Reading #10

Three Ways to Engage Students In and

Outside the Classroom

Richard H. Kenney, Jr.

March 20, 2017

When students become directly engaged in the learning process, they take ownership
of their education. The following learning activities have helped me to engage students
in and outside the classroom. The strategies also help keep my teaching relevant, fresh,
and creative.

Get real

Silence filled the classroom when the grimacing woman wearing layers of torn
sweatshirts and mismatched work boots kicked an empty desk by the door. She fished
out a wrinkled paper from her jean's front pocket and waved it high in the air. "The
court sent me," she said, looking directly into the eyes of a startled young freshman.
"And I want to know, who's gonna make me stay?" Rolling the document into a ball,
she quickly darted to the back of the room and dropped it onto the desk of the biggest
guy in the room. She asked him, "Is it you?"

For the past several years, I have invited professional social workers to role-play clients
that my students may one day encounter in their careers as social workers. Role-plays
may include clients experiencing addiction, domestic abuse, or mental health issues.
Students assume the role of a social worker and, as a group, are responsible for
assessing the problematic situation, determining client needs, and formulating action
plans.

These realistic role-plays are primarily designed to be problem-solving exercises.

Students work together, building on each other’s questions, to determine a plan of
action to help each of the role-playing clients. With each role-play session (four each
semester), I have observed improvement in the group’s ability to develop meaningful
questions as well as confidence in asking the questions. In follow-up discussions and
surveys, students indicated that this collaborative experience helped them to better
understand the social worker/client relationship. The exercise reinforces my belief in
the value of active learning.

See a show

That's right; I take my social work students to art shows and museum exhibits on
campus. I’ve learned that art can speak to students in a way that many lectures cannot.

A recent art show featured works by an artist who painted young adults experiencing
such issues as isolation or abandonment. I asked the students to select one of the
individuals in the paintings as a potential client. I then asked them to imagine how
their client would respond to several questions relevant to their uniqueness.

One student wrote, "Although I feel like this lady is trying to move forward in her life,
something in her future or in her present state, like racism or discrimination, is holding
her back. She is trying to find her identity. When I asked her what makes her unique,
she said, 'Being fierce enough not to back down from the hard challenges.'"

Another had this to say: "The painting was really shocking for me to look at. It seemed
like I was looking into my own mind when I was a teenager. The words written on her
arms: abuse, hate, unwanted, and get out were exact things I went through and feelings
I felt throughout my teenage years. To be honest, it was scary looking at it because it
was as though I could feel what she was feeling."
Subsequent discussions were profound and powerful. Indeed, engagement sometimes
happens in the gallery.

Breathe fire

Breathing life into concepts is the hallmark of effective teaching. With nearly 30 years
of direct practice in the field of social work, I work hard in the classroom to illustrate
ideas with compelling stories and “real-life” experiences. My job is to capture my
students' attention. If I don't, concepts become unanswered essay questions or, worse,
rote textbook definition recitals.

Earlier this semester, I was explaining the term, macro practice, in one of my classes.
"When we change the environment so that it works for the individual," I told the
students, "we are using the macro approach." The yawns and glazed-over eyes were
signals for something more, so I shared a story that took them to an old, dirt road in
rural Oklahoma where I spent a week knocking on doors asking residents to sign a
petition so that my client, a dying hospice patient, could get meals delivered from an
agency that told him he was ineligible due to delivery geographics.

We talked about advocacy and tenacity and a few unfriendly dogs on porches. We
talked about policy and stamina and standing up to just-the-way-it-is mentality. We
talked about injustice and anger and action plans. We talked about focus and pluck and
the power of a pair of dusty shoes. We talked about change and choice and what it really
means to do social work.

Breathing life (sometimes fire) into concepts goes a long way. Passion fuels
engagement, which often leads to more effective teaching.

Richard H. Kenney, Jr., is an assistant professor and Director of the Social Work
Program at Chadron State College in Chadron, Nebraska.