Student engagement is one of the most fundamental requirements of learning. without an engaged mind, everything else –no matter the quality of the pedagogy or the cleverness of the technology–is futile. Here are some strategies to help.
- Know their story - If you don’t know ‘who’ they are and ‘where’ they come from, any relationship is entirely academic.
- talk to students (in class and outside of class) - How do you learn their story? Unless they have a biography you can read, talking to them–and really listening–is the best way.
- Explicitly value the child over the content - Of course, any strong teacher already does this. But to do so explicitly is to make sure the student knows this to be true.
- Conduct activities through the curriculum - Activities are fun and having fun together releases dopamine and improves learning outcomes. Activities aren’t anywhere close to the only source of dopamine–or even the best. But the bonding and ‘socialization’ that occurs is a kind of foundation for relationship-building with students.
- Assume the best in every student - If you do so, it will change the way you perceive certain events–behaviors, the quality of work in certain assignments, questions, etc. Sometimes you’ll be ‘wrong’ by ‘assuming the best’ in what a student meant or hoped to do and create, but by starting from this point, you give students a chance to ‘fail forward’ and learn through their mistakes and learn to self-manage.
- Interview the students, and let students interview you - Not like a job but not merely an informal conversation, either. Have a set of questions you create beforehand to get a fuller picture of who they are and what they need from you. And let them do the same to you. If nothing else, what they choose to ask will help you understand them better.
- Encourage them for extracurricular events - This is part of seeing them as people and not students. It will also have the effect of them seeing you differently, as well. let them understand you care for them.And these strategies may help our student's teachers connect better.
