, assignments, and ways of teaching (including videos, trying PowerPoints and note taking).
For my spiral, I will be posting another page at the end of each practicum in order to reflect on student engagement and participation and what I will be looking at next time.