How to Get, and Keep, Your Students Engaged (Opinion)

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Larry Ferlazzo

Opinion Contributor, 澳门跑狗论坛

Larry Ferlazzo is an English and social studies teacher at Luther Burbank High School in Sacramento, Calif.

We teachers can never get enough ways to help create the classroom conditions for students to motivate themselves.

This post kicks off a series sharing lots of ideas, and today鈥檚 contributors also participated in a

鈥楤uild Great Relationships鈥�

Chandra Shaw has more than 24 years of experience in education, as a teacher, reading specialist, instructional coach, and now a literacy consultant at one of her state鈥檚 regional service centers. Chandra is a and amateur :

One of the best strategies to create classroom conditions where students are more likely to motivate themselves is to build great relationships with students by making learning relevant, making them feel comfortable, showing how much you care about their learning, and teaching them what they need to know.

One way I did this was to start off the year by asking students to imagine this being the best school year they鈥檝e ever had. I鈥檇 ask them to write down and discuss what I would need to do in order for it to be the most successful and best year for them. They鈥檇 work in groups and create a list. As they worked, I鈥檇 walk around and read through some of the things they鈥檇 written, affirming pretty much anything they鈥檇 put down by saying, 鈥淥h yeah, I can definitely do that.鈥� Once they鈥檇 shared their lists with the entire class, we鈥檇 make the class鈥� top 10 list from the things that had appeared the most on the groups鈥� lists.

Each year, the students鈥� lists would undoubtedly include things like, 鈥淵ou need to be nice, provide treats, not show favorites, play games, allow student use of phones in class, and teach them what they need to know to be successful.鈥� OK. That last one is what I鈥檇 often suggest as I walked around listening to their groups, and they usually agreed it was important and added it to their lists. At any rate, once the class list was done, and I鈥檇 assured them that I would absolutely do everything they鈥檇 listed in order to make this year the best year ever, I鈥檇 then share MY list of what I needed from them!

Throughout the year, I鈥檇 point to the list and ask if I was holding up my end of the bargain. And if they weren鈥檛 holding up their end of my list, I鈥檇 point that out as well. By returning to our lists again and again, it showed that WE were in this together and all trying to make this the best year. It really seemed to motivate the students when they saw how consistent I was with doing what they needed to succeed.

Asking Questions

Irina McGrath, Ph.D., is an assistant principal at Newcomer Academy in the Jefferson County public schools in Louisville, Ky. She is a co-creator of the ELL2.0 Google site and is a co-director of the Louisville Writing Project (LWP) and a University of Louisville and Indiana University Southeast adjunct professor:

Over the years, I have discovered that certain strategies are more effective than others at getting and keeping students - especially English Language Learners - motivated to learn . One such strategy is simply giving students the opportunity to ask questions and search for answers on their own. Studies have shown the power of asking questions, and some cognitive scientists believe that they are so important that we cannot learn properly until the right one has been asked: If memory does not ask the question, it will not know where to index the answer鈥� (Bain, 2004). By encouraging students to pose their own questions about what they are learning, teachers will be able to help fuel students鈥� curiosity and promote further engagement in the classroom.

A great way to stimulate question asking is the Read Aloud Response Cards strategy, which teaches students to pay attention to the metacognitive process happening in their heads while listening to a passage being read out loud. The activity involves colored cards indicating tasks for the students to perform based on the card they receive: Those with yellow cards generate questions, green document their connections, red create a summary of the passage, and purple draw images either on paper or in their minds while listening to the passage. When the passage is completed, the students are sorted based on card color and work together to discuss and compare the results of their task, and eventually representatives from each group speak to the rest of the groups about their discoveries and questions during the activity. Ultimately, once posing questions becomes a routine and students realize that they are welcomed and encouraged, ELs鈥� curiosity will start fueling their learning and desire to discover something interesting and new.

Another strategy that promotes conditions for students to motivate themselves is choice. Students get excited when they are provided with options for books to read, topics to study, assessments of learning, and final product. Every student is a unique learner, and by offering them a choice, we offer an opportunity to build on their interests and talents and take on a new topic in a way that brings joy to learning and gets students excited. For example, if we think about the end of the lesson reflection, there are different ways English-learners can accomplish that when they are provided with choice. Students can either list three or more things they learned that day or create three true statements and one lie about content covered in class. They can also use Vocaroo, Padlet, or any other app/platform to record a note to themselves with advice on how they might approach the lesson鈥檚 task differently. Students can even create a two-minute video or a sketch to help classmates understand the lesson鈥檚 content better.

Overall, students are more likely to be motivated to learn if given a sense of autonomy and self-derived excitement for a topic. The best ways I have found to help them have confidence and interest is to allow them to pose questions and to give them choices in their projects.

鈥極pportunities for Choice鈥�

Meg Riordan, Ph.D., is the chief learning officer at the Possible Zone, a youth-entrepreneurship and work-based learning program with a mission to advance economic equity. She has been in the field of education for almost 30 years as a middle, high school, and college teacher; researcher; leadership coach; school designer; and director for a network of schools:

While many factors influence students鈥� motivation and engagement, it is central to ignite connection via relationships, share and uphold expectations, uncover and tap into students鈥� strengths, create relevant learning experiences, and design for choice. Such strategies can unlock students鈥� motivation for learning that lasts a lifetime.

Prior to the pandemic, a student survey of over 3,000 schools found that declines as students progress in school; while 5th graders reported their engagement level at almost 75 percent, by 10th grade, students鈥� engagement hovered at 33 percent. Read that again: 33 percent. Despite this stark statistic, there is hope: two items drive motivation and engagement: 1) when students 鈥渟trongly agreed鈥� that school was 鈥渁sset- and strengths-based鈥� and 2) when they affirmed that they had 鈥渁t least one teacher who made them excited about the future,鈥� they were 30 times more likely to be engaged compared with those who disagreed. Search Institute corroborates that students are motivated and goal-oriented when they feel a sense of belonging, safety, and acceptance.

Since the pandemic, additional amplified students鈥� lack of motivation: virtual instruction, social distance from peers, economic hardships, and racial reckonings, to name a few. Given these conditions, what strategies can educators employ to create classrooms where students motivate themselves and sustain engagement? I explore ways to motivate, engage, and support learners.

1. Build relationships and seek out students鈥� strengths

shows that young people who experience strong developmental relationships demonstrate increased academic motivation, social-emotional growth and learning, and a sense of responsibility. Developmental relationships are 鈥渃lose connections through which young people discover who they are, cultivate abilities to shape their own lives, and learn how to engage with and contribute to the world around them.鈥� In the classroom, this might take the shape in the following ways:

Design opportunities for students to show who they are: Kick off the school year with a project in which students take selfies or create profile silhouettes of themselves and share words, symbols, and pictures of things that they value; teachers can connect with and build from students鈥� assets. Throughout the year, educators can provide opportunities for in which students speak on a topic they鈥檙e passionate about (e.g: the worst pizza in town or why Serena Williams is the best athlete ever); knowing who our students are and seeing their strengths is a powerful driver to build relationships and spark motivation.
Provide clear expectations, ask what students expect from you, and strive to uphold and meet expectations: When educators are clear about expectations and invite students to share their needs, the relationship becomes bidirectional and is more likely to offer space to express care and challenge growth, both key aspects of developmental relationships. School designs like EL Education promote co-creation of and ongoing opportunities for students and educators to revisit and reflect on owning and meeting shared expectations; this cultivates an environment where voices and actions are valued.

2. Create relevant learning and opportunities for choice

Students experience motivation and engagement when educators help them get excited about the future. To see oneself in the future, it鈥檚 important to activate students鈥� self-concept and create opportunities to develop self-efficacy and agency. Consider these ideas:

Create authentic projects for real audiences: shows that when students actively pose questions and problem-solve real issues, conduct fieldwork, talk with experts, and produce meaningful work with impact beyond the classroom, not only does engagement soar but so does achievement. While educators may feel constrained by standards, consider small and larger steps to integrate relevant projects. This might include integrating into a unit or, go big, like , which engages young people in consultancies with local industry partners to solve authentic challenges and present solutions. Schools like offer models of projects for inspiration.
Embed options throughout students鈥� learning experiences: and autonomy develop agency, building decisionmaking skills for careers and lives. In the classroom, this might include entry points such as choosing where to sit, 鈥渉ow鈥� to learn (e.g.: reading, listening to podcasts, interviewing an expert), or choice of (e.g.: demonstrating research and synthesizing skills via a topic determined by student interest). When designing鈥攐r co-designing鈥攍earning environments with students, educators should ask: Where can I offer productive choices? When determining where to sit, for example, a teacher might suggest, 鈥淐hoose a seat where you鈥檒l be most engaged,鈥� or 鈥淪it where you鈥檙e comfortable.鈥� Students can revisit choices and reflect on their predictions.

Classroom Culture

Andrew Sharos is a teacher, administrator, speaker, and author in Chicago. He wrote the Amazon-best-selling book , which has become the road map to instructional methods and culture building for gifted and talented teachers. He also co-authored , a book for new teachers and their mentors:

Motivation for students really comes back to classroom culture. We hope to create a classroom culture that is so fun, engaging, and magnetic that students actually WANT to be in school. Teachers who engage students are ones who create a unique and different experience for the students every day.

In terms of concrete strategies, I like to have students learn outside the classroom in the halls, courtyard, on the grass, or in the auditorium. The walls of a classroom have limitations, and mixing it up in different spaces keeps the students on their toes.

I enjoy having a theme every day, like Weekend Monday, Positive Tuesday, Thankfulness Wednesday, Joke Thursday, and Cookie Friday. It might waste a few minutes at the beginning of every class, but it is time well wasted if the students are more engaged after we engage in some playful dialogue at the beginning of class. These are hallmarks of the class and moments students enjoy.

When students are not engaged, the teacher has to find ONE thing that connects the student and the teacher. The teacher could, and maybe even should be the reason why the student wants to come to school. This can only be made possible when there is a relationship built on love and trust.

Sometimes, this takes time. One student of mine was impossibly difficult to connect with, or so I thought. I recited a movie line from 鈥淎ce Ventura鈥� one day, and she was the only person in the class who 鈥済ot it.鈥� From that moment on, we connected. We have to keep chipping away at the less motivated. The students don鈥檛 have to love the content and skills we are teaching, they just have to feel connected to us to be motivated to learn.

This is the first post in a multipart series.

The question of the week is:

What strategies have you used to create classroom conditions where students were more likely to motivate themselves, including those who didn鈥檛 initially seem very engaged?

Chandra Shaw, Irina McGrath, Meg Riordan, and Andrew Sharos kicked off this series today.

Chandra, Irina, Meg, and Andrew were also guests on You can also find a list of, and links to,

Thanks to Chandra, Irina, Meg, and Andrew for contributing their thoughts!

Consider contributing a question to be answered in a future post. You can send one to me at lferlazzo@educationweek.org. When you send it in, let me know if I can use your real name if it鈥檚 selected or if you鈥檇 prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

You can also contact me on Twitter at .

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