Blogs on Student Engagement

Student Engagement

RSS

Get advice from educators on how to build a positive climate for learning, improve student curiosity, and enhance classroom collaboration.

Ainissa RamirezApril 2, 2013

There is lots of talk about the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) pipeline and all of its leaks. My personal mission is to fill the STEM pipeline with so many children that it bursts. To do this, STEM must be taught in an inspiring way. To keep children engaged, we need to bring passion for learning back into the classroom.

Read More
Rebecca AlberApril 2, 2013

Children are more than one test, once a year, in one sitting. It seems as if many schools and districts have lapsed into a deep state of amnesia of Maslow's hierarchy of needs -- a possible lingering hangover from NCLB. So here's a radical assertion: When assessing and teaching children, the time has more than come for education to embrace the whole child. This approach calls for schools and educators to curtail the deficit model and replace it with the abundance model.

Read More
Matt DavisApril 1, 2013

'Tis National Poetry Month! In April, classrooms around the country will dive into the expressive art of poetry. Shakespeare, Frost, Yeats, the list goes on and on.

There are many great ways to bring poetry into the classroom, and whether it's reading, writing or performing prose, poetry can be a great way to engage students. To help you bring poetry into your classrooms, we've compiled a list of some of the best open resources.

Read More
Maurice EliasMarch 28, 2013

Whether or not your school provides explicit or implicit opportunities to address Passover, Easter, and other spring religious observances, our teens need us to use this time of year to have important conversations about aspirations.

Read More
Ben JohnsonMarch 25, 2013

In Texas, there are 180 days of instruction, taking away 30 days for state testing so that leave 150 days for instruction. Let's say that a teacher gives a curriculum-based test once every two weeks and the district benchmark test three times a year. That is 21 less days of instruction or 129 days. Now, schools typically have three days of teacher in-service. Five special assemblies, two holiday parties, two half days, four emergency drills and three sick days takes away 15 more days bringing it to 111 days.

Read More
Matt DavisMarch 22, 2013

I still remember April Fools' Day when I was a fourth grader. A reading comprehension worksheet went out to the class, and in minutes, we were all dumbfounded. The story and questions were incomprehensible, written in complete gibberish. But our teacher went along with the joke. We had a half hour to finish it, and it was going to be worth a substantial amount of points.

Read More
Karen LeaMarch 15, 2013

Planned a great lesson? Excited to teach the content because you know what you've planned will excite students and they will learn? Ever planned a lesson like that and then wondered what went wrong? We all have. We have all been there. But there are three keys to avoiding that. No guarantees -- sometimes a lesson just flops. But we can be strategic in including at least one of the following keys to avoid the lesson that just doesn't motivate our students.

Read More
Ben JohnsonMarch 12, 2013

I am certain you feel the pressure of the testing season soon to be upon us. We want our students to do their very best and we see and feel the urgency (hopefully not panic) that we want them to feel. True learning, which is more than answers on a standardized test, is a naturally urgent process if students are engaged and have a real reason to learn.

Read More
Karen D. Purcell, P.E.March 7, 2013

As a society, we learn about the world and advance our well being through science and engineering. The United States may be known around the world for its higher education, but compared to many other leading and steadily emerging countries, we lack a strong focus on educating scientists and engineers. One significant reason that we have fallen behind is that we do not encourage our female students to pursue career paths in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM).

Read More
Matt DavisMarch 5, 2013

Happy 3.14159265358979323846264 Day! That's right, Pi Day is coming on 3/14, and the annual celebration offers a great opportunity for students to explore Pi! (And maybe enjoy some pie, as well.) Of course, there are plenty of great teaching resources online to help your class celebrate Pi Day, and we here at Edutopia thought we'd help.

Read More
see more see less