5 Easy Student Engagement Strategies

Student engagement strategies are vital to your success in the classroom.  Read on to snag a few of my best tips and tricks!

Use Visuals to Engage Students

Have you noticed lately that your social media feed is filling up with videos?  That is a trick that advertisers and influencers are using to pull you in.  Videos are some of the most engaging visuals!  So, how can you use this idea to benefit students in the classroom?

Students now more than ever are used to seeing these enticing forms of media.  A great way to hook students into your lesson is to start with a video clip.  Let’s say you are teaching a lesson on making inferences.  A perfect way to start is to show a short video clip and have students infer what they think is happening in the scene.  This is way more exciting than the traditional announcing, “Today we will learn about making inferences.”  

As you continue with your study of inferences, your students could create their own videos where they do short sketches that require the viewer to make an inference.  Talk about high levels of thinking and engagement!

If you don’t know how to create videos, check out my post on using Screencastify!  You can also download my free guide on using videos to engage students here.

Next, I want to tell you about some low tech and inexpensive ways to incorporate visuals.  Have you ever done a mystery box?  I like to use this engagement strategy to build excitement leading up to a new unit.  I put a few things that are related to the unit in a box and reveal one item each day.  Students try to guess what the next unit of study will be based on the items I have on display.  Before I ever begin teaching, we have had background building discussions and created interest in the next unit.

Hanging up a poster for a lesson?  Try leaving it up for a day or two ahead of the lesson covered by a piece of chart paper.  Students will be dying to know what is under the paper.  Such a simple trick, but it really captivates students!

Another visual I like to use is a google-eye ring.  I wear it on my hand and wiggle it at students to grab their attention. This is a silent way to remind my students that I need their eyes on me.  It is a way to engage students without having to say a word.  It usually makes them laugh which makes me laugh too.  Laughing together is my favorite part of the day!

Integrate Tech for Student Engagement

With all that is happening with distance learning around the world, there has never been a better time to enhance your student engagement activities by using technology.  We all know the kids love it, so why not use that to your advantage?

There are so many tech tools available, but I want to introduce you to a few of my favorites.

The first one is the app Chatterpix Kids.  Students can make any object talk simply by drawing a line to create a mouth and recording their own voice.  It happens in 5 easy steps!

1. Take a picture
2. Draw a mouth
3. Record your voice
4. Decorate with fun filters, stickers, and text
5. Show friends

This is a great way to get students talking about what they have learned!  What if you asked your students to retell a story or write a summary of what they learned from a unit?  Chances are they may not be super excited about those tasks.

However, if they get to make a fun video to share with their friends the excitement goes through the roof!  This app can even work for introverts because they do not have to show their face on camera. Win!

Another great tech tool that I love to use is Kahoot.  My students love that they can compete with their friends and choose a fun screen name.  I love that I can search for the premade quizzes and not have to spend my time creating from scratch.  We play Kahoot every Friday, and it is one of my student engagement strategies that my students look forward to all week long.

Engage Students With Games

Everything is more fun if it is a game!  Games are student engagement strategies that not only teach content but also life skills.  To play a game you have to exercise patience while waiting for your turn.  You practice honesty and good sportsmanship.  These are all important life skills that every student needs to practice.

There are so many ways to incorporate games to engage your students.  A great time to play a game is when you are in the hallway waiting for the bathroom or to go to a special area class.  For example, I might play a number guessing game such as this, “I am thinking of a number.  It has 2 digits, it is even, etc.”

If you are looking for printable games, you can check out my math bundle of games here.

I could also play a word category game.  “Which word does not belong?  Cat, rabbit, fish?”  Students will guess, and then I ask them to explain their thinking.

This is a fantastic way to take advantage of every moment in the day.  Plus, if students are engaged with what you are saying, they won’t be finding ways to create trouble!

Consider Student Learning Styles

You can incorporate unique learning styles as one of your student engagement strategies.  Some of my students love to sing and dance. Other students love to draw or paint. If you can figure out how each student loves to learn, you can create the most engaging activities!

So what are some of the different learning styles?  According to Teach.com, educational theorist Neil Fleming came up with 4 main styles of learning: VARK-Visual, Auditory, Read and Write, and Kinesthetic.

When teaching about a topic, you should allow students to see visuals, read, write, listen, and move!

We have already talked about visuals, so let’s move on to reading and listening.  Do you provide opportunities to read and listen to a variety of texts such as digital books, graphic novels, newspapers, and magazines?  Have you started listening to podcasts in the classroom?  Commonsense.org has a perfect list to get you started!

Writing is not everyone’s favorite way to learn, but some students are so engaged by writing.  Remember to seek creative ways to include writing for your students.  Too many times, it is easy for us to simply practice writing to a prompt.  There are so many other fun ways to write including a class blog, poetry books, non-fiction books, and more!

What about music and movement?

How many of you can still sing the ABC’s, the days of the week song, or another song you learned in elementary school?  Music is powerful!  Singing educational songs can help students retain that information for a long time to come.  Plus it is fun!

Movement is another great way to engage students.  Brain research shows that movement is essential to activate the brain!  I love to have my students act out definitions of words by reciting the definition and adding motions.  Have your students get moving by standing up and sitting down to respond to an answer.  I might say, “If you think the answer is A, stand up.  If you think the answer is B, sit down.”

This is a way to get students moving, engage them in learning, and do a quick formative assessment!

By presenting content in a variety of ways, you give students the chance to utilize their preferred learning style.  

Student Engagement Strategy-Offer Choice

Speaking of preferences, do you offer student choice?  I know I like to have a choice in how I teach, and my students like to have a choice in how they learn.  A word work station is a perfect place to offer a choice.  Students could choose to build words with letter tiles, stamp them, or sculpt them out of dough.  The possibilities are endless and having the chance to choose makes it even more enticing!

Another way time you could offer choice is during math fact practice.  Some students may prefer to practice using physical flashcards with a partner while others may like to use an app and practice on their own.  

I also like to give students a choice when they are working on projects.  There are a few ways to do this.

1. Students can choose to work alone or with a partner.
2. They can choose to stand in front of the class and present the project live or create a video about the project to share.
3. Students can choose what type of project to complete.  Some may want to create an art project while others may choose to create a song or a skit. 

Sometimes when I am utilizing a worksheet, I will copy two different sheets and let the student decide which to complete.  One might be more challenging and the other might be easier.  One might be a cloze reading passage, and the other could be a story with comprehension questions.

My friend Kayleigh wrote a post all about choice boards that you may want to read next. Just click here.

One of the most powerful student engagement strategies is CHOICE!  Don’t forget to incorporate this technique into your classroom.

I hope you found some great ways to engage students in fun and learning. We all want to be highly effective teachers that get the best results out of our students.  

Speaking of highly effective, are you being evaluated this year?  If so, you will definitely want to grab your copy of my FREE GUIDE to preparing for your teaching observation.  I help teachers by walking you through my process step-by-step.  Let’s eliminate that stress together!