Student Engagement

 Student Engagement and Keeping Attention

    Ask any teacher, student engagement at the middle school level is what we live and die on. Creating student engagement is challenging with middle school students. At 13, hormones abound and puberty taking over, many kids are off the wall or at their most defiant point in their lives. Creating engagement is critical to any successful learning in the middle school environment.

    One way engagement can be created is a welcoming attitude! Community is everything in classroom development, and creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere is key to making students feel welcome and that they can engage to begin with. With this first step, students can take the first steps to feeling comfortable and ready to be engaged.

    Another way to keep students engaged is through lesson plans. Lesson plans come in all shapes, forms, and variety. There are going to be days where you *have* to get through some more "boring" content. There's plenty of days with creative thinking and differentiation, truly exciting lessons can come together. One of the keys to fostering student attention and engagement is getting them involved in the lesson plans. Learning just by textbook and notes everyday is not going to be exciting anyone. A variety of activities that various students can each feel a connection to, like discussions, speeches, simulations, roleplays, turn and talks, etc all create a dynamic classroom atmosphere.

   Lastly, engagement comes with classroom management and behavior control. Students won't feel engaged if the classroom is out of control, nor will students speak up if the same students are always the ones talking. It's important to not only have the classroom under control with systems and rules (having a daily routine like starting by writing classwork in the planer, or doing a warmup question is really helpful!). This way, *all* students can feel a chance to be engaged, participate, and have their needs met. 

    Overall, keeping student engagement is the most challenging task of a middle school teacher. With proper care, creativity, and learning from mistakes, one can foster an incredible classroom learning environment that will be very rewarding for both the teacher and students.