Help!My Students Are Falling Asleep

Dr. Rachael S. RudinoffPresented at Faculty Development Day

March 2015

What techniques can we use to help students engage in

our lessons?

Think, then share with your partner. You can use different types of fruits,

vegetables, or objects and ask how they relate to your topic.

Think for a minute about how you would relate grapes to your area of study.

How do the grapes relate to student engagement?

This can help students think deeper about the topic.

It’s a great activating strategy! Other novelty ideas by Anne Beninghof

◦ Ideasforeducators.com

Now think about how the apple, kiwi and grapes are all different symbols of engagement?

Children can attend approximately their age plus maybe 2 minutes.

In general, no one can attend for more than 15 minutes without some spark, some change.

These “shifts” can be minor. Feel the flow of the lesson, know when to

shift.

What We Know About Attention

In a PowerPoint – ◦ Place a funny photo

In a Video – ◦ Stop the video and have a discussion – plan this

ahead of time Have students get up and move –

◦ If you agree go to one corner, disagree, go to another corner and then allow for the inbetween

Tell your partner another shift idea

Shifts

Person who does the most talking, does the most learning.

Lectures are necessary, but pause for discussion.

Best to use partners, because then everyone gets a chance to talk.

Assign 1 & 2. 1 tell 2 your thought, 2 report. Then shift. This way you guarantee everyone talks.

Talking Research

Open an egg – What would your person say about student engagement?

You could have students pick the dollar store sunglasses and write the names of people on them.

Think – adults like to play. You could also use an egg to discover any

question. ◦ How does the stock market impact your daily life?

Okay, now place in the eggs variables that may be impacted by the stock market or impact the stock market – price of gas, world economy, people’s perceptions.

Thinking Deeper

Throw the caterpillar – and answer the question◦ How many classes can a student miss before they

are dropped from the course?◦ What’s one of the formats of classes at WilmU

You can use a beach ball and have a question that they need to answer based on where they catch the ball It’s good if these are generic and you can use them

over and over If working on vocabulary or concepts – Give a non-

example, provide a description, come to the board and draw it.

Asking Questions

Use to find a partner Pick a number (and only select Ace through

5)◦ That’s the number of examples you need to give

to tell how Martin Luther King Jr. impacted our society.

What ideas do you have for using a deck of cards?

Deck of Cards

Show the hand post-it◦ How could you use this post-it note with your

class? The Dollar Stores are always changing and

can spark novel ideas.

Dollar Store Fun

Brainstorm◦ Technology◦ Role Play◦ Group Work◦ Requiring Participation in Presentations◦ What else do you do?

Other Engagement Strategies

Cover the desk◦ Use scraps of paper or post-its◦ Your group needs to write all the benefits of

working at WilmU◦ Any group who comes up with a unique answer,

gets 1,000 points◦ Don’t tally points – just make it fun for the groups

Summarizing Activities

With your group, write a technique that can be used to boost student engagement?

Again, you can do the 1000 point score. These wash off and can be reused. Use Vis-a-via

Pass the Plate

I am trying to model for my students, so that they will engage their students.

I might fall asleep if I have to listen to myself for 5 hours.

I know it has a positive impact. ◦ Sometimes, my students are building towers from

newspaper, but they will tell you how it relates to the topic I’m teaching.

Why I Think About Engagement