Conclusion

I have learned so much writing this blog. What not to do, what works and why it works. As future educators we need to know as much as we can in order to help our students succeed in school. Just like our students we will be learning everyday. We will see what works in our classroom and what doesn't. Then we look for new things to try. The point is to never stop exploring and discovering new ideas for our students, if you want them to give it their all so should we.

Challenge Them

In your classroom try and create experiences for students that are challenging and enriching. Experiences and activities that extend their academic abilities, help them grow mentally. Easy learning activities and assignments are not as effective at engaging students as activities and assignments that challenge them. Assignments and activities that are simple tend to bore students and make them lose interest so they don't pay attention.So don't be afraid of challenging your students. When students are reflecting, questioning, evaluating, and making connections between ideas, they are engaged. 

Build A Relationship

Teacher-student relationships are a key factor in determining student engagement. When students have that  close and caring relationship with their teacher, they are establishing their developmental need for a connection and a sense of belonging in society. Teacher-student relationships start by caring about the students' emotional and social needs. Being there when they need advice or just need someone to talk to. Have that one-on-one time with students so they see that you are interested and care about them and what they are going through. You also need to treat students fairly. Provide the same help and support to all of your students, don't favor them. Avoid breaking promises to your students. You want your students to be able to always count on you and trust you. 

Reflect

After you come up with engaging learning activities for your classroom don't think you you're all done have have done your job. When you are done with one of your learning activities it;s important to evaluate and track the effectiveness of that activity. Did it work well? Where the students able to understand and grasp the concept? Was it engaging? If not, maybe you need to come up with something else. It's OK if your activities don't always work out, you live and you learn.Keep only the activities that worked well for you and for the students and contributed to their learning. Also it's crucial to question students after each activity and the learning outcomes it served. What was the purpose of the learning activity. If students don't understand the purpose of the activity then what was the purpose of it in the first place?

Responsibility

We've all heard that it is important to teach children to become responsible. Teach them to be responsible for cleaning their room, folding and putting away their clean clothes and teach them to be responsible to feed and walk the dog. It should be the same in the classroom. We as teachers should teach our students to be responsible for their learning. Focus the responsibility of learning on the students so they can engage with the content and information you have given them and cognitively become active in the learning process. When you have students involved in the learning process they are more likely to be interested, and remember things.

Let Them Talk

Teachers think that they always have to be talking or lecturing in order to be a good teacher. That the more they go on and on the more the student will learn and retain. But that is not interesting at all. No one wants to just here a lecture. Students like to get involved. So in your classroom let students  present their work and projects to you and the class. Let them show you what they have learn. Have them share their ideas and experiences. The more they have a chance to talk the more they are engaged with the lesson. Let them talk.

Mix It Up

Routines tend to be something that we fall in to pretty easily. We do something one day and think that we have to use it over and over again. For example, for science we could show a video and it is a big success. Then we think we always have to show a video, but that's not true. Just because it worked once doesn't mean you use it every time. Mix it up! Try something new and different. If you do the same thing everyday you will lose the attention of the students. Keep the class interesting and introduce new activities and ideas. If you're not creative and engaging in your teaching, then why should your students be in their work?

Grouping Students

We know that students learn and retain more when they are partnered up or in groups with classmates. They discuss different ideas and see their classmate's point of view. But something we need to keep in mind is not to group students in the same groups all the time. Yes, it is important to have students grouped with students at the same level but sometimes it's good to change it up. They can learn new things from students at different levels than them. Everyone can contribute something different but valuable to the group. Also, it's important to keep things fresh when grouping students. Having them in the same groups all the time can get old and boring. Changing it up keeps them engaged and interested.

Connect It

“Learning is not a spectator sport. Students do not learn much just by sitting in classes listening to teachers, memorizing pre-packaged assignments, and spitting out answers. They must talk about what they are learning, write about it, related it to past experiences and apply it to their daily lives. They must make what they learn part of themselves.” (Chickering & Gamson, 1986) Reading this quote made so much sense to me. I've already talked about how as a teacher we need to have our students get up from their seats and get them involved in the learning process. But something I never really thought about that this quote mentions is to apply past experiences to their present everyday lives. When we make the connect of the lesson to something they are familiar with in their lives, they will remember it so much better. They'll even find it interesting and meaningful. Students will find purpose in what we are teaching them and won't think we are teaching them stuff they will never use or need.

Why Engage Students in Learning?

Why should we as teachers engage students in learning activities? This question might seem kind of obvious. You might say, so students can learn from what we are teaching, and that's true. But I'm going to give you a few more reason why it's important to engage our students. Number one, by engaging students in learning activities it increases learner’s retention and understanding of contents. What this means is that when students are focused on the lesson activity you are presenting, they will remember and keep in their memory what you are teaching. They will also understand the lesson better if you have them engaged. Number two, it improves students attitudes in the classroom. I know when I was in elementary school some of my teachers were dull and wouldn't involve me in the lesson and I would get bored. Being in that uninteresting classroom would put be in a bad mood, I just wanted to get out of there. Number three, it increases students attention span. When you make the lesson plan or lesson activity interesting and attractive students will give us their attention. We all know that students have low attention spans, so why would we not try to make the lesson appealing to them? Last but not least number four, engaging students in learning activities increases student skills such as critical thinking and communicating. Students will learn these valuable skills when they are engaged in what we are teaching.

Get Active

Think back to when you were in elementary school. Sitting down for hours, listening to the teacher give the lesson or doing classwork and assignments. Was that fun? Did you enjoy just sitting for long periods of time? Of course not! You were a kid. You wanted to be up and running around, having fun. No one likes to be glued to their chair all day long. Students in the classroom should have the opportunity to get up from their seats and be able to move around and still be able to learn something new. When students get to move and do something physically they learn and remember things better as to just sitting at their desks. It's important to incorporate this into some of the activities we do with our students. Come up with learning activities that give them a chance to get all their wiggles out and still get something valuable out of the lesson activity.

It Starts With You

I often hear teachers complain that their students don't pay attention or participate in class. They say that the children don't care about education or that they are too lazy to do the work or learn the material. Teachers say that the students attitude's towards learning and doing work is a negative attitude, they show no interest in what is being taught. One might say that the students are bored. So my question is, what are we as teachers doing wrong? As a teacher it's our responsibility to try to make what we are trying to teach fun and interesting. Sometimes there will be subjects that are awfully boring, but the attitude of the teacher should be uplifting. We need to be engaging and grab the students attention. If students see that you, as the teacher, are bored and not excited about the lesson, they're going to feel like it's something they don't need to learn. It all starts with us the teachers.

My First Blog

I've never had a blog before and I'm not the best writer, so this is going to be a very new and challenging experience for me. Let me tell you a little about myself. My name is Arisbe Jacquez and my major is Elementary Education. Growing up my mom, being a teacher, always had me and my sisters help her out in the classroom or at church with the children. Ever since then I loved to work and be around children. In the back of my mind I thought about becoming a teacher, but it wasn't until second semester my freshmen year at SWAU that I decided to pursue it. I don't regret changing my major. It's a bit nerve-racking to think I will be "in charge" of what and how my students learn. That's why I chose this topic, Engaging Students in Learning Activities. So it can be useful for me and other future teachers.