Effective Teaching and Student Engagement

According to materials presented in the workshop I attended Friday, Dr. Bishop stated the following attributed to Madeline Hunter and Barak Rosenshine:

When effective teachers teach concepts and skills explicitly, they use the following to increase the probability of student success:

• Begin the lesson with an anticipatory set, activator, or hook. 
• State the objective or identify the Essential Question. 
• Provide an appropriate model and check for understanding. 
• Provide systematic feedback and appropriate correctives. 

We need to ‘engage the mind of the learner with active involvement. This can be accomplished using a variety of techniques that may or may not require student movement. Below are a listing of several common techniques that promote engagement. Please peruse the list and set a goal to try and incorporate at least one new method per day. If you are not familiar with some that are listed, drop me an email and I will go over the particulars with you—as well as things to watch for in the implementation…

• Silent Discussion 
• Free Write 
• Frayer Diagram 
• Jig Saw 
• Mix Freeze Group 
• Museum/Gallery Walk 
• Carousel Brainstorm 
• Give 1 Get 1 
• Human Organizer 
• Four Corners/Physical Barometer 
• Numbered Heads Together 
• Round Table 
• Open Outline 
• Tell A Neighbor 
• Target (Bulls Eye) 
• 3—2—1

and a bit more on Anchor Activities...

Students in the differentiated mixed ability classroom must be taught strategies to self-manage and self-regulate behaviors and materials and to reflect on their learning. Taking the time to teach the upfront expectations:

Start by teaching the whole class to work independently on the anchor activity, (Teaming/Assisting Whole Class).

Move towards 1/2 the class working on the anchor activity and the other 1/2 works on a different activity (Teaming with small groups/ Assisting small group);

Work towards 1/3 works on the anchor activity, 1/3 works with teacher under direct instruction; 1/3 works with teacher under direct instruction (Station Teaching/ Leading Small Group).

Remember...an Anchor Activities are ongoing assignments that students can work on independently throughout a unit or grading period. An Anchor Activity should be Meaningful—have a purpose and are goal oriented; Focused—on the standards; Independent—students can manage the activity with minimum teacher support.