70 Ways to Keep Students Engaged
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Pedagogy of Engagement
Compiled by Debbie Ann from Teachers.Net chatboard posts
“Who is doing the thinking in your classroom?”
1. Employ random invitations to respond.
2. Be sure that kids to know what WILL BE expected of them
after the lesson. “When we’re done, you’re going to be ….”
3. Interesting, appealing lessons with time for partner talk.
4. Use colored cubes in a baggie for each student. The
color coded cubes are held up to indicate response to the
teacher’s question.
5. Create a colored card system where ALL students show a
specific color to indicate an answer.
6. The teacher has a generic color key on the board where
the answers are indicated: use A,B,C,D and a document camera
to display question and answer choices.
7. Use student work as demo or model for work.
8. Ask the question first, allow a short think time, then
call the student’s name that you want to answer the question.
9. Tailor the question to the student.
10. Have students jot down two test questions about what you
just learned.
11.Turn to your partner and give a summary of the last ten
minutes of our lesson.
12. As you read, write a one-sentence summary for each page.
13. Give me at least one example from your own experience
when this will apply.
14. Let’s stop here. Write a prediction of what you think
will happen next.
15. Compare this to yesterday’s lesson. How are they alike?
16. Why did this happen? Generate possibilities with your team.
17. Form a mental image of what you think that must have
looked like. Draw a picture of what you think it must have
looked like.
18. Make a simple outline of what you just heard me say.
19. I’ll give you an outline of the major topics. You fill
it in as we go.
20. Work with another person and make a mind map of how
these ideas relate to one another.
21. Give me that definition back in different words.
22. Give me an example from your own life.
23. Debate this issue with your neighbor. One is against the
issue; the other is for it.
24. Read the summary of the chapter. Write 3 questions you
think might appear on a test of this unit.
25. Read the “Main Idea Focus” at the beginning of the
chapter. Turn each objective into a question.
26. Read the chapter questions at the end of this chapter.
List three main points that you predict you will learn after
reading the chapter.
27.Select one graphic from the chapter. Write a
three-sentence explanation describing what you learned from
the graphic.
28.Write down the key learning from today’s lesson and one
question you still have.
29. Write down one question you still have. See if your
neighbor can answer it.
30. Take 3 minutes and jot down everything you know about
the topic.
31. Jot down one way the learning can help you in the future.
32. Write (or tell your neighbor) the rule for……..
33.Everyone at their desk solve the problem on scratch
paper. Be ready to tell if anyone at the board gets the
wrong answer….AND be ready to do it correctly!
34.Be ready to explain the relationship between these two
concepts. E.g. *Thomas Paine – colonies *Main idea – details
*Lead – textstructure *Expository – narrative *Addition –
subtraction
35.Check your understanding. On a scale of 1-5 where do you
find yourself. I’ll be asking you to signal me and explain
why you marked yourself as you did. What do you need to
learn to be a “5”?
36.Here is the key idea of what I just said. Think about
what this means to you…I’ll give you about a minute .
37.If this question were on your test, how would you answer
it? Think about it…I’ll ask someone to share.
38. As we read this next page together, be ready to……(give
main idea, give a summary sentence, identify 2
characteristics about George Washington).
39. Use the new vocabulary word in a sentence about
yourself. Tell your partner.
40. Ask a question…to whole class…no names. Tell kids to
think about it first. This gets ALL kids thinking. Say “I
want everyone to think about it for a minute. Then I’ll call
on some people to respond.” The last sentence raises the
accountability. Then call on one or two to respond.
41. You can ask kids to raise their hand if they
agree…that assures they’ve listened to the
responses. Then always ask who disagrees. If you don’t, some
kids will not bother to listen knowing you will just think
he disagrees. If someone doesn’t raise hand, Ask…”John, I
don’t think I saw your hand…do you agree or disagree?” You
must hold accountable.
42. Overt involvement (writing, talking) holds kids more
accountable and you can check their understanding.
43. Covert (thinking, visualizing) makes the request of all
kids to be engaged. Not so much accountability so is
safe—use when the learning is new. You don’t want wrong
answers to get out and that will happen if you ask about a
new learning. Also kids don’t want to embarrass
themselves by not knowing the answer so if they just think
about it it is very safe. If you want them to know whether
or not what they were thinking is correct…say “If you were
thinking………You were exactly right.” That way they will
know (privately) whether they were right or wrong…and if
they were wrong they will have the right answer….all
without anyone
knowing.
44.Covert is much faster than overt. If you want them just
to process something quickly before adding more information,
say something like “Run that last bit of information through
your mind…think of one sentence that gives the main idea.”
Give them a couple of seconds to process then move on.
45.Best kind is combination…both covert and overt. “Think
about this…..now jot down your thoughts.” Think about
it….I’m going to ask some people to share their ideas.”
46.If you want to be sure they actually did process, use the
combo. You can then say, “everyone jot that sentence down.”
If you want to hold them more accountable, add, “I will be
coming around to check.” Some classes need more
accountability than others.
47. Critical attributes of involvement are: 1. Involved MOST
of the time (timing) 2. MOST students involved (number)
48. Definition of involvement: Students are actively engaged
learning what the teacher is teaching. (they can be engaged
in lots of things while you’re teaching…they must be
engaged in what you
are actually teaching. )
49. Work on getting students involved at frequent intervals.
Often have only at beginning or end.
50.Involvement, at least, a quick processing activity,
should occur after each major point or sub
objective. *John, will you tell me? ? Then teacher asks
question. Guess who
is involved..John.
51. Use wait time (3-7 seconds: *Between your question and
their response *Between their response and your comment .
52. Don’t jump right in with your feedback on answer. Give
kids time first to think about the quality or correctness of
the answer they heard.
53. The decision to use overt, covert or combination
involvement depends on many factors: * how quickly you want
processing,*what is going on that day (may want covert if
the kids are having a wild and exciting day; overt if they
are apathetic and not responding),* whether the learning is
new or old, if there are a lot of misconceptions about the
topic and kids will answer incorrectly, use covert. You
don’t want wrong answers out there,* the amount of
accountability you need, “if you are using the involvement
activity to check understanding it needs to be overt.
54. Use hand signals to respond. For example, give word
problems orally, have kids signal plus, minus, multiply,
divide by making signal with their hand. If possible the
signals should be congruent with what you are asking….e.g.
hand signals that actually match the concept. You can also
have them show a period, question, exclamation mark by
making them with their hands.
55. Thumbs up and thumbs down generally goes right through
their brain and out again. They’ve heard it so much. Try
other things.
56. My students always had 2 cards in their desks…one says
YES the other says NO. You ask ? student holds up card. Very
quick check or review.
57. Group (seat) students who are not likely to participate
in a large group next to someone who is willing to share.
58. Give STRICT time limits on the discussion. This does not
allow kids to get off task as easily “you have 30 seconds
to come up with 5 ways to use pasta other than eating it, go!”
59. Each student is given a cardstock clockface on which
lines are drawn by the 12,3,6 and 9 o’clock positions. They
find a partner for those spots on the clock. Laminate the
clocks, velcroe them to each desk and throughout the year
use them to ask the children to “find their _____ o’clock
partner and ________________.
60. As far as engagement goes, think partner and small group
activities, small group projects and presentations, whole
group projects in which different groups are situated in
different areas of the room, and members of each group have
to travel to the other group to get, give, and process
information and ideas.
61. 1) Think in your head (as I point to my own head—this
is code for my classroom that I do NOT want you to raise
your hand) about the main character Jimmy. What do you think
he wanted to do with his friend today? 2) If any hands go up, I wave them
down and point to my head
again. I wait and wait and wait. 3) Sometimes then I will
use turn and talk, or I will sometimes randomly call on
someone.4) Often I will say, “If you think you know what
Jimmy wanted to do with his friend today, stand up.” If
you’re not sure, go find someone who is standing and ask
them what they think. 5) Once all kids are standing, then
I’ll ask them to sit back down. By then, almost every kid in
the class knows the answer and can experience success if I
call on him/her.
62. I’ve noticed a huge increase in cognitive engagement
just by saying, “Think in your head” before I ask the
question. This lets them know that raised hands and shouting
out will not be acceptable to me and I will expect a
prepared answer from everyone.
63. Give students two r three minutes to “turn and
dialogue”. After enough time has passed, ask each student
to share what they heard THEIR partner say.
64. Have students assess their own level of understanding.
On a white board have them indicate clear, buggy or muddy. (
or other type of scale) Randomly call on students to ask
how do you know you are clear? How do you know you’re
understanding is muddy?
65. Create a rubric beforehand to indicate what being on
task looks like. Have students assess themselves on the
rubric and hand in to teacher.
66. Explicitly teach students what to do in order to learn.
Did you look at the teacher, summarize in your head, take
notes, use a graphic organizer, assess your level of
understanding, ask questions? Have students indicate on
white board or paper what learning strategies they used.
Call on students to ask how the strategy helped.
67. Plan for check points throughout the lesson.
Frequently stop to check for understanding.
68. Keep a learning log or journal. Have students respond
to questions in log. Teacher writes response to their thinking.
69. Discuss what being a thinker is during class meetings.
Brainstorm a list of ideas from students. Hang as an anchor
chart and refer to it prior to teaching as a reminder.
70. Think – pair – share!
