Whether the beginning of the year or after a long break, it’s never too late or too early to be thinking about your classroom engagement level. Do you think yours could use a kickstart? Here are three ways to do that.
Try Flexible Seating
Kids are a lot like adults. They can’t learn in an environment that doesn’t make them comfortable. If you, as an adult, don’t enjoy sitting down in hour-long professional development sessions and writing on a cold desk, what makes you think your students can? If you don’t learn much in such meetings, then why would students learn in a classroom like that? So, shake things up a bit and consider some flexible seating. It doesn’t have to mean a free-for-all. You can still control your classroom through assigned seats, and if kids get envious about the fact that Tommy gets the bean bag chair while they have to sit on the bouncy ball, rotate the assigned seats every month. That way, everyone gets to try out all the flexible seating options, but there is still order in your classroom. Kids may be bouncing up and down, but they’re hanging on your every word because they’re not thinking about the fact that they still have 60 minutes left in class. They’re thinking about how much fun they’re new seating arrangement is.
Create a Classroom Theme
If you’ve been on the education/teacher side of Pinterest lately, you know how popular classroom themes are. But did you know how vastly engaging they can make your classroom? Imagine walking into a boardroom decked out like a pirate’s ship, your principal wearing an eyepatch, and a black bandana, as you learn how to teach like a pirate in your latest professional development. How exciting would that be? Wouldn’t you be more open to hearing whatever your principal had to say? The same holds for kids. Set them up for excitement from the moment they walk into your classroom with a theme. It doesn’t have to be about pirates or superheroes, find something you like that feels natural to “sell” to them. Also, consider picking a theme that is easy to create incentives around as well as consequences. Your kids will love it, and they’ll be so excited that you’ll have them hooked the second they walk into your class.
Immerse Yourself
This one may be harder or easier, depending on what kind of teacher you are. Or maybe you are already doing it. But, it just means whatever you are teaching, A Christmas Carol, mitosis and meiosis, the alphabet or the Pythagorean Theorem, really immerse yourself in it. Kids know immediately when you don’t believe in what you’re trying to sell them. And let’s be truthful, you don’t always like what you have to teach, but the kids don’t need to know that. Find something in every lesson that excites you, and your kids will be excited too.
Despite what most people think, the school does not have to be boring. Consider some of these excellent engagement tactics to spice up your classroom this year. But remember, the most important engagement tactic or resource in your class is you. If you don’t believe it, the kids will never buy it.
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