Student Engagement Strategies Toolbox
Presentation Strategies
-Projects & Presentations:
This is more of a peer-to-peer teaching style. Rather than letting a teacher lecture or students watching a video, this is more of a intimate presentation, where students teach other students on their topic and can answer questions. This is a helpful formative/summative assessment to see if students understand the material by presenting it and answering questions. Students are helping other students understand the material, which is interactive and establishes a personal, peer-to-peer relationship. |
-Video Presentations:
This type of strategy is helpful for groups or solo projects. Almost every student has access to a camera on their smart-phone and/or the family's own camcorder, and a basic movie editing system in the computer. This is a great way to test if the student can express enough knowledge on the subject, as they mention key notes that are required in the rubric within the video. |
Communication Strategies
-Think-Pair-Share:
This strategy emphasize a lot on being interactive. Students use this to come up with their own ideas and share it with others. This helps students learn more on the subject from different perspectives, and therefore having more in-depth knowledge of the subject. This also helps EL learners and students with Special Needs to interact with the Mainstream students and learn more from them. |
-Socratic Seminar:
When it comes to important primary sources or influential documents, this is helpful to make sure that all students understand it and that they are on the same page with each other. This strategy helps limit the role of the teacher, as they start off the topic and then as more students get involved, because it includes different interpretations, it becomes more of a detail-based conversation while the teacher fades away into the background, only serving as a mediator when things get out of hand. |
Organization Strategy
-Timeline:
This can be served as a project and as a homework assignment. Students make this in order to break the subject down to how they can understand the topic. This strategy is essentially helpful for the summative assessment, when it comes to taking tests and students can use the timeline as part of the study guide to help them pass the test. |
Interaction
-Simulation and Inter-actives:
This strategy is essential for a Social Studies class, especially History. How else can a student appreciate history (with just facts) without experiencing what it feels like to be part of that specific era? Such methods of interaction can include dressing up, learning the slang, and even learn about the different dancing styles. This helps makes history more interesting because students are more involved rather than just sitting down and taking notes. |
Collection Strategies
-Analyzing documents, artifacts, cartoons, etc.:
Part of the social studies class is looking at old artifacts from the past. Rather than just having lectures, students can partake on analyzing and interpreting old objects. This strategy is to enhance a student's perspective on the topic. Analyzing old art designs on pottery to political cartoons to primary source documents helps students grasp what it was like living in that era. |
-Finding Primary Sources:
History is nothing with primary sources. This is especially important for students who want to major in history. This strategy will help prepare them for college as they know what to do for their major. For those who do not want to major in history, this is a helpful tool for them to make sure that people, especially those in power and of influence, use their sources correctly. |