E

Motivation and Engagement

The Big Picture
1. Inviting schools, classrooms, and teachers
Positive relationships with teachers and peers and a school climate that is warm, inviting, and emotionally and physically safe are crucial elements in reaching all students. Genuine caring, enthusiasm, and humor will be some of the most valuable tools in your tool belt. Aspects of this element include: ! Strong student teacher relationships ! Supportive relationships with parents, mentors, and peers ! Well designed and well maintained classrooms ! Routines, procedures, and follow through ! Communicating high expectations for all students ! Guiding principles outlined by school

3. Voice & Choice

Research has consistently shown that students place high value on taking charge of their own lives, and when they initiate and have a say in learning activities, their personal investment will be greater. This doesnt mean allowing students to do whatever they want, but it does mean giving them choices. Allow students to design learning activities, select resources, plan approaches to units, and make decisions about their learning. In their Students at the Center paper, Barbara Cervone and Kathleen Cushman suggest the following practices to increase student voice in curricular tasks: ! Personal learning plans ! Substantial choice in curricular tasks which book to read, essay topic to research, or options in how the content is learned (game, video, book, etc.) ! Opportunities to show mastery in varied ways interests

5. Real world connections and higher order thinking

Applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating#require that learners make connections between new concepts, skills, and knowledge and previous concepts, skills, and knowledge. These connections are critical for building deep understanding and for facilitating recall and transfer, especially to new contexts. When learning is done in context, people can much more easily recall and apply knowledge in new situations. Making real world connections isnt simply telling students how the content they are studying is used in the outside world. Student should apply the skills and knowledge they are learning to address real problems in the larger community. E"ective strategies include nding community connections (tap into the expertise of outsiders by bringing guest speakers into the classroom and setting up shadowing or internship opportunities), giving students real work to do, and nding authentic audiences for work.

2. Active learning strategies and varied ! Independent projects that build on special instruction
Our brains are designed to learn best through active, hands-on activities and endeavors. Designing lessons that combine direct instruction with experiential learning will aid comprehension, improve knowledge retention, encourage experimentation, and inspire students to make a personal investment in their learning. Some strategies used to increase student engagement include: ! Project-based learning (PBL) ! Collaborative learning ! Experiments ! Student presentations or students as teachers ! Panel discussions ! Technology as a tool for communication, collaboration, research, and adapting instruction

4. Lessons and assignments that are appropriately challenging for every learner
Sca"olding and di"erentiating instruction provides an opportunity for every student to be successful while encouraging them to stretch themselves to the next level of learning. Teachers should also make time for students to reect, revise, and practice to ensure that mistakes are viewed as opportunities for growth and students are being rewarded for e"ort and work ethic.

6. Clear, constructive, and timely feedback, assessment, and support

Assessment should be individualized, focused on learning and growth, actively engage students in the regulation of their own learning, and and it should be informative and motivating. Students need feedback and assessment to know whether or not they are on the right track and making progress, and to know if they are fully meeting expectations and e"ectively learning the material. Using a variety of assessment processes including self-assessments, peer-assessments, portfolios, tests, and exhibitions will allow students to utilize feedback and deepen their understanding and help teachers to adjust their lessons and instruction.