When the final months of the school year roll around and the finish line is in sight, it gets harder and harder to maintain a high level of student engagement. (Face it—even teachers start to get a bit fidgety!) But a few tweaks can make a real difference in bringing the year to a close successfully. We’ve partnered with our friends at Solution Tree to bring you these tips for keeping students engaged until the race is won!
How To Monitor and Assess Student Engagement
Taking the time to check engagement regularly is the best way to learn if your students are really involved in their learning. Try these strategies from Solution Tree and We Are Teachers to assess student interest and understand their engagement levels.
1. Know the signs of an engaged class
Every teacher needs to be able to recognize when their students are truly engaged in the learning process, and when they’ve checked out. It’s not necessarily that hard to recognize the signs (off-topic discussions, multiple kids daydreaming instead of working, etc.), but it’s vital to be aware of them throughout the day. Watch this video from Solution Tree and explore the accompanying professional development lesson to learn how to monitor whole-class engagement.
Learn more: Monitoring and Reacting to Overall Class Engagement at Solution Tree
2. Assess individual student engagement
Sometimes the class in general may be engaged, but a few student outliers aren’t truly invested in their learning. Sometimes that’s easy to identify, such as when they’re gazing out the window instead of working. But other times, it can be a little more difficult to recognize. Use Solution Tree’s video and PD lesson to explore ways you can focus on keeping individual students engaged in learning.
Learn more: Monitoring and Reacting to Individual Student Engagement at Solution Tree
3. Build student engagement checks into your lesson plans
Once you know how to recognize the signs of disengaged learners, you can build time into your instruction plans to check on engagement regularly. Solution Tree offers clever ideas that don’t take much time or effort and are flexible enough to fit into any lesson plan, such as:
- Hand Signals: “Give me a thumbs up if you find this interesting!”
- Individual Check-Ins: Make the rounds as students work, holding impromptu mini-conferences with some students to see how they’re feeling about today’s lesson.
- Exit Tickets: These are a terrific way to quickly assess learning at the end of a lesson, but they work well for monitoring engagement too.
Learn more: Noticing and Reacting to Unengaged Students by Using Self-Reported Engagement Data at Solution Tree
Ideas for Keeping Students Engaged Throughout the Year
When you feel enthusiasm starting to lag as the school year drags on, these ideas from Solution Tree and We Are Teachers can really make a real difference in keeping students engaged and learning!
4. Add games and interactive activities to your curriculum
It’s no secret that kids love playing games in class. And this goes for every grade level too—high schoolers can get just as competitive at a Kahoot! review quiz as their younger counterparts. Learning games can take up a whole class period or be used as a quick way to reboot class interest when it starts to flag. Check out this simple learning game from Solution Tree that can be adapted for any subject, then take a look at more games to keep students engaged.
Learn more: Increasing Engagement by Playing the Academic Game Which One Doesn’t Belong at Solution Tree
More ideas:
5. Incorporate project-based learning
Project-based learning (PBL) uses real-world projects and student-directed activities to build knowledge and skills. Kids choose a real-world issue that’s meaningful to them, so they’re engaged in the process from the beginning. PBL is especially terrific in the latter part of the school year, when students can use what they’ve learned to make a real difference in the world.
Learn more: What Is Project-Based Learning and How Can I Use It With My Students?
6. Share your passions to ignite their own
Have you ever noticed how when someone is truly enthusiastic about something, you’re much more likely to become interested in the topic they’re covering? (Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter guy, was such a great example of this.) When you’re teaching about something you really love, don’t be afraid to let your energy show! Then, encourage students to pursue their own passion projects on a topic, making the learning engaging and meaningful.
Learn more: How I Use Passion Projects To Deepen My Students’ Relationship With Reading
7. Hold a debate
Debates can seem a little scary, as you imagine passionate kids yelling at each other from across the room. But passion is great! It means students are engaged in the process, and that’s the ultimate goal. The key is to teach kids how to prepare for and participate in a meaningful, thoughtful debate. Use our free debate graphic organizers to kick-start the process.
Learn more: Debate Graphic Organizers (Free Printables!)
8. Have a fishbowl discussion
Fishbowl discussions are similar to debates, except they add an extra round where the audience takes on the role of active participants as they evaluate the debate they’ve heard.
Learn more: How I Use Fishbowl Discussions To Engage Every Student
9. Set up an escape room
Escape rooms have been popular over the last few years, and students totally love them! These definitely take a bit of work to set up on your part (although once you plan one out, you can use the same experience over and over again each year). They’re a cool way to introduce a new subject and build excitement, or engage students in the review process as they prepare for an end-of-unit test.
Learn more: How To Set Up and Run a Classroom Escape Room
10. Display their work to a wider audience
Sometimes students feel like they live and learn inside a bubble, where no one really cares about their progress except their teacher and parents. That’s why it can be so valuable to create work that’s meant to be displayed. Whether your students create a community art display, give a concert, or post a bulletin board showing off their learning, knowing that others will see what they’ve been up to can be a terrific motivator for keeping students engaged.
Learn more: 18 Clever Ways To Display Student Work
11. Invite guest speakers to mix things up
All year, students have been listening to you talk. Adding new voices into the mix will grab their attention and spice up your lesson plans. Plus, kids love knowing that adults (who aren’t their family) are interested in them and willing to take the time to come to your classroom. You can set up these speakers in person or virtually, inviting authors, artists, local community leaders, subject matter experts, and even student alumni to share their experiences with your students.
Learn more: The Big List of Virtual Author Activities
12. Have a “silent discussion”
This teaching strategy is one of our favorites, because it gives quieter students a chance to engage and shine. Rather than talking out loud, each student starts a discussion by writing a question at the top of a piece of blank paper. Then, they pass their paper to the next person, who writes their answer. Pass the papers again, and invite students to read what’s been written so far, and join in the discussion. In the end, students receive their own papers back and see what others had to say. One teacher calls this method “magic”!
Learn more: Have You Tried a Silent Class Discussion Yet?
13. Engage students with physical activity
Sitting still in class isn’t just difficult, it’s actually pretty de-motivating for a lot of kids. When their bodies aren’t moving, their brains shut down too. That’s why incorporating some type of physical movement into your lessons is so important. This can be as simple as getting up to move from one classroom learning station to another, or having kids stand up to show they’ve finished working on a math problem. Learn more about using planned physical movement from Solution Tree, then explore active learning ideas for every kind of classroom.
Learn more: Increasing Engagement Through Planned Physical Movement at Solution Tree
More ideas:
14. Involve students in service learning
Service learning projects get kids out into their communities, helping to develop empathy and a sense of generosity. Service learning also improves academic and social outcomes for students because it helps kids feel connected and gives them a sense of belonging. When students are connected and empathetic, they’re automatically more engaged in learning.
Learn more: 35 Meaningful Service Learning Projects for Kids and Teens
15. Use choice boards to empower their interests
As the school year reaches its final months, many students get a little tired of feeling like they’re always being told what to do. They start to function on automatic, going through the motions so they can just get the work done. When you give students choices in how they learn, though, something changes. Now they’re able to engage with the material in ways they enjoy, and their interest level rises as a result. Choice boards are one simple way to offer student autonomy in the classroom, and you can use them for any subject or grade level.
Learn more: Using Choice Boards To Increase Student Engagement
16. Go on virtual field trips
Ideally, you’ll be able to take your students on a real field trip or two, especially in the final months of the year. But while visiting in person is best, the costs and logistics are often prohibitive. Fortunately, virtual field trips have become increasingly common! You can work a short trip into almost any lesson, visiting zoos, museums, farms, historical sights, and even entire states! Amazon offers virtual tours of several of its facilities, or you can travel back in time for a journey through Ancient Egypt. You’ll be astonished at what’s available when you start looking.
Learn more: 45 Amazing Educational Virtual Field Trips
17. Try a new tech tool
You might feel a little skeptical about using tech to engage students, since it often just seems to offer more ways for kids to get distracted. But by choosing and implementing a clever new tool at just the right time, you can change the way kids take notes, join discussions, offer and receive feedback, and so much more.
Learn more: 10 Best Tech Tools for Student Engagement
18. Create a classroom playlist
Music has so many uses in the classroom. You can play it softly in the background while kids work independently or in groups. Use it at the beginning or end of class to work off some extra energy, or invite students to join you in quick dance party brain breaks in the middle of a hard lesson. Build several different playlists, and invite students to offer their own selections too. (You’ll have to screen those before adding them, of course.)
Learn more: The Big List of School-Appropriate Songs To Keep Everyone Pumped Up and Motivated
19. Let the students teach
Here’s another way to give kids a break from your voice while encouraging self-confidence. There are a couple of ways you can do this. One is to monitor your class for kids who are obviously confident about the material, then calling them up to the front to explain it to the rest of the class. This is the kind of thing you can do on the fly, as part of monitoring student engagement.
You can also make this into a project where each student prepares a short lesson plan on a subject that interests them, then teaches class for part of the period. This is especially fun for older students, as it gives them a glimpse into what teachers do to prepare for class. You may even get some new ideas from their lessons for keeping students engaged!
Learn more: Free Lesson Plan Template Bundle (Daily, Weekly, Monthly)
20. Take the free “Re-engaging the Disengaged” Webinar from Solution Tree
This pre-recorded webinar will help you understand the importance of student engagement at every point in the school year, and identify ways you can reignite interest in your classroom. It’s brought to you for free by our friends at Solution Tree!
Visit Avanti by Solution Tree today for an exclusive free offer for teachers!
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