Engagement
Strategies That Work
Erin Stutzman, Ed.S.- PBiS Coach
Natalie Hilton, Ed.S.- PBiS coach
What is Engagement?
Think (ink):
● What is engagement? What
does it look like, sound like?
Pair: Turn to your elbow partner
Share: 1’s then 2’s
● What is engagement?
● How were your responses the
same? different?
Norms
Be Respectful
Please silence all cell phones
Participate in activities
Remain engaged in presentation
Be Responsible
Take notes in a way that works for you
Use work time given to create a plan
Ask questions when something does not make sense
Feel free to use the restroom as needed
Objectives
● I will be able to state how active engagement increases
student learning.
● I will be able to identify when and what engagement
strategies I will use to get students actively engaged in
my classroom.
● I will be able to use a variety of engagement strategies
(i.e. choral reading, cloze reading, Think, Pair, Share)
Engagement is...
Engagement IS: Doing, Reading,
Answering, Speaking, Writing, Signaling,
Performing, Thinking.
Engagement is NOT...
Engagement is NOT: Quietly watching others, Listening,
Waiting for your turn, Pretending or faking, Just more seat
work, Killing time quietly…
Engagement is NOT the strategy you chose
It is about:
o Why did I choose that strategy?
o How will I structure the use of the strategy to make the thinking
of all my students visible?
Why use Engagement Strategies?
Knowing that six or seven students understand (i.e. those
who raise their hands) is not the same as knowing that 32
do.
~Fisher & Frey, pg. 37
You cannot measure their thinking if you cannot make their
thinking visible.
~Anita Archer
Engaging ways to make
thinking visible
Verbal Response
Written Response
Action Response
Engagement- Verbal Response
THINK, INK, PAIR, SHARE
This is a 4 step protocol.
1. First we will think of as many ways as possible that a student could
verbally respond to a lesson.
2. Then, we will individually write a list of all the ways we can think of.
3. Then, we will share with our elbow partners.
4. Then we will share out with the large group.
Verbal Responses-Choral
Responses
● Use when answers are short and the same
Students are looking at teacher:
● Ask question
● Put your hands up to indicate silence
● Give thinking time
● Lower your hands as you say, "everyone"
Students are looking at common stimulus:
● Point to stimulus
● Ask question
● Give thinking time
● Tap for response
Choral Responses
● Provide adequate thinking time
● Have students show signal to you that they are ready to
respond
o thumbs up
o eyes on you
●
If students do not respond or if they blurt out an answerREPEAT
Choral Reading
● Read passage with students
● Read at a moderate rate
● Tell students, "keep your voice with mine".
Let's Practice
Choral reading has a number of benefits over round-robin
reading. First, more students are on task and gaining
reading practice. Second, because you are reading with
your students, you are modeling appropriate fluency, and
prosody. Finally, you provide support for the lowestreaders, because they immediately hear any words they
did not know.
Cloze Reading
● Use anytime you have to read something (directions, paragraph, word
problem)
● Teach the students how to do it before you ask them to do it. Practice
doing this and give feedback.
● Ask students to put their finger on the first word they are going to read.
● Monitor to make sure all students have their finger on the word –or- tell
them to look at their partner and see if their partner has their finger on the
word.
● Begin reading pausing at meaningful words. The students will read that
word. (If it is two words that go together like United States, you delete the
second word).
Let's Practice
The cloze procedure is very useful when you want all
students to be attentive and you want to read the material
quickly. Cloze Reading can be used for reading directions,
for reading an explanation of a process in a textbook, for
reading the initial pages of a chapter, for reading examples
and nonexamples, for rereading a passage to increase
decoding fluency, and to read a math story problem.
Verbal Responses:Partners
● Use when the answers are long or different
Partners:
o Assign partners
o Pair lower performing students with middle performing students
o Give each partner a number 1 or 2
 Partner 1 share with Partner 2; Partner 2 share with Partner 1
o Use triads only when necessary
 Assign a strong student to be 1 and the weaker student to be one
of the 2's.
Verbal Responses-Partners
● Other helpful hints:
o Teach students how to work together: Look, Lean. Listen,
Whisper
o Explain that partners are not related to "friendships" but a
working relationship.
o Occasionally change the partnerships (every three to six
weeks)
o Join two partnerships to work in cooperative teams
o Consider using a sentence starter like “ I agree with the
assertion….”
o Consider putting numbers 1 and 2 on tables
Anita Archer- SLANT Strategy
More verbal responses...
● C
ž hants (When we write, we TAP, TAP, TAP. They know
this means think Topic, Audience, Purpose)
● žSongs
● žPull sticks-They all have to be on task as they do not
know who will be called on. You can also ‘faux pull
sticks’ when needed.
● žStudy, tell, help, check
● žWhip around or pass
Effective Engagement Planning
● Think about your objective
o What do you want students to understand at the end of the lesson?
● Think about assessment
o What is the best way to determine if students are meeting the
objective?
o How will you be able to see their thinking?
● Think about feedback
o How can you provide the most effective, timely feedback to the most
students?
Planning Time
Which verbal strategy would you like to try and
incorporate on your first day?
● Pick 1
● Star your choice on the Engagement Strategies handout or add to the
bottom if not on the list
How do you plan to use this strategy?
● Remember to consider the objective, assessment, and feedback
Engagement Written Response
THINK, INK, PAIR, SHARE
This is a 4 step protocol.
1. First we will think of as many ways as possible that a
student could respond in writing to a lesson.
2. Then, we will individually write a list of all the ways we
can think of.
3. Then, we will share with our elbow partners.
4. Then we will share out with the large group.
Written Response: Whiteboard
● Use to quickly formatively assess all students
● Teach students how to pass out or have access to white
boards, marker, erasers
● Keep the pace quick
● Model how students will show their answers
● Provide instructions on what to answer
● Give the cue of "write your answer" then give the cue of
"show me."
Sentence Frames
● Teacher provides student with sentence starter
● ex- “ I predict that…”
● Provides students with academic language that
we want them to use
● Reminder of what you want them to be writing
about so they can focus on the content
More Written Responses
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
ž imeline
T
žHi-light
žGraphic Organizer
žDraw
žWrite a sentence or word on paper, post-it, journal, log
Quick write,
žWritten exit ticket
Planning Time
Which written response strategy would you like
to try and incorporate on your first day?
● Pick 1
● Star your choice on the Engagement Strategies handout or add to the
bottom if not on the list
How do you plan to use this strategy?
● Remember to consider the objective, assessment, and feedback
Engagement - Action Responses
THINK, INK, PAIR, SHARE
This is a 4 step protocol.
1. First we will think of as many ways as possible that a
student could respond with actions to a lesson.
2. Then, we will individually write a list of all the ways we
can think of.
3. Then, we will share with our elbow partners.
4. Then we will share out with the large group.
More Action Responses
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
●
Touch things (Put your finger on....)
Clickers
Thumbs up/down
Fist to Five (report out answer or level of understanding)
Stand up/sit down
Agree/disagree cards
Claps
4 corners
Act something out
Planning time
Which action response strategy would you like
to try and incorporate on your first day?
● Pick 1
● Star your choice on the Engagement Strategies handout or add to the
bottom if not on the list
How do you plan to use this strategy?
● Remember to consider the objective, assessment, and feedback
Practice
● Watch Emily Fisher a LPS Teacher at Dawes Middle
School
● Write down each engagement strategy you see Emily
using
● After video, use give one, get one strategy with elbow
partner
Two Closing Thoughts
It’s not what you say or do that ultimately matters. It is what you
get the STUDENTS to do as a result of what you said and did
that counts.
~Kevin Feldman
If we choose to take just a few well-known, straightforward
actions, in every subject area, we can make swift, dramatic
improvements in schools. Some believe we could virtually
eliminate the achievement gap within a few years.
~Mike Schmoker
Exit Ticket
On half sheet of paper please answer the following questions
1. Write down one way you will intentionally plan to
use engagement strategies to make student
learning visible in your classroom.
2. What resources will you need to carry out your
plan?
3. How we can make this presentation more useful to
others in the future?
References
Archer, Anita L., and Charles A. Hughes. Explicit Instruction: Effective and Efficient
Teaching. New York: Guilford, 2011.
Brookhart, Susan M. How to Give Effective Feedback to Your Students. Alexandria,
VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2008.
Fisher, Douglas, and Nancy Frey. Checking for Understanding: Formative
Assessment Techniques for Your Classroom.Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision
and Curriculum Development, 2007.
Marzano, Robert J., Debra Pickering, and Jane E. Pollock. Classroom Instruction
That Works: Research-based Strategies for Increasing Student Achievement. Alexandria,
VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 2001.
Schmoker, Michael J. Focus: Elevating the Essentials to Radically Improve Student
Learning. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2011.
Video/Web Resources
http://docushare.lps.org/docushare/dsweb/Get/Document1074509/Emily%20Fisher%20Root%20Words.m4v
http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theteachertoolkit.com%2Findex.php
%2Ftool%2Fstudent-responsecards&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFuwTibBaIegnBCUI0XAIzZzn8eig
http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fdocushare.lps.org%2Fdocushare%2Fdsw
eb%2FGet%2FDocument1208738%2FRachel%2520Bruce%2520Choral%2520Response%2520and%2520Readin
g.mov&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFZ3QCxySpOBuygPkpbfdT8HhqYmQ
http://explicitinstruction.org/