Republic of the Philippines

Western Mindanao State University

Pagadian External Campus
Bulatok, Pagadian City

TOPIC : STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

HOW DO YOU EFFECTIVELY ENGAGE YOUR STUDENTS IN LEARNING?

OBJECTIVES:
A. Activate student’s prior knowledge through the use of engaging strategies designed to focus
learning;
B. Provide a structure for learning that actively promotes the comprehension and retention of
knowledge through the use of engaging strategies that acknowledge the brains, limitation of
capacity and processing; and
C. Promote the retention of knowledge through the use of engaging strategies designed to
rehearse and practice skills for the purpose of moving knowledge into long term memory.

Student Engagement- is multi-faceted, characterized by behavioral, emotional, and cognitive

engagement. It is a key element of a positive school climate, with a large body of research linking it to
academic achievement.
• Behavioral Engagement- students demonstrate behavioral engagement through actions such as
consistent attendance, completing assignments, coming to class prepared, and participating in
class and in school activities.
• Emotionally Engaged- when students like school, are interested in, and identify with school
culture.
• Cognitively Engaged – when they exert effort to do well in school, which can lead to strong
academic self-concept.

Engagement at the school level includes student and the teacher connectedness or bonding.
- Students’ feelings of connectedness refer to students’ sense of belonging at school, which is
fostered through relationship with other students and staff that are respectful, trusting, supportive, and
caring.
- A study of Chicago Public Schools found that connectedness between teachers and students was
a stronger predictor of students feeling safe within school than the poverty level of students or the
crime rate of the neighborhoods where students live. Research using nationally representative data also
suggests that positive student-teacher relationships predict fewer incidences of misbehavior and
violence in school.

Activating Strategies

“Prior knowledge is the knowledge the learner already has before they meet new information. A
learner’s understanding of a text can be improved by activating their prior knowledge before dealing
with the text, and developing this habit is good learner training for them.”

Two ways to think of engaging students’ prior knowledge:

1) link content to what they may already know and

2) build background knowledge by creating new experiences for them.

Clive Shepherd’s Universal Design Principles, (No. 2) discusses how to hook the learner. Shepherd
suggests hooking them with emotion creates attentive, curious, and excited learners. Whether using
humor or drama, something visual or creating a mood with storytelling, emotional engagement is key to
getting students attention from the start.
 Republic of the Philippines
Western Mindanao State University
Pagadian External Campus
Bulatok, Pagadian City

To help students to activate prior or to build requisite knowledge teachers can:

• Explain the topic or standard about which students will be learning.

• Provide an overview of requisite content or concepts (e.g., review preceding content, use media
or a hands-on activity to create the necessary context for learning new material)
• Preview the reading material to note headings and subheadings, words in bold or italic font, and
titles and captions on graphic sources.
• Actively engage students in discussing and integrating information.

Examples:

1. Think Pair Share

Purpose: To engage students in about their prior knowledge of a topic.

Description: During this activity, students will have individual time to think about a question related to
the topic of study. They will then pair up with a partner to share their thoughts. Finally, the pairs will
select one major idea to share with the entire class.

2. The First Word

Purpose: To activate students' prior knowledge of a concept, idea, or skill

Description: The First Word is a variation on traditional acronyms. By going through the process of
analyzing words and creating related sentences, students will gain a deeper understanding of the
meaning.

Cognitive Strategies

Cognitive strategy instruction develops the thinking skills that will make students strategic, flexible
learners. People use such strategies all the time, like writing a note to remember an important fact. For
some students, cognitive strategies must be explicitly taught so they will be able to consciously think,
“This is the information I want, and this is the tool I can use to get it.” Students must also have multiple
opportunities to practice cognitive strategies. Thus, strategies become power tools, with greater
flexibility.

These include repetition, organizing new language, summarizing meaning, guessing meaning from
context, using imagery for memorization. All these strategies involve deliberate manipulation of
language to improve learning.

Examples:

1. Dump and Clump

Purpose: To provide a step by step process for organizing thinking and facilitating learning of new and
difficult material.

Description: This is a great strategy to use when the students are faced with learning new and difficult
information. It provides students with a process for organizing their prior knowledge and making
projections. Depending on the subject matter, this strategy could utilize up to a full class period.

2. Venn Diagram

Purpose: To compare and contrast concepts

Description: The Venn Diagram is one of the most basic graphic organizers currently used by teachers.
Using the Venn Diagram form, students are able to compare and contrast characteristics of two
 Republic of the Philippines
Western Mindanao State University
Pagadian External Campus
Bulatok, Pagadian City

concepts, ideas, or words. They provide a visual display of similar and different attributes that can be
used to launch discussion, writing, or further research.

Summarizing Strategies
Summarizing is telling the most important parts of a text, in your own words, in a much shorter
way. Teaching summarizing shows students how to discern the essential ideas in a text, how to
ignore irrelevant information, and how to integrate the central ideas in a meaningful way.
Teaching students to summarize improves their memory for what they read and acts as a check
for comprehension. Summarizing is a complex skill that will continue to develop over time, as
students read increasingly complex texts.

Why teach summarizing?

• It helps students learn to determine essential ideas and consolidate important details that
support those ideas.

• It enables students to focus on key words and phrases of an assigned text that are worth
remembering.

• It teaches students how to take a large selection of text and reduce it to the main points
for more concise understanding.

• Summarizing skills are applicable in almost every content area.

How to teach summarizing

Summarizing can be tricky, even for adults. The leap from retelling — which asks readers to
recall the events in a story in logical order — to determining what is important or essential in a
story and condensing the information into a summary, is a big one. A good way to scaffold young
readers’ growing ability to summarize is to model and practice summarizing routines. The routine
or structure that makes the most sense will be different depending on students’ age and
experience.

Examples:

1. Final Countdown

Purpose: To engage students in reflecting, evaluating, and integrating their learning

Description: This activity emphasized the important role that reflection plays in the learning
process. Final Countdown provides learners with a framework for reflection, evaluation, and
integration of new knowledge into previously learned material.

2. Word Sorter

Purpose: To engage students in the activity of classifying topics, words, phrases, into
categories based upon their knowledge of the content.

Description: In this activity, students have the chance to classify topics, words, and phrases
into categories. The process of sorting and classifying strengthens the student's ability to
comprehend and retain difficult information. Through a discussion of possible solutions, students
negotiate the contextual meaning of the topics, words, or phrases they are sorting.
 Republic of the Philippines
Western Mindanao State University
Pagadian External Campus
Bulatok, Pagadian City

GROUP 2 MEMBERS:
Hagna, Rose May
Taballeja, Jolina
Sarol, Mae-Ann
Baylosis, Leopoldo
 Republic of the Philippines
Western Mindanao State University
Pagadian External Campus
Bulatok, Pagadian City

References
https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/topic-research/engagement

Kagan, S. (1994). Cooperative learning. San Juan Capistrano, CA: Kagan Cooperative
Learning. https://sites.google.com/site/stokestechnology/Home/instructional-strategies-for-
engaging-learners/activating-strategies/think-pair-share

Lipton, L., & Wellman, B. (1999). Patterns and practices in the learning-focused
classroom. Guilford, Vermont: Pathways Publishing.
https://sites.google.com/site/stokestechnology/Home/instructional-strategies-for-engaging-
learners/activating-strategies/the-first-word

Rogers, S., Ludington, J., & Graham, S. (1999). Motivation and learning. Evergreen, CO: Peak Learning
Systems. https://sites.google.com/site/stokestechnology/Home/instructional-strategies-for-
engaging-learners/cognitive-strategies/dump-and-clump

Lipton, L., & Wellman, B. (1998). Patterns and practices in the learning-focused classroom.
Guilford, Vermont: Pathways Publishing.
https://sites.google.com/site/stokestechnology/Home/instructional-strategies-for-engaging-
learners/cognitive-strategies/venn-diagram

Rogers, S., Ludington, J., & Graham, S. (1999). Motivation and learning: A teacher's guide to
building excitement for learning and igniting the drive for quality. Evergreen, CO: Peak
Learning Systems. https://sites.google.com/site/stokestechnology/Home/instructional-
strategies-for-engaging-learners/summarizing-strategies/final-countdown

https://sites.google.com/site/stokestechnology/Home/instructional-strategies-for-engaging-
learners/summarizing-strategies/word-sorter