Hey Coach, 

There seems to be a lull in the engagement from my students lately. What strategies can you recommend to make learning more fun and engaging for them?

Sincerely,
Engaging Educator

Dear Engaging Educator,

When students are engaged in the classroom, they are more attentive, focused, and motivated to participate in meaningful learning experiences. With all the expectations teachers face, it can be tough to find time to plan fun and creative lessons, so I want to help you out. My goal is to provide you with several easy-to-implement-strategies to increase student engagement and have more fun while you do it.

Strategy 1: Be Real

My first and most important strategy to engage your learners is to be real with them.  Teachers are not robots and students appreciate when you show a little personality.  So next time you are introducing a lesson, play your favorite song, customize your background, or tell a personal story to connect to your content.

Strategy 2: Make it Interactive

One of the best strategies for making lessons more engaging is to make them interactive.  This means finding ways to draw your learners in and requiring input and feedback throughout the lesson.  Polls, reactions, and dropping emojis in the chat are a great way to accomplish this. My favorite tool for interactivity is Nearpod. Nearpod is a fully interactive presentation platform that truly keeps the learner with you every step of the way, while also providing opportunities to gather feedback and adjust your lessons on the fly.

Strategy 3: Stop, Collaborate, and Listen!

Collaboration among students is a crucial skill for school, the workplace, and beyond! Facilitate collaboration in the virtual or face-to-face classroom with some whole group collaboration apps, such as Padlet, Microsoft Whiteboard, Zoom Whiteboard, or Google Jamboard. These apps will allow students to share ideas and make connections in real time, while giving you a way to pop in and out of collaborations as well!

Strategy 4: Project Based Learning

So much can be learned by working to solve a problem.  Project-based learning and Novel Engineering are both fantastic options to provide authentic learning opportunities.  These projects can be as simple or as complex as you like and allow students to solve real-world problems while still addressing the relevant standards.

Strategy 5: Gamify your Lessons

This last strategy is one of my favorites and something that is very easy to introduce - gamify your lessons.  Everyone loves a little friendly competition and your students are no different!  Consider incorporating a Kahoot or Quizizz game to review content or practice a new skill.  My favorite part of these platforms is that there are literally thousands of pre-built quizzes that you can use as is or customize to fit your needs perfectly. 

Hopefully these five strategies help you get over those all-too-common learning lulls! Remember, you don’t have to use every strategy during every lesson, but consider using a few of these strategies throughout a unit to bring some engagement and fun into your classroom.

Sincerely,
Coach