Improving Student Engagement RUNNING HEAD: IMPROVING STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Improving Student Engagement Dianne J. E. Kraus Wilkes University

Improving Student Engagement Insight

During the course there have been many valuable tools learned to improve student engagement but the three major insights that were gained involved questioning to increase response rates, using games and inconsequential competition and the concept of a growth mindset as it relates to selfefficacy. I have embedded these three strategies into my instruction in order to increase engagement with my students and I am very excited about the response from students as they become more engaged and interested in their learning. In regard to increasing response rates, I learned that there are many ways to keep all of the students in the class engaged in answering the questions. I would have the students raise their hands but there were always students who did not participate, some that always raised their hands and as soon as the student was chosen to respond the rest disengaged. I have changed this by preparing popsicle sticks with the students names on them so that I can randomly select students to answer questions and I have also been employing response chaining to have students build on previous answers or to respond to other students. This simple change in instruction has kept students on task and engaged in our discussion rather than only one student answering and then moving on. Our class discussions have become more in-depth and the students are forced to engage in critical thinking skills as we investigate scientific problems and concepts. One student may be able to give me a definition but the next will clarify the concept or will demonstrate the concept kinesthetically. The next student may provide an example as it relates to real life or provide an analogy for the concept being explained and by using a chain of responses we develop and build on what was previously said by another student. The students are always paying attention and thinking about what they may be asked to respond to next as I randomly select their names from the jar.

Improving Student Engagement

I still feel awkward using the choral response with my Biology class, but I am using it more often for helping the students to remember important rules or concepts. An example was when I wanted them to remember how to write the titles on graphs because they need to show the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable. We all write the title in the format of the effect of the IV on the DV. Whenever, we write a title for a graph now I have them recite the rule in a choral response as we agree on a title. Another insight was to embed games and inconsequential competition into the lessons to engage students and have them interact with the content. My students love to play the games and they have fun and their natural desire to win makes them engage in the content. I remembered this strategy after a slow first period last week. We were reviewing the skill of analyzing data tables and graphs and the first class was a bit sluggish and boredom was setting in as their faces slowly lost any signs of life. By second period I pulled out my white boards and instead of asking students one at a time for an answer I had them work in groups to write down their answers and I ranked them in order to review the answers. The first group to get the correct answer won a point. This made the assignment fun, the students were collaborating and discussing their answers, and they were giving each other high fives if they won the point, and reflecting on their answers if they got the answer wrong. As a result it was a much better lesson, more students were involved and all of the students were engaging in the content and answering the questions. The greatest insight came at the end of the course in regards to self-efficacy and the growth versus fixed mindset. I used this concept as a Socratic Seminar topic for demonstrating AVID strategies to another school district. After taking the survey, we discovered that approximately half of my students are of a fixed mindset. I provided them with readings in order to prepare for the seminar so that we could also practice critical reading strategies during the demonstration. The discussion that

Improving Student Engagement followed not only impressed me but the administrators from the other district were raving about the content and the classroom experience. The issue of mindset and self-efficacy is so important to struggling students and teaching students about this has been shown in the research to improve their grades. Not only have the students started to think about the issue but it affects me every day when I conference with them because I am constantly correcting myself so that I do not promote a fixed mindset with my students. I catch myself rewarding ability or giving praise for talent and I need to remember to reward preparation, hard work and effort. They are also correcting me after the Socratic discussion because they take great pleasure in reminding me of their need to have a growth mindset in order to improve in their classes. I did have a problem with our French II course this week, as all of my students that take that course failed, as they have repeatedly, despite their hard work, tutoring and studying. This is one situation where I do not know what to say to them because they are not improving following their effort.

Improving Student Engagement Questions Two questions that I still have regarding the content of the course are: 1. How does a teacher respond to student failure, in terms of the growth theory, when students attend tutoring, study hard, make corrections and maximize their effort and they still do not improve? 2. How do you improve pacing techniques to allow for quality experimental inquiry experiences and critical thinking problem-solving strategies during Biology? For my first question, I am at a loss for what to say to my students regarding their French II grade and despite what the students have done to prepare and to study they are not showing any progress. I have tried to talk to the teacher about her expectations and the students have followed their teachers advice on how to prepare for the tests. I have found them a certified teacher who

has been working with them after school and during advisory to practice their language skills. I have also contacted the foreign language Divisional for advice on how to help my students. The French teacher is of a fixed mindset and she is very negative towards the students which is also making the situation worse and the students are feeling very defeated. I have tried to encourage them and I have praised their effort but their hard work is not paying off. In order to try to solve the problem I have contacted our Vice-principal for Curriculum and Instruction, and the Foreign Language Divisional to meet with the French teacher and myself so that we can brainstorm a solution as a collaborative team. I am concerned that the teacher will feel defensive about the situation but the students should be provided the opportunity to learn and grow to be successful in the class. Perhaps with a change in instructional strategy and some focused study strategies we can find a solution so that the amount of effort will be rewarded with greater achievement and improved grades.

Improving Student Engagement I have taken a growth mindset on this issue so that the students are provided with a model for not giving up after failure. I have set them up with graphs so that they can track their grades and their effort in a hope that we can see some correlation between the two factors. Perhaps the students will be able to identify areas where they are not putting in as much effort as they think or say they are when preparing for their assessments. I want them to keep trying and working hard because if we all work hard together they will be successful before the end of the course. My second question involves the use of pacing strategies in Biology to improve engagement because my students become involved in scientific inquiry and problem solving and we lose our momentum when the class ends so abruptly. In prior years we were able to do the same activities during a ninety minute period and the students had more time for collaboration, inquiry and

hypothesis testing. I am concerned that the students will lose interest if the pace is too rushed and that they will lose interest when they lose their focus by waiting until the next day to complete their discussion, investigation or experimental inquiry. In order to solve this problem, I plan to put pacing onto the agenda for our next PLC meeting so that I can discuss the issue of pacing with my colleagues who are teaching the same content. I would like to know if they are having the same issues and what strategies that they have used to solve the problem. I would also like to observe in the classrooms of the other teachers to see if they are experiencing difficulties and gain some ideas from them as to how they are adapting to the shortened class periods.

Improving Student Engagement Action Step My action step is to change our school culture by teaching our faculty and students about

building high self-efficacy through a growth mindset. We have too many students who have given up on themselves and far too many teachers who believe that the students are to quote a colleague just window lickers. If we educate our students and our faculty about the research for developing a growth mindset and how it can improve student achievement we will all be more effective in the classroom. As a professional development provider I have the opportunity to work with our teachers to increase awareness about how their feedback, their behaviors and their attitudes can affect how a student feels. If we establish a school culture that has a growth mindset we will all reward each other and our students for individual determination, preparedness, strong work ethic and hard work towards our goals. If we establish a common language throughout the school for how to praise and give feedback to our students that will promote a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset. The end result may be that we can improve grades in all classrooms and for all students. The other benefit is there is no cost involved because we only need a willingness to be cognizant of how to word feedback to students and develop positive attitudes towards learning and failure. This also connects to our Quantum Learning initiative because one of the Quantum Keys is that Failure leads to success. The implications of this also helps students learning by hopefully allowing students to re-learn, study and re-take tests and assignments to improve their grades. I would also like to have all of our professional learning communities engage in a Socratic discussion with their peers regarding this strategy because it is important for teachers to share and reflect on their own instructional practices and get feedback so that we can start to slowly change the culture of the school through discussion and modeling of best practices. We all participate in book study groups and this would be a very interesting topic to study and to share with the rest of the faculty.

Improving Student Engagement Now that my students are aware of the differences between growth and fixed mindsets, I also plan to practice giving them specific feedback that praises them for their effort, preparation and

individual determination so that they will continue to change how they react to failure or to setbacks so that they never give up on themselves. I want them to believe in themselves and to know that if they work harder, problem solve new ways to overcome obstacles, and never give up that they will be successful in their academics, their intelligence will grow and that they will accomplish any goal that they wish to achieve in life. No obstacle is too big to conquer if you just persevere!

Improving Student Engagement References Marzano, R. J. & Pickering , D.J. (2011). The Highly Engaged Classroom. Bloomington, IN: Marzano Research Laboratoy.