Engaging Students

Indicators

As teachers develop, they may ask, “How do I…” or “Why do I…”:

• Help students to see the connections between what they already know and the subject matter?
• Help students connect classroom learning to their life experiences and cultural understanding?
• Support all students to use first and second language skills to achieve learning goals?
• Open a lesson or unit to capture student attention and interest?
• Build on students’ comments and questions during a lesson to extend their understanding?
• Make “on the spot” changes in my teaching based on students’ interests and questions?

Descriptions

Examples may include, but are not limited to:

• Making connections between lesson content and popular culture, current events, NYC landmarks, language, music, television, sports etc.  
• Using varied tools and strategies (quizzes, instant polls, "What do you know/want to know” charts, etc.) to learn more about students’ current content knowledge
• Exploring similarities across languages and cultures to understand terms, concepts, and new vocabulary
• Taking advantage of student interests to investigate a concept or idea in greater depth
• Incorporating real-life scenarios, stories, or trivia to make objectives relevant to students’ lives (e.g. drawing/creating a fractions pizza to help students grasp this math concept)

Problems of Practice

Challenges with this element frequently include:

• Beginning a lesson by “jumping right into” the content
• Using references and connections that students cannot understand or to which they cannot relate