Increasing Student Engagement

We know that we want our classrooms to look and feel like this:

Students learning from each other.

Students sharing ideas and engaged in their work.

Teacher and students enthusiastically participating. 

Students learning independent of the teacher.

But, sometimes, our classrooms look and feel like this:

Students looking tired and bored with learning.

So what is the solution?

(If only we had THE solution!) 

Let's try again . . . what is ONE possible solution?

Student engagement! 

One of our jobs as teachers is to plan engaging lessons for the students in front of us. That means knowing our students, knowing our curriculum, planning thoughtful and thorough lessons, and adjusting to the strengths and needs of our students.

Dr. Sharroky Hollie started a school in Los Angeles, wrote a few books, trained thousands of teachers, and has seen success with his strategies of Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching and Learning. One of his amazing resources is the Protocols for Increasing Student Engagement, which I have put into a document just for you! (Click on the red words.)

We have all been using strategies such as Turn and Talk, Pick a Stick, Raising Hands, and Shouting Out. But we get bored and students get bored. There are twenty six strategies in this document to engage students in learning and purposeful conversation.

So, here's my challenge to you:

Try a new protocol with your students. 
Choose one from the list and give it a go. Don't know where to start? Here are some super easy ones:

• Give One, Get One
• Whip Around
• Roll 'Em
• Corners

Post a comment to this post telling us which protocol you tried (even if you tried it before now). If you have time, tell us how you used it so we can learn from each other.