Dannels differentiates
between student participation and student engagement. Student engagement refers
to the students' willingness to participate in activities, course material, and
with each other. Students engaged in the course material willingly contribute
to discussions, give unsolicited responses, and show interest in the information.
I intend to focus on student engagement this semester for two reasons. First, I
have a combined learning community of business majors and student athletes in
my first section of 1010. These students have already expressed their concerns
about the relevance and overall value of the course material to their lives. Rather
than staring blankly, my students are complaining about the course and
questioning every activity. I am also concerned about student engagement
because I want my students to understand the importance and impact of
communication in their everyday lives.
Dannels suggests instructors use immediacy, humor, and
technology in the classroom to engage students. I have recently focused on
immediacy in my efforts to engage my classes. Learning my students' names is
currently one of my priorities. Each class day I attempt to use my students'
names when I call on them or speak to them. If I do not know a student's name,
when he or she raises her or his hand, I ask the student to tell me her or his
name. Dannels also comments that engagement is a "jointly constructed
process" (p. 93). My students cannot engage if they feel I am not
committed to them and engaged in the course as well. In light of Dannels'
comment, I tried an experiment last week. It was the second day of class and I
was addressing the concerns they had written the first day. Once I worked
through their biggest concerns I told them I was committed to their success. I
went on to explain I considered their success to be much more than academic
achievement. I wanted them to grow as students, communicators, and as people. I
warned them they would not grow unless I pushed them, and when I will not
accept late work or give a lower grade, it is because I have high
standards for them.
I let
them know I am invested, now I have the rest of the semester to prove it.
#reengage
Jayme,
ReplyDeleteI think something we can all learn from you is how you constantly put others, especially your students, before yourself. I like to believe that's how we differentiate the "good teachers" from the "bad teachers"; It all comes down to if they care for their students or if they do not. Think about it: Everything are taught to do as teachers stems from caring enough about them to want them to succeed. This was even exhibited through your examples of how you engage your students such as remembering their names. Your investment to your students is inspiring and I am looking forward to seeing how your investments to them are reciprocated back to you, as Dannels predicted.
Also, way to "kick" off the semester with the first-ever Fall 2017 blog post!
#Pedagoalie
You have great goals for engagement set up for yourself this semester for teaching. I can't wait to see where your journey takes you!
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