Increasing Student Engagement Through; Goal Setting ...



Increasing Student Engagement Through; Goal Setting, Frequent Assessment Academic Language Acquisition, and Physical Movement.

Heather Moll

EDU 6526

Survey of Instructional Strategies

Summer 2009

Introduction

There are many reasons for a lack of engagement in students. Boredom, frustration, slow pacing, and materials that are too difficult or too easy are many of the factors which cause students to disengage from lessons in school. The big question is; what can we do to counteract this problem? There are many options, but I have chosen four instructional approaches or strategies which I believe will increase students’ engagement: goal setting, frequent assessment points, an explicit focus on academic vocabulary, and the use of physical movement, specifically the brain dance.

Goal Setting

The first strategy to increase student engagement is goal setting. In chapter 1 of The Art and Science of Teaching, by Robert J. Marzano, he outlines action steps to facilitate goal setting with students. One of the steps I zeroed in on was number 1, “Make a distinction between learning goals and learning activities or assignments.:” He also gives some really good starter sentences to facilitate each of these; for learning goals, “students will be able to”, and learning activities, “students will be able to”. These could also be combined if a student had a goal and an accompanying activity. I think that these sentences could really help all students focus their attention and know where they should be heading.

I think making such goals at the beginning of a unit of study would help differentiate instruction by allowing learners to set goals that are appropriate for their skill levels. I also think that having these goals in hand will help focus learners who may have tendencies to get off task or are easily distracted. In my classroom, I have new units of study often, so I am planning to choose the GLEs which I really want to focus on for each grade level and have the students set learning goals as well as learning activities for each of the GLEs we address throughout the year. This will make some goals more long term and others shorter which I think will also help students learn skills about working with both of those types of goals. There are very different skill sets involved in keeping a long term goal in mind as opposed to short term ones.

Frequent Assessment

In the same chapter, Marzano talks about the benefits of frequent assessments. In fact, he says “the frequency of assessments is related to student academic achievement.” In her book, How to Differentiate Instruction in Mixed-Ability Classrooms, Carol Ann Tomlinson states, “assessment is most useful when it comes at the outset of a unit or along the way in the unit. At those points, assessment invites us to adjust our teaching based on current information.”

I believe that formative assessment provides the student and the teacher with valuable feedback about a student’s progress toward a goal. This information can be used to assess the appropriateness of a goal as well as direct whole group and small group instruction in the classroom to address particular holes in knowledge and or ability.

In my class, I would like to use individual progress charts to help students track their learning. This can help them keep on track, have a personal investment in their learning, and show where any difficulties have occurred on the way to meeting a goal. I could have quick conferences with the students to go over their charts and discuss any questions or concerns they have along the way as well as suggest any changes which may need to be made in their approach to their goals.

Building Academic Vocabulary

One thing many students lack is an academic vocabulary. They have their conversational vocabulary and think that will suffice in their schooling as well. These students use common language, even computer and texting language in their school work and wonder why they don’t achieve grades they think they should have. Because of a lack of background knowledge about specific vocabulary for subject areas, many students fall behind in their study of those subjects. The lack of vocabulary can cause frustration and feelings of inadequacy which can lead to a lack of engagement.

In his book, Building Background Knowledge for Academic Achievement, Marzano recommends, “a program of direct vocabulary instruction focusing on the terms and phrases that students will encounter in their academic subjects.” The book contains lists of vocabulary for each academic subject in the back. There is a very informative table on pg. 122 outlining the estimated number of terms students can learn in a given week and year based on their grade level.

In my classroom, I will use the Music GLEs in combination with the lists in Marzano’s book to compile academic vocabulary lists for each grade level. I will then match these terms with the lessons and units which address them. We will create some class goals about how and when we will learn these terms. I believe that explicitly teaching these terms will even the playing field for students as far as background knowledge. I believe this will also reinforce the fact that there is an academic language which students can learn. They don’t need to be born with this knowledge to be successful. This would open doors for students who felt they weren’t “school smart”.

Physical Movement

Like a lack of vocabulary, many students feel held back in a classroom because of an inability to move around. In The Art and Science of Teaching, Marzano states, “physical movement enhances student engagement because it increases their energy.” As we take more and more physical education and recess out of the schools, our students spend more time just sitting. They move around occasionally to change subjects or to move into small groups, but they are not really activating their brain in the process. This is where the Brain Dance comes into play.

From the Creative Dance Center website:

“Developed by Anne Green Gilbert, the BrainDance is a series of exercises that we use in all CDC classes. It is comprised of eight fundamental movement patterns that we move through in the first year of life. Research has shown that these patterns are crucial to the wiring of our central nervous system. As babies, we did these movements on our tummies on the floor. However, cycling through these patterns sitting or standing has been found to be beneficial. This "dance" is an excellent full body and brain warm-up for children and adults in all settings. The BrainDance can be done at the beginning of class; before tests, performances, and presentations; and during computer work and TV watching for brain reorganization, oxygenation, and recuperation.”

I have done these exercises in many music training sessions as well as other professional development situations. These are exercise that can be done in five minutes or you can take a full half hour to complete them.

I would like to use these movements to start my class in order to help the students re-order their brains in preparation for a different subject. I also believe these movements would be amazingly helpful during WASL weeks as well as during the normal class day. The full set of movements and more explanation is available on the Creative Dance website included on the Citations page at the end of this paper.

Conclusion

One of the most difficult obstacles we face as teachers is a lack of engagement in our students. We all want our students to feel involved and empowered by their education and engagement can lead to those feelings. In order to help our students we need to assist them in setting goals as well as create effective formative assessments about their progress in reaching those goals. We can help our students feel empowered by explicitly teaching them the academic language they need to succeed in their classes. We can also keep their engagement level at its highest by allowing them to be physically active at key points in the day. All of these techniques and procedures work together to afford our students the opportunities to be their best and enjoy success in their schooling with us and beyond.

Citations

Marzano, R, J, (2004). Building background knowledge for academic

achievement:. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Marzano, R, J (2007). The art and science of teaching: A comprehensive

framework for effective instruction. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C, A, (2001). How to differentiate instruction in mixed-ability

classrooms. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

BrainDance. Retrieved August 24, 2009, from Creative Dance Center Web site:



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