Engaging instruction is one of the key tools to use in the classroom. When students are engaged in the classroom, they are most likely not to participate in off-task activities, such as using their cellphones or talking to classmates when they are not supposed to. In this essay, I will explain how engaged instruction supports both learning and classroom management. I will also be giving my opinion on what approaches and techniques I would like to use in my classroom. Lastly, I will give my opinions about what true engagement is supposed to look like in a classroom.

“Every nine seconds, a student drops out of school. Effective teaching has a direct influence on a student’s life choices” (Himmele & Himmele, 2017). If the teaching is ineffective, students are more likely to drop out of school and or commit crimes. Himmele & Himmele (2017) stated one of the main reasons students drop out of school is boredom and the irrelevance of school (p. 7). Students want opportunities for debate and discussion in the classroom. Giving those opportunities to the students will develop them into critical thinkers and problem solvers. When students are engaged and having fun, they should be thinking deeply as well.

I believe one of the strongest methods to keep students engaged in the classroom is group work/discussion. This allows students to come up with ideas individually and then share them with their peers instead of putting them on the spot individually. I believe students like to have the freedom to speak with their peers and debate instead of sitting down for 90 minutes to listen to lectures. Listening to lectures with no breaks will bore the students and will also tire them out. Students are not “listening objects.” Himmele & Himmele (2017) state that “education built around the notion of listening objects or stand-and-deliver teaching is not effective for young minds, and it doesn’t work for adults either” (p. 6).

As a music teacher, there is no way for students to learn just by sitting and listening. As an aspiring elementary music teacher, I want to teach young kids just by playing music games. It is impossible to teach children musical concepts just by lecturing to them. For example, if I wanted to teach young students the “pulse/beat of a song,” I would not give a slideshow lecture about it. This would bore and confuse the children. Instead, I would have the students march around the room to the beat of a song so that they could understand the concept of it.

I really like The Ripple technique used in the Himmele and Himmele (2017) textbook. For traditional question-and-answer sessions, I would start by letting every individual reflect on the question first. Next, I would ask the students to join in pairs and share their thoughts. If there is time after that, I would then ask for those pairs to join other small groups. Once that is done, more individual students would be more confident in sharing and responding in front of the whole class.

If there is engaged learning in a classroom, that classroom will most likely be well managed. The meaning of classroom management does not center around controlling students; it is about learning opportunities given to the students.

According to Milner et al. (2019) and their book, there are four main elements of effective teaching:

Effective instruction requires that both teachers and students engage in criticalreflective practices. Second, effective instruction requires that teachers guide students into high engagement in course content. Third, effective instruction calls for teachers to positively frame all aspects of a student’s learning experience—that they build on the assets and strengths of their students, families, and communities—and reject deficit mindsets. Finally, effective instruction requires teachers to build a vibrant classroom community that bridges the wider community with the more local social context of a school (p. 53).

To incorporate these elements into my teaching, I plan to engage in reflecting on myself as a teacher. Every day, my goal is to always think about my educational practices and what I can do better for the students. I will always think about problems and try to solve them.

I believe I know students are engaged when there is visible proof of their learning. For example, this could be one student turning to their classmate and summarizing what they just read in a textbook. Another scenario would be when the school principal comes into the classroom and the student is able to explain or show what they are learning. It is important to know the difference between when students are engaged and learning material versus when they are just compliant. Students will often nod their heads to the teacher to act like they understand things when they truly are not paying attention. So how will I know if the students are engaged? True engagement shows when active participation is visible.

References

Himmele Pérsida, & Himmele, W. (2017). Total participation techniques: making every student An active learner (2nd ed.). ASCD

Milner, H. R., Cunningham, H. B., Delale-O’Connor, L., & Kestenberg, E. G. (2019). “These kids are out of control”: Why we must reimagine “classroom management” for equity. Corwin.