John McCarthy @ Edutopia
In his article, Mr. McCarthy outlines three practices for improving student engagement.
Practice One: Be Real
Practice Two: Launch Events That Matter
Practice Three: Keep the End in Mind
I want to address Practice Three. Mr. McCarthy encourages us to treat lessons as journeys. The students need to know where they are going from the beginning, reminded of their journey with essential questions, and given feedback of their progress through assessments.
In my district, we are expected to post the objective on the board before each lesson. I do it, but I struggle with it. Fifth graders have short attention spans and have trouble tolerating boredom. Frankly, school is boring, and students expect that. I think beginning a lesson by stating the objective simply confirms their expectations. So, considering I have to post them, I would argue that even objectives should be stated in engaging ways. I know that it's just one more thing that teachers need to consider, but, if engagement is the secret, we need to make every part of the lesson engaging, including the bits we're forced to write on our boards.
Today, you must multiply decimals to the hundredths place in order to solve the...
Maze of DOOM!!
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