Student engagement occurs when students are more eager to learn, participate in learning, and develop a positive attitude. In general, student engagement in education refers to the intellectual curiosity, hopefulness, involvement, and enthusiasm exhibited while learning or being educated.
However, in a few other scenarios, student engagement refers to the behaviour of school leaders and educators who “engage” students fully in school decision-making advancements. Student engagement can also relate to the participation of students in the design of policies and learning opportunities.
There are so many ways in which students’ engagement can be seen. However, some students struggle in engaging, which even cause them to take help with assignments due to the lack of interest or concentration. In such situations, it becomes crucial for teachers to enhance their engagement effectively.
8 Strategies to Build Student Engagement
Here are eight strategies to assist you in building student engagement effectively.
1. Embrace Real-Life Situations
Incorporating some real-life scenarios is remarkably beneficial to students’ development. This is yet another reason why proactive learning is so crucial. The most significant advantage of embracing real-life situations is it helps students learn skills.
This will be very useful to your students in the outdoor world. Thus, most real-life situations are taught in school, and as a teacher, your goal is to prepare your students for real-life situations, isn’t it? So, bearing in mind your goal, it is one of the best approaches.
2. Icebreakers
Icebreakers (brief, simple interactive activities) that are well-planned and adequately timed are another excellent tool for connecting students in the classroom. These are intended to make students interact with one another in entertaining and engaging ways.
Icebreakers not only generate energy, but they also enable students to see the better and more positive aspects of their classmates. This fresh perspective can serve as the foundation for connection, which is essential for engaging students.
3. Increase Collaboration
Increase collaboration between students to enhance student engagement. They will benefit from each other’s perspectives and their ability to express their ideas.
Try to teach your students teamwork and work with other students to improve the understanding of their team behaviours and ways to interact in the classroom. Collaboration aids in the development of many skills and social and communication assistance.
4. Set Ground Rules
A classroom needs to be a safe area for students to share and to foster community and connection. Nothing is more damaging to open an honest debate than an upsetting remark made at the wrong moment.
Great teachers (and good leaders) collaborate with their students at an early stage to build consensus on how they treat each other.
These teachers gather their students and explain they want their class to be a positive and powerful encounter for all, which necessitates the establishment of some ground rules for how they will all engage and treat one another. The teacher then trains the students on how to describe the rules.
Those of you who have done this before know how impressive it is to hear the rules the class comes up with. They are almost certainly similar to the rules you would describe, but they help stick to the rules and ensure accountability because the students define them.
5. Use Blended Learning
Blended learning usually combines online learning tools with traditional classroom strategies in several ways.
In this type of learning, students often work to master ideas before they move on by concluding learning gaps and structuring a strong foundation for more progressive work. Thus, the station rotation method is the most famous among many.
6. Journaling
Journaling has been shown to reduce stress anxiety and treat depression and even mental illness. It helps students develop self-awareness and better manage conflict and adversity in their lives. So, this reflective time is beneficial to student encouragement and increases their ability to remain committed to life’s goals and dreams.
However, some students lack good writing skills. So, journaling seems difficult even for assignments. This is why they go for cheap assignment help services. So, helping students learn journaling can aid them in several ways.
7. Reciprocal Teaching
Not every student loves reading, right?
Although, reciprocal teaching practice can enhance reading comprehension and get learners enthusiastically contribute to the lesson. It primarily involves the following parts:
- Clarifying the text and classifying diverse unfamiliar words and confusing concepts.
- Expecting what is intended to happen in the text.
- Briefing the text and abbreviating the reading to its most significant parts.
- Asking questions like what, where, why, who, when and how.
8. Consider Students’ Interest
Don’t make all the decisions by yourself. Consider your students’ interests as well. Discover what truly engages your learners and incorporate it into the learning development process.
For instance, while teaching mathematics, you can track students’ progress in a video game over a week. Education that stimulates your students will do more than just engage them; it will also help you build strong relationships and trust.
In A Nutshell!
Student engagement is achievable and can easily change their lives. You can always add other more strategies to engage students and help them gain knowledge.
