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Some of my students really struggle staying engaged with maps and their importance, this website from the Columbus City School district could help them.

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I really wanted to use this in my classroom this fall because I have students constantly asking me why they need to study history and social studies.

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You have some good articles here and lots of ideas to increase participatioi

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You have some good articles here and lots of ideas to increase participation using both group work or how you use in class participation.

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You have some good articles here and

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WH: Some more ideas I could use in my classes

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Since I teach World History, I wanted the majority of my focus to be on that class for the upcoming fall. This article has given me some ideas.

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Be sure to see our History Subject Center
for more great lesson ideas and articles.

Lesson Plan Booster: History of the Coup
Spice up high-school history class by examining how coups have shaped the political landscape.

A Timeline of Terror
Since 2001, there have been many ups and downs. In order to help you and your students put bin Laden's death into historical context, EducationWorld has assembled a timeline of significant terrorist attacks and important allied victories, beginning with the Sept. 11 opening salvo and culminating with bin Laden being brought to justice. Each date provides a link to more information on the incident.

Museum Teaches History Through GardeningThe National WWII Museum offers elementary school teachers the opportunity to grow Victory Gardens in their classrooms.
Election: Teachable Moment
To help you capitalize on this teachable moment, Education World has gathered lesson ideas from our archive. Use them to teach about the elections, our government, and many other topics.

Visiting a Historical Site
On the PBS show History Detectives, experts solve mysteries from the past using modern research methods. Teach your students to think like the history-mystery detectives with these lessons for visiting a historical site. Appropriate for grades 7-12, the lessons provide step-by-step instructions for research before a visit to a historical site, procedures during the visit, and the creation of a poem based on the visit.

Brown v. Board of Education Celebrates 50 Years
On the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, Education World offers this special lesson planning resource. Included: Links to more than 3 dozen lessons.

A World of Learning: Geography Activities for Geography Week
Geography lessons can make a "world" of difference in students' knowledge of the world and in their test scores. That's because geography is multidisciplinary by nature. This week's lessons teach geography -- and math, language, and cultural literacy.

Looking for Wright Brothers Lessons? You've Come to the "Wright" Place!
It was 100 years ago at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, that man first flew in an engine-powered aircraft. Before that time, such an event was thought to be centuries away! Included: Five lessons to celebrate the Wright brothers' achievement plus links to 20 more lessons.

Women of the Century: An Education World WebQuest
Just in time for Women's History Month! This week, Education World offers a Women's History WebQuest. Challenge students to make use of bookshelf and online resources to create an Encyclopedia of the Century's Notable Women. Included: Ideas for adapting the WebQuest across the grades plus a simple rubric for grading students' efforts and a database of online resources.

Celebrate the Century: Search the Web for U.S. History of the 1950s
Search the Web to learn more about the stories behind the stamps issued by the U.S. Postal Service commemorating the people, places, events, and trends of the 1950s. Explore Web sites related to the polio vaccine, rock and roll, Brown v. the Board of Education, and I Love Lucy! Included: An Internet scavenger hunt for students!

Bring Women's History to Life in the Classroom!
Educate and inspire tomorrow's men and women with activities relating to important women of the past and present!
Included: Cross-curriculum activities for all grades!

The Amistad Comes to Life!
Activities across the grades and across the curriculum bring to life the story of the revolt on the Amistad.

Kids Helping Kids: UNICEF Kit Teaches Kids About Child Labor
A free teaching kit from UNICEF builds student awareness about the worldwide problem of child labor. Included: Information about UNICEF's Kids Speak Up for Kids Essay Contest. Additional activities included.

The Titanic
Including Teaching Tips for All Grades

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Be sure to see our History Subject Center for more great lesson ideas and articles. Lesson Plan Booster: History of the Coup Spice up high-school history class by examining how coups have shaped the political landscape. A Timeline of Terror Since 2001, there have been many ups and downs.

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In this source, the author points out the importance of creating an atmosphere where students are always engaged.

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Abstract

A host of simple teaching strategies-referred to as "equitable teaching strategies" and rooted in research on learning-can support biology instructors in striving for classroom equity and in teaching all their students, not just those who are already engaged, already participating, and perhaps already know the biology being taught.

INTRODUCTION

As a biology education community, we focus a great deal of time and energy on issues of "what" students should be learning in the modern age of biology and then probing the extent to which students are learning these things. Additionally, there has been increased focus over time on the "how" of teaching, with attention to questioning the efficacy of traditional lecture methods and exploring new teaching techniques to support students in more effectively learning the "what" of biology. However, the aspect of classroom teaching that seems to be consistently underappreciated is the nature of "whom" we are teaching. Undergraduate students often appear to be treated as interchangeable entities without acknowledgment of the central role of the individual students, their learning histories, and their personal characteristics in the student-centered nature of "how" we aspire to teach. Most innovative approaches to biology teaching that are at the core of national policy documents and resources are rooted in a constructivist framework (e.g., ; ; ; American Association for the Advancement of Science [AAAS], 2011 College Board, 2013 ). In constructivism, teachers can structure classroom environments with the intention of maximizing student learning, but learning is the work of students (; Bransford ; et al., 2000). As such, each student's prior experience and attitude and motivation toward the material being learned, confidence in his or her ability to learn, and relative participation in the learning environment are all thought to be key variables in promoting learning of new ideas, biological or not. Finally, bringing together individual students in classrooms produces group interactions that can either support or impede learning for different individuals.

Designing learning environments that attend to individual students and their interactions with one another may seem an impossible task in a course of 20 students, much less a course of more than 700. However, there are a host of simple teaching strategies rooted in research on teaching and learning that can support biology instructors in paying attention to whom they are trying to help learn. These teaching strategies are sometimes referred to as "equitable teaching strategies," whereby striving for "classroom equity" is about teaching all the students in your classroom, not just those who are already engaged, already participating, and perhaps already know the biology being taught. Equity, then, is about striving to structure biology classroom environments that maximize fairness, wherein all students have opportunities to verbally participate, all students can see their personal connections to biology, all students have the time to think, all students can pose ideas and construct their knowledge of biology, and all students are explicitly welcomed into the intellectual discussion of biology. Without attention to the structure of classroom interactions, what can often ensue is a wonderfully designed biology lesson that can be accessed by only a small subset of students in a classroom.

So what specific teaching strategies might we instructors, as architects of the learning environment in our classrooms, use to structure the classroom learning environment? Below are 21 simple teaching strategies that biology instructors can use to promote student engagement and cultivate classroom equity. To provide a framework for how these teaching strategies might be most useful to instructors, I have organized them into five sections, representing overarching goals instructors may have for their classrooms, including:

Giving students opportunities to think and talk about biology

Encouraging, demanding, and actively managing the participation of all students

Building an inclusive and fair classroom community for all students

Monitoring behavior to cultivate divergent biological thinking

Teaching all of the students in your biology classroom

For each of these goals, there is a brief consideration of why the goal is important for student learning, which is followed by descriptions of several simple strategies for structuring instructor-student and student-student interactions to strive for this goal. No doubt, there are likely dozens of additional strategies that could be added to this list. In addition, many of the strategies affiliated with one equitable teaching goal are also easily used in the service of one or more of the other goals. The intention of presenting these 21 strategies in this framework is solely to provide all biology instructors access to immediate and tractable teaching strategies for promoting access and equity for all students in their biology classrooms.

These equitable teaching strategies can be read and explored in any order. Readers are encouraged to use to self-assess which of these strategies they may already use, which they are most interested in reading more about, and which they may want to try in their own classrooms. Self-assessment responses to can guide which of the sections below you may be most interested in reading first.

Table 1.

Giving students opportunities to think and talk about biology

_________ 2. Allow students time to write

_________ 3. Think-pair-share

_________ 4. Do not try to do too much

Encouraging, demanding, and actively managing the participation of all students

_________ 5. Hand raising

_________ 6. Multiple hands, multiple voices

_________ 7. Random calling using popsicle sticks/index cards

_________ 8. Assign reporters for small groups

_________ 9. Whip (around)

_________ 10. Monitor student participation

Building an inclusive and fair biology classroom community for all students

_________ 11. Learn or have access to students' names

_________ 12. Integrate culturally diverse and relevant examples

_________ 13. Work in stations or small groups

_________ 14. Use varied active-learning strategies

_________ 15. Be explicit about promoting access and equity for all students

Monitoring (your own and students') behavior to cultivate divergent biological thinking

_________ 16. Ask open-ended questions

_________ 17. Do not judge responses

_________ 18. Use praise with caution

_________ 19. Establish classroom community and norms

Teaching all of the students in your biology classroom

_________ 20. Teach them from the moment they arrive

_________ 21. Collect assessment evidence from every student, every class

Other equitable teaching strategies I use ...

GIVING STUDENTS OPPORTUNITIES TO THINK AND TALK ABOUT BIOLOGY

Human learning is a biological phenomenon of the brain. Synapses need time to fire, and relevant circuits in the brain need time to be recruited. Yet the structure of class time with students does not usually attend to giving students time to think and talk about biology. As experts with thousands of hours of thinking about biology, we as biologists no doubt think quite quickly about the topics we are attempting to teach students. And we as instructors can be misled that all students have had ample time to think by those few students in our courses who have more background in the concepts under discussion and raise their hands to share almost immediately. However, those students in our courses who are more biologically naïve may need more time to think and talk about the biological concepts under discussion. Below are four simple teaching strategies grounded in research to structure classroom time for students to think and talk about biology.

1. Wait Time

Perhaps the simplest teaching strategy to increase time for student thinking and to expand the number of students participating verbally in a biology classroom is to lengthen one's "wait time" after posing a question to your class (Rowe, 1969; Tobin, 1987 Allen and Tanner, 2002 ). Thinking biologically about increasing wait time to promote student engagement and participation, it seems likely that this increase in time allows critical neural processing time for students, and perhaps also allows more introverted students time to rally the courage to volunteer an answer. Practically, extending wait time can be very challenging for instructors. Actively mentally counting the following-"one thousand one ... one thousand two ... one thousand three ... one thousand four ... one thousand five"-before acknowledging potential student respondents is one simple way to track the amount of time that has transpired after asking a question. ). Mary Budd Rowe's groundbreaking papers introducing the concept of wait time have influenced educational practice since their publication more than 40 years ago (Rowe, 1969, 1974, 1978, 1987; Tanner and Allen, 2002). Rowe and colleagues documented in the precollege setting that instructors on average waited only ∼1.5 s after asking a question before taking a student response, answering the question themselves, or posing a follow-up question. With the seemingly modest extension of the "wait time" after a question to ∼3-5 s, Rowe and colleagues showed dramatic effects: substantially more students willing to volunteer answers, fewer students unwilling to share when called on, and increases in the length and complexity of the responses that students gave in response to the question (Rowe, 1974, 1978;

3. Think-Pair-Share

The oft written about think-pair-share strategy is perhaps the simplest way for instructors coming from a traditional lecture approach to give all students in a classroom opportunities to think about and talk about biology ( Lyman, 1981 Allen and Tanner, 2002 Tanner, 2009 ). The mechanics of a think-pair-share generally involve giving all students a minute or so to think (or usually write) about their ideas on a biological question. Then, students are charged to turn and talk with a neighboring student, compare ideas, and identify points of agreement and misalignment. These pair discussions may or may not be followed by a whole-group conversation in which individual students are asked to share the results of their pair discussion aloud with the whole class. Importantly, the instructor's role in facilitating a think-pair-share activity is to be explicit that students need not agree and also to convey that practicing talking about biology is an essential part of learning about biology. Integrating one or more think-pair-share opportunities during a class session has the potential to cultivate classroom equity in multiple ways: providing individual students time to verbalize their thoughts about biological concepts; promoting comparison of ideas among classmates; transforming the nature of the classroom environment to be more participatory; and promoting a collaborative, rather than competitive, culture in undergraduate science classes. Methodologically, a think-pair-share activity need not take more than a few minutes of class time, yet may allow students the neural processing time needed before being ready to take on new information offered by an instructor. It is also during these pair discussions that students may discover new confusions or points of disagreement about concepts with fellow students, which can drive questions to be asked of the instructor. ; ; ; ;

4. Do Not Try to Do Too Much

Finally, no instructors would likely express the sentiment: "I try to do so much in my class sessions that they go by quickly and students are unclear about what the goals for the class were." However, evidence from a variety of research studies suggests that this may be the dominant experience for many students in undergraduate science courses ( Tobias, 1990 National Research Council, 1999 AAAS, 2011 Coley and Tanner, 2012 ). ; ; ; Seymour and Hewitt, 1997). While "not doing too much" is a challenging task for most of us, one particular strategy that can reduce the amount of material considered during class time is to structure more active learning by students outside class time, in particular in the form of homework that goes beyond textbook readings. Examples include case study assignments that charge students to independently explore and find evidence about an upcoming conceptual idea before arriving in class. As experts in our biological fields, it is tempting to continually expand what we deem critical and nonnegotiable in terms of what students need to accomplish during class time. However, there are clear and present trade-offs between continually expanding our aspirations for in-class time and structuring a classroom learning environment that promotes student engagement and provides access to thinking and talking about biology for all students. One strategy for prioritizing how to spend precious class time is to decide on which biological ideas in a course are most difficult to learn, are rooted in common misconceptions, and/or represent fundamental biological principles (

ENCOURAGING, DEMANDING, AND ACTIVELY MANAGING THE PARTICIPATION OF ALL STUDENTS

If learning requires that students construct ideas for themselves, then demanding the active participation of every single student in a class is essential to learning. Currently, though, many undergraduate students in biology classrooms can navigate an entire term without speaking aloud in a course. They sit in the back of our large classrooms, and they attempt to appear to be busily writing when a question is asked in a small class. Being called upon to answer a question or share an idea can be deeply uncomfortable to many students, and we as instructors may not be doing enough to build students' confidence to share. While few instructors would find this lack of active, verbal participation in science acceptable for emerging scientists such as graduate students or practicing scientists themselves, we somehow allow this for undergraduate students. The participation of a only few students in our classrooms on a regular basis, often from the front rows, distracts us from the fact that usually the vast majority of students are not participating in the conversation of biology. To encourage, and in fact demand, the participation of all students in a biology classroom, you can use the following six strategies with little to no preparation or use of class time.

5. Hand Raising

Actively enforcing the use of hand raising and turn taking in a classroom is likely to provide greater access to more students than an open, unregulated discussion. Novice instructors, sometimes awash in silence and desperate for any student participation, can allow the classroom to become an open forum. Some would say this is much like the culture of science in settings such as lab meetings and seminars. However, the undergraduates in our courses are novices, not only to the concepts we are sharing but also to the culture of science itself. As such, providing structure through something as simple as hand raising can establish a culture that the instructor expects all students to be participating. With hand raising, the instructor can also be explicit about asking for "hands from those of us who haven't had a chance yet to share" and strive to cultivate a classroom conversation that goes beyond a few students in the front row.

8. Assign Reporters for Small Groups

Promoting student engagement and classroom equity involves making opportunities for students to speak who might not naturally do so on their own. If the decision about who is to share aloud in a class discussion is left entirely to student negotiation, it is no surprise that likely the most extroverted and gregarious students will repeatedly and naturally jump at all opportunities to share. However, this sets up an inequitable classroom environment in which students who are unlikely to volunteer have no opportunities to practice sharing their scientific ideas aloud. Assigning a "reporter"-an individual who will report back on their small-group discussion-is a simple strategy to provide access to verbal participation for students who would not otherwise volunteer. The assignment of reporters need not be complex. It can be random and publicly verifiable, such as assigning that the reporter will be the person wearing the darkest shirt. In smaller classes, one can use simple tools to assign a reporter, such as colored clips on individual student name tents or colored index cards handed to students as they enter the class. It can also be nonrandom and intended to draw out a particular population. For example, assigning the group reporter to be the person with the longest hair will often, not always, result in a female being the reporter for a group. Or instructors can choose to hand out the colored clips/cards specifically to students who are less likely to share their ideas in class. Early on, it may be useful to assign based on a visible characteristic, so the instructor can verify that those students reporting are indeed those who were assigned to report. After the culture of assigned reporters is established, and everyone is following the rules, assignments can become less verifiable and prompt more personal sharing, such as the reporter is the person whose birthday is closest. Whatever the method, assigning reporters is a simple strategy for promoting classroom fairness and access to sharing ideas for more than just the most extroverted students.

9. Whip (Around)

Actively managing the participation of all students in smaller courses is sometimes well supported by the occasional use of what is termed a "whip around" or more simply just a "whip." In using a whip, the instructor conveys that hearing an idea from every student in the classroom is an important part of the learning process. Whips can be especially useful toward the beginning of a course term as a mechanism for giving each student practice in exercising his or her voice among the entire group, which for many students is not a familiar experience. The mechanics of the whip are that the instructor poses a question to which each individual student will respond, with each response usually being <30 s in length. On the first day of class, this could be something as simple as asking students what their favorite memory of learning biology has been. As the course progresses, the question that is the focus of the whip can become more conceptual, but always needs to be such that there are a variety of possible responses. Whips can be follow-ups to homework assignments wherein students share a way in which they have identified a personal connection to course material, a confusion they have identified, or an example of how the material under study has recently appeared in the popular press. During a whip, students who may wish to share an idea similar to a colleague who has previously shared are actively encouraged to share that same idea, but in their own words, which may be helpful to the understanding of fellow students or reveal that the ideas are not actually that similar after all. Importantly, the whip is a teaching strategy that is not feasible in large class sizes, as the premise of the strategy is that every student in the class will respond. As such, this strategy is unwieldy in class sizes greater than ∼30, unless there is a subgroup structure at play in the classroom with students already functioning regularly in smaller groups. Possible ways to implement a whip in a large classroom could be to call on all students in a particular row or in a particular subgroup structure particular to the course.

10. Monitor Student Participation

Many instructors are familiar with collecting classroom evidence to monitor students' thinking, using clicker questions, minute papers, and a variety of other assessment strategies. Less discussed is the importance of monitoring students' participation in a classroom on a regular basis. It is not unusual to have a subset of students who are enthusiastic in their participation, sometimes to the point that the classroom dialogue becomes dominated by a few students in a room filled with 20, 40, 80, 160, or upward of 300 students. To structure the classroom dialogue in such a way as to encourage, demand, and actively manage the participation of all students, instructors can do a variety of things. During each class session, instructors can keep a running list-in smaller classes mentally and in larger classes on a piece of paper-of those students who have contributed to the discussion that day, such as by answering or asking a question. When the same students attempt to volunteer for the second, third, or subsequent times, instructors can explicitly invite participation from other students, using language such as "I know that there are lots of good ideas on this in here, and I'd like to hear from some members of our community who I haven't heard from yet today." At this juncture, wait time is key, as it will likely take time for those students who have not yet participated to gather the courage to join the conversation. If there are still no volunteers after the instructor practices wait time, it may be time to insert a pair discussion, using language such as "We cannot go on until we hear ideas from more members of our scientific community. So, take one minute to check in with a neighbor and gather your thoughts about what you would say to a scientific colleague who had asked you the same question that I'm asking in class right now." At this point it is essential not to resort to the usual student volunteers and not to simply go on with class, because students will learn from that behavior by the instructor that participation of all students will not be demanded.

BUILDING AN INCLUSIVE AND FAIR CLASSROOM COMMUNITY FOR ALL STUDENTS

Many studies have documented that students from a variety of backgrounds in undergraduate science courses experience feelings of exclusion, competitiveness, and alienation ( Tobias, 1990 Seymour and Hewitt, 1997 Johnson, 2007 Steele and Aronson, 1995; Steele, 1999 ). Additionally, our own behaviors as scientists are influenced by unconscious bias in our professional work (). However, there is also research evidence that relatively subtle interventions and efforts in classrooms may be effective at blunting feelings of exclusion and promoting student learning (; ; ; ). The following five strategies may assist biology instructors in working toward an inclusive, fair, and equitable classroom community for ). Research evidence over the past two decades has mounted, supporting the assertion that feelings of exclusion-whether conscious, unconscious, or subconscious-have significant influences on student learning and working memory, as well as the ability to perform in academic situations, even when achievement in those academic arenas has been documented previously (e.g., ; ; all of their students.

11. Learn or Have Access to Students' Names

For cultivating a welcoming, inclusive, and equitable classroom environment, one of the simplest strategies an instructor can use is to structure ways to get to know and call students by their names. Some instructors may plead an inability to remember names; however, there are many simple ways to scaffold the use of individual student names in a classroom without memorizing all of them. Having students submit index cards with their names and personal information, as described above, is an easy first step to learning names. Additionally, requiring students to purchase and always bring to class a manila file folder with their first names written on both sides in large block letters is another simple way to begin to make students' names public, both for the instructor and for other students. Instructors who use such folders request that students raise this folder above themselves when asking or answering a question in class, so the instructor can call them by name. More advanced would be for the instructor to personally make the student name tents, preparing perhaps a colorful piece of heavy card stock folded in half, then writing each student's name in large block letters on each side. The simple act of making the name tags-which is feasible in class sizes of up to 100 students-may aid an instructor in beginning the process of learning students' names. Regardless of who makes them, these name tents can be tools for a variety of classroom purposes: to call on students by name during class discussions, to encourage students to know one another and form study groups, and to verify names and faces when collecting exams on exam days. In smaller classes, name tents can be used more extensively, for example, by collecting them at the end of class and sorting them to identify members of small groups for work in the next class session. In fact, the attempt to get to know students' names, and the message it sends about the importance of students in the course, may be more important than actually being able to call students by name each time you see them.

12. Integrate Culturally Diverse and Relevant Examples

Part of building an inclusive biology learning community is for students to feel that multiple perspectives and cultures are represented in the biology they are studying. Although it is not possible to represent aspects of all students' lives or the cultural background of each student in your course, careful attention to integrating culturally diverse and personally relevant connections to biology can demonstrate for students that diverse perspectives are valued in your biology classroom ( Ladson-Billings, 1995 Chamany, 2006 Brady, 2007 ). Value for the inclusion of diverse perspectives can also manifest in simply being explicit that much of the history of biology has not included diverse voices and that you as the instructor expect this generation of students to literally change the face of the biological sciences. ; ). Finally, stories from both the history of science and present-day discoveries, when judiciously chosen, can convey that diverse populations of people can make key contributions in science (e.g., ). Most topics in biology can be connected in some way to the lived experiences of students, such as connecting what can be an abstract process of how genes produce traits to the very real and immediate example of cancer. Similarly, including examples that connect biology concepts that students are learning to different cultural communities-including both well-known stories like that of Henrietta Lacks and her connection to cell biology and smaller stories like that of Cynthia Lucero and her connection to osmosis-demonstrate to students that you as an instructor want to help them see themselves within the discipline of biology (

13. Work in Stations or Small Groups

To promote an inclusive community within the classroom, instructors can integrate opportunities for students to work in small groups during time spent within the larger class. For some students, participation in a whole-group conversation may be a persistently daunting experience. However, instructors can structure opportunities for such students to practice thinking and talking about biology by regularly engaging students in tasks that require students to work together in small groups. Care must be taken to be explicit with students about the goal of the group work and, whenever possible, to assign roles so that no student in a small group is left out (, 1993 1998 Clarke, 1994 ). Additionally, explicit statements from the instructor about expectations that group members will include and support one another in their work can be especially helpful. Finally, in smaller class sizes, an instructor can thoughtfully construct student groups so as to minimize isolating students of particular backgrounds (e.g., attempt to have more than one female or more than one student of color in a group) or interaction styles (e.g., attempt to place quieter students together so that they are likely to have more opportunity to talk). How instructors structure small-group interactions has the potential to provide a feeling of inclusion, community, and collaboration for students who may otherwise feel isolated in a biology classroom. ; ). It can be challenging to design group work that is sufficiently complex so as to require the participation of all group members. Keeping group sizes as small as possible, no more than three or four students, can mitigate potential for unfairness caused by the act of putting students into groups. As one example, groups of students can be charged to bring expertise on a particular topic to class, check that expertise with others studying the same topic in a small group, and then be "jigsawed" into a new small group in which expertise from different topics can be shared ( ,

14. Use Varied Active-Learning Strategies

To engage the broadest population of students, instructors may be best served by using a variety of active-learning strategies from class session to class session. For each strategy, some students will be out of their comfort zones, and other students will be in their comfort zones. Students who may be more reflective in their learning may be most comfortable during reflective writing or thinking about a clicker question. Other students may prefer learning by talking with peers after a clicker question or in a whole class conversation. Still others may prefer the opportunity to evaluate animations and videos or represent their understanding of biology in more visual ways through drawing, concept mapping, or diagramming. One might ask which of these different strategies is the most effective way to teach a given topic, yet this question belies the likely importance of variations in the efficacy of different strategies with different students. There may not ever be a "best" way to teach a particular concept, given the diversity of students in any given classroom. The "best" way to teach equitably-providing access to biology for the largest number of students-may be to consistently provide multiple entry points into the conceptual material for students. The role of an instructor in creating an equitable learning environment that is accessible to all students is to make sure that no single population of students is always outside their comfort zone. If an instructor chooses a singular teaching approach-always lecturing or always concept mapping, regardless of the nature of the approach-it seems likely that the lack of variation could result in the alienation and exclusion from learning of a subpopulation of students. Additionally, using varied active-learning strategies may be key for individual learners to see a concept from multiple perspectives, make multiple associations between the concept and other ideas, and practice a variety of approaches to exploring that concept. By using varied active-learning strategies for each biological topic explored, instructors can work toward building an inclusive and equitable learning environment for a wide range of students with different approaches to learning.

15. Be Explicit about Promoting Access and Equity for All Students

Perhaps the most powerful teaching strategy in building an inclusive and equitable learning environment is for instructors to be explicit that the triad of access, fairness, and classroom equity is one of their key goals. There need not be substantial time spent on conveying this stance, but explicit statements by the instructor about the importance of diverse perspectives in science can make issues of fairness and equity explicit rather than an implicit. Instructors can share with students why they use the teaching strategies they do, for example, sharing the reasoning behind having students write to allow thinking and processing time for everyone. When an instructor publicly asserts that he or she wants and expects everyone in the classroom to be successful in learning biology, students can leave behind the commonly assumed idea that instructors are attempting to weed out students. Being explicit about one's goal of cultivating an inclusive, equitable, and fair classroom learning environment reiterates that students and instructors are on the same side, not on somehow opposing sides, of the teaching and learning process.

MONITORING (YOUR OWN AND STUDENTS') BEHAVIOR TO CULTIVATE DIVERGENT BIOLOGICAL THINKING

Science is fundamentally about negotiating models and ideas about how the natural world functions. As such, one might expect that undergraduate biology classrooms would mirror this negotiation and consideration of a variety of ideas about how the biological world might function. However, undergraduate biology classrooms have the reputation, likely deservedly, of being forums in which "right" answers-those already accepted as scientifically accurate-are the currency of conversation and the substrate for instructor-student dialogue. Yet research on learning suggests that inaccurate ideas, confusions, and alternative ideas about how the world works may, in fact, be one of our most powerful tools in the teaching and learning process (there are many publications on this subject, among them ; National Research Council, 1999 Taber, 2001 Chi and Roscoe, 2002 DiSessa, 2002 Coley and Tanner, 2012 ). As such, it is important for instructors to cultivate discussion of divergent ideas in classroom conversations about biology-some of which may not be supported by current scientific evidence-as part of the process of moving students toward thinking in more scientifically accurate ways. Given the reputation of science courses as environments in which only those with correct answers are rewarded, biology instructors face the extra and very real challenge of gaining the trust of students to share divergent perspectives. Instructors can begin to establish a classroom community that values divergent ideas and promotes participation by students who may not already have scientifically accurate understanding by using the following four teaching strategies. ; ; ; ;

16. Ask Open-Ended Questions

One critical tool for instructors aspiring to cultivate divergent biological thinking in their classrooms is the use of open-ended questions, which are those questions that cannot be answered with a simple "yes" or "no" or even easily answered with a single word or phrase. Open-ended questions are by definition those which have multiple possible responses, such that inviting answers from a large group can yield more than an expected set of responses (; Allen and Tanner, 2002 ; Crowe et al., 2008). Open-ended questions can be posed orally to frame a class discussion and followed by a quick write or pair discussion to give students time to consider their responses. Alternatively, instructors can plan these questions in advance, so they can be given as brief homework assignments, allowing students time to consider the questions before coming to class. In general, open-ended questions require some design time and may not be easily improvised by most biology instructors. As research scientists, many of us have been trained to ask closed-ended questions, namely questions that drive an experimental design to either confirm or refute a stated hypothesis. In some ways, training in asking closed-ended, experimental questions may be at odds with developing skills in open-ended questioning. Prior to asking open-ended questions, instructors can attempt to anticipate the likely responses they may get from students. This serves the dual purpose of checking that the question is really all that open-ended, as well as preparing for how one will handle students sharing a wide variety of ideas, which may or may not be scientifically accurate.

19. Establish Classroom Community Norms

As instructors strive to cultivate a classroom in which divergent and not always scientifically accurate ideas are shared, it is critical that the instructor also establish a set of classroom community norms. In this case, "norms" refers to a set of accepted usual, typical, standard acceptable behaviors in the classroom. Common group norms established by experienced instructors include the following: "Everyone here has something to learn." "Everyone here is expected to support their colleagues in identifying and clarifying their confusions about biology." "All ideas shared during class will be treated respectfully." For many instructors, these classroom norms are simply verbally asserted from the first few days of a class and then regularly reiterated as the term progresses. Importantly, students will observe directly whether the instructor enforces the stated group norms and will behave accordingly. As such, it is important to decide what norms you are comfortable enforcing as the instructor in charge of your classroom. It only takes one student experiencing ridicule from a fellow student based on what they shared (someone shouts out, "That is totally not how it works!") to immediately bring to a halt other students sharing their ideas in class. When such incidents occur, and they will, a simple reminder of the group norms and public reassurance and support for the student made to feel uncomfortable can go a long way. Simply using language like, "Could you please keep sharing your ideas? I have no doubt that if you are thinking along these lines, lots of smart people would think that way, too." Establishing early and regularly enforcing a supportive classroom culture-just as you would in an effective and productive research lab meeting, study section, or any other gathering of scientists-is essential to maintaining an equitable, inclusive, and welcome classroom community.

TEACHING ALL THE STUDENTS IN YOUR CLASSROOM

As asserted above, perhaps the most underappreciated variables in teaching and learning are the students themselves and all their individual variations. Although it may be tempting to generalize what students will be like from semester to semester, from course to course, and from institution to institution, there is little evidence to support these generalizations. To promote student engagement and strive for classroom equity, it is essential to constantly and iteratively attend to who exactly is in your classroom trying to learn biology. Below are two specific strategies to help keep the focus of your teaching on the actual students who are currently enrolled in the course you are teaching.

20. Teach Them from the Moment They Arrive

As biology instructors, we assume that the only thing being learned in our classrooms is biology. However, student learning does not begin and end with the biology being explored and discussed. Increasingly, research from a host of fields-educational psychology, sociology, and science education-suggests that learning is not discrete and delimited by concepts under study, but rather continuous and pervasive. Learning is happening about everything going on in the classroom. As such, instructors are best served by considering what students are learning, not just about the subject matter, but also about culture of the classroom from the moment they enter the room. Consider students' opportunities to learn about classroom culture in just two of many ways: students' impression on the first day of class and students' impressions as they enter the classroom for each class session. What an instructor chooses to do on the first day of a course likely sends a strong message to students about the goals of the course, the role of the instructor, and the role of the students. If one wants to convey to students that the course is about learning biology, then reading the syllabus and spending the first class session discussing how grades are assigned is incongruous. Without intent, this instructor is implicitly teaching students that the course is primarily about assigning grades. If the course is about learning biology, then instructors can implicitly and explicitly teach this by engaging students in exciting, intellectually challenging, and rewarding experiences about biology on the first day of a course. Similarly, if an instructor has as a goal that verbal participation by students is key to success in the course, then all students should be engaged in and experience talking about biology from the very first day of class. More subtly, students will also likely learn about their role in the course and their relationship with the instructor based on seemingly inconsequential day-to-day interactions. If an instructor stands at the front of the room or works on his or her computer while waiting for class to start, students may inadvertently "learn" that the instructor is not interested in students or is inaccessible or too busy to be approached, even though this may not be the conscious intention of the instructor. Similarly, students will likely notice whether the instructor regularly speaks to the same subset of students prior to class each day. In all these cases, instructors can make conscious efforts to convey their interest in and commitment to the learning of all students in the course all the time-before class, during class, after class, via email. If we want to teach them about biology, we likely need to be teaching them about the culture of our classrooms and their role in it at the same time.

21. Collect Assessment Evidence from Every Student, Every Class

To accomplish the goal of teaching those actual students who are sitting in front of you, it is essential to maximize the flow of information from individual students to the instructor. Frequent collection of assessment evidence-about students' biological ideas, about their reflections on their learning, about their struggles in the course-is essential for instructors to know the learners they are trying to teach. Beginning immediately, instructors can start with an online "More about You" survey as homework on the first day of a course and can continue to collect information about students throughout the semester ( Tanner, 2011 Angelo and Cross, 1993 Huba and Freed, 2000 ). While the nature of the assessment evidence may vary from class session to class session, the evidence collected from each and every student in a course can aid instructors in continuously re-evaluating student ideas and iteratively changing the arc of the course to best support the learning of that course's student population. The goal is to assure a constant stream of information from student to instructor, and for each and every student, not just those confident enough to speak up publicly during class. Regular consideration of classroom evidence is foundational for bringing our scientific skills to bear on our teaching. ; ). For many instructors, this is most easily accomplished through student online submission of writing assignments. Other options include the use of daily minute papers or index cards, clickers, and a variety of other assessment tools (

CONCLUSION

As instructors, we have the power in our classrooms to choose to attend explicitly to issues of access, inclusiveness, fairness, and equity. The strategies presented above are merely starting points from which instructors can step up their attempts to cultivate equitable classroom environments that promote student engagement and participation in learning biology. No doubt this list of equitable teaching strategies could be much longer, and readers are encouraged to record additions that they discover or invent themselves that address the goal of promoting equity and access for all the students in our biology classrooms.

REFERENCES

American Association for the Advancement of Science. Vision and Change in Undergraduate Biology Education: A Call to Action, Final Report. Washington, DC: 2011.

Angelo TA, Cross KP. Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 1993.

Bloom BS, Englehart MD, Furst EJ, Hill WH, Krathwohl DR. A Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain. New York: McKay; 1956.

Brady C. Elizabeth Blackburn and the Story of Telomeres: Deciphering the Ends of DNA. Boston: MIT Press; 2007.

Bransford JD, Brown AL, Cocking AR, editors. National Research Council. How people learn: brain, mind, experinece and school. http://serc.carleton.edu/resources/405.html. Washington, DC: National Academy Press; 2000.

Chi MTH, Roscoe RD. The process and challenges of conceptual change. In: Limon M, Mason L, editors. Reconsidering Conceptual Change: Issues in Theory and Practice. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic; 2002. pp. 3-27.

Clarke J. Pieces of the puzzle: the jigsaw method. In: Sharan S, editor. Handbook of Cooperative Learning Methods. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press; 1994. pp. 34-50.

Cohen E. Designing Groupwork: Strategies for the Heterogeneous Classroom. New York: Teachers College Press; 1994.

College Board . 2013. AP Biology Curriculum Framework. http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/10b_2727_AP_Biology_CF_WEB_110128.pdf (accessed 22 May 2013 )

DiSessa AA. Why conceptual ecology is a good idea. In: Limon M, Mason L, editors. Reconsidering Conceptual Change: Issues in Theory and Practice. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic; 2002. pp. 29-60.

Huba ME, Freed JE. Learner-Centered Assessment on College Campuses. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon; 2000.

Johnson D, Johnson R, Johnson Holubec E. Edina, MN: Interaction Book; 1993. Circles of Learning: Cooperation in the Classroom, 4th ed.

Johnson DW, Johnson RT, Smith KA. Active Learning: Cooperation in the College Classroom. Edina, MN: Interaction Book; 1991.

Lyman F. The responsive classroom discussion: the inclusion of all students. In: Anderson AS, editor. Mainstreaming Digest. College Park: University of Maryland; 1981.

National Research Council. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 1999.

Seymour E, Hewitt NM. Talking about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview; 1997.

Walton G, Cohen G, Steele C. Empirically Validated Strategies to Reduce Stereotype Threat. 2013. www.stanford.edu/~gwalton/home/Welcome_files/StrategiesToReduceStereotypeThreat.pdf (accessed 15 June 2013)

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Structure Matters: Twenty-One Teaching Strategies to Promote Student Engagement and Cultivate Classroom Equity

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A host of simple teaching strategies-referred to as "equitable teaching strategies" and rooted in research on learning-can support biology instructors in striving for classroom equity and in teaching all their students, not just those who are already engaged, already participating, and perhaps already know the biology being taught.

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This book does a wonderful job showing teachers how you can motivate students when reading. I can specifically use it in my WH classes where we read a lot.

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10 additional sign I could look for in my classroom, with this article I can see what I am doing wrong and compare it with some of the articles where teachers are doing it right. (Meier, 2007).

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Ask people for the qualities critical to success in Leadership, sales and all relationships and communication skills will feature near the top of their list. Ask the same people and they will probably say that they possess great communication skills. However communication skills are a really common issue when coaching senior executives.
This is a guest post by Bookboon author Michael Schofield.
When discussing communication it is best defined as:
"The successful conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings"
The majority of conflicts involve problems in communication, either as a cause or an effect. A lack of understanding can result from ineffective communication and can then lead to further communication issues as the level of communication goes down when there is conflict in a relationship. If someone is not performing well in their role it is surprising how there is often a fall in communication between their line manager and themselves. Not only can the frequency of communication reduce in such situations but people also tend to be more guarded in their communication, as the level of trust in the relationship falls.
So, why do so many people fail to communicate effectively?
There are a number of examples of poor communication techniques and here are 10 of the most common;

1) I've not really thought this through, have I?

If you don't know what you mean when you are communicating, how can you expect others to understand you? Poor communicators will not give sufficient thought to what they want to achieve when sharing their thoughts and ideas. If you have an important message to convey it is imperative to spend some time preparing what you want to say and what you want to achieve by saying it. How much time do you currently set aside for this?

2) How can you not understand, this is simple you fool!

When you do know what you mean and what you want to achieve, are you sure your audience does as well? Too often we make assumptions that the people we are engaging with have the same level of understanding of the subject matter being discussed and that their perception of a situation is the same as ours. Two simple steps can help here, test people's understanding of your communication and KISS for the message itself - Keep It Simple Stupid!

3) It's all about me!

It is surprising how many people believe communication is a one-way street and is merely an opportunity to impose their views on an unsuspecting world. The language used in these situations tends to be very directive, e.g. you need to..., you should do this..., you have to listen to me.... The great communicators place as much emphasis, if not more, on listening as they do talking. If you take the time and trouble to listen to the views and thoughts of others, you learn more and you tend to find they also listen to you when the time comes to share your thoughts!

This fundamental business skill should be part of every L&D offering. Find out more about training employees in communication here.

4) Have you finished yet?

It is easy to miss the intended message if you are busy trying to multi-task when listening to others. You can't expect to communicate effectively if you are also reading your email, checking your mobile phone or looking around to see if anyone else is worth speaking to. Not paying full attention to the other person suggests that you don't regard them as that important. For example feedback from customers about salespeople is that the number one complaint they have is the salesperson answering a mobile phone when in a meeting with them. As you are reading this, have you checked your phone for messages yet? Take time out and give people your full attention, they may surprise you!
Learn about the 5 key steps to active listening here.

5) I know exactly what you are going to say!

There's no need to let someone else finish talking, you can go ahead and interrupt them as you know what they are going to say, you've been there and worn the T-shirt and you have a much better point of view. People will become frustrated if you are forever interrupting them, and one outcome will be that they will no longer be willing to share their views and feelings with you. This will lead to one-sided communication. Is this what you really want?

6) If only you knew what I really think!

Lack of honesty and not sharing how you really feel can lead to a lack of trust in the relationship. People respond positively when they know they will receive clear and unambiguous communication from those around them, even when the message is a difficult one. Respect is given to those who share the truth and the relationship is stronger as a result. Think about those people you know who will tell you the way it is, how strong and trusting is the relationship you have with them?

7) How dare you!

Poor communicators tend to react emotionally and erratically when communicating which can make it difficult for those on the receiving end to anticipate how the communication will progress. This can result in people being nervous around you as they are not sure what type of response they will get and as a result, they will tend to avoid opportunities for communication.
Learn more about the 7 steps to and .

8) I'll give it a miss

Avoiding communication is a common occurrence when a difficult conversation is anticipated. People with low confidence will tend to ignore opportunities to pass on difficult messages with the result that the communication vacuum only serves to increase the size of the problem. The old adage that "no news is good news" doesn't usually apply in such circumstances as the people on the receiving end of the silence will fill the void with their own perceptions, doubts, and fears. If you need to have a difficult conversation and you feel nervous about it, why not practice having the conversation first? No communication is rarely the best option!

9) I'll just ask for a read receipt

There are various communication routes open to us and choosing an inappropriate method of communication can create further problems. For example, there have been stories in the media in recent times of bosses sending redundancy notices by text. On what planet these bosses thought this would be appropriate beggars belief. We don't need to have every conversation face to face, but consideration should be given to the impact and perception gained from the communication route we choose to use.

10) It's a fact!

Poor communicators will often believe that giving people facts about a situation will be sufficient to influence them into following a particular course of action. However, as Richard Nixon said, "People are persuaded by reason, but moved by emotion; the leader must both persuade them and move them." For example, a Leader who wants to introduce change needs to back up the logic for change with reasons for others to have the desire to help drive the change. If you want to bring about change what is in it for the people who will be affected by the change? How will they benefit? How will it make life better for them?

Communication follow up questions

The above is a selection of common mistakes leading to ineffective communication. I'm sure you can think of others! Why not share them by posting a comment below?

When you think about the people around you, how many of the above do they display in their communication with you?

How many do you display?

What could you do differently?
"Communication-the human connection-is the key to personal and career success." Paul J. Meyer
About the author: Michael Schofield is an associate lecturer and tutor on Business and Personal coaching courses and undertakes coaching projects for individuals and teams across the UK. He is also a member of the coaching framework for UK Sport and has published the eBook " 50 ways to lead your sales team ".

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Ask people for the qualities critical to success in Leadership, sales and all relationships and communication skills will feature near the top of their list. Ask the same people and they will probably say that they possess great communication skills. However communication skills are a really common issue when coaching senior executives.

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Good article on communicating with students. It also shows the different types of communication between teacher and student. (USC 2015)

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How can I measure the data that I am supposed to take during this research?

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From this source I learned two new strategies to get kids involved within my classroom. An example is "practice" journal" writing.

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Can I maintain anonymity and still have valid data?

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Problems: What are some pieces of data I could look at to further help my theory

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One of my sources for project (Gentry, 2016) In this article, I can see how students interact and see what I should do in a partner setting.

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Jump down to: Characteristics/examples of classes with low and high student-student interaction | Considerations for structuring your class | Tips and examples for improving student-student interaction What is ...

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How can I analyze student interaction to ensure they are learning and not just messing around

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When are I going too far to change a child that simply won't change and made need special services.

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This article will help me at seeing what kids are failing to participate and why. 0Caffrey 2016)

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It is probably not surprising that one of the most consistent findings in educational research demonstrates that the more time students spend engaged during instruction, the more they learn (Gettinger & Ball, 2007). Schlechty (2002) defined the five levels of student engagement so we can learn to gauge student interest and increase the effectiveness of our structured literacy instruction.

Five Levels of Student Engagement

Authentic Engagement-students are immersed in work that has a clear meaning and immediate value to them (reading a book on a topic of personal interest)

Ritual Compliance-the work has little or no immediate meaning to students, but there are extrinsic outcomes of value that keep them engaged (earning grades necessary for college acceptance)

Passive Compliance-students see little or no meaning in the assigned work but expend effort merely to avoid negative consequences (not having to stay in during recess to complete work)

Retreatism-students are disengaged from assigned work and make no attempt to comply, but are not disruptive to the learning of others

Rebellion-students refuse to do the assigned task, act disruptive, and attempt to substitute alternative activities

Measuring Engagement in the Classroom

The level of student engagement can vary from student-to-student, and lesson-to-lesson so it can be difficult to get a general feel for how engaged a class is as a whole. To that end, Schlechty (2002) also outlined three categories that can be used to measure the level of engagement for an entire classroom.
The Engaged Classroom
In the engaged classroom, you will observe that all students are authentically engaged at least some of the time or that most students are authentically engaged most of the time. Passive compliance and retreatism are rarely observed and rebellion is non-existent.
The Compliant Classroom
The compliant classroom is the picture of traditional education. This type of classroom is orderly and most students will appear to be working so it would be easy to infer that learning is taking place. However, while there is little evidence of rebellion, retreatism is a very real danger as it is very common in the compliant classroom.
The Off-Task Classroom
Retreatism and rebellion are easily observed in the off-task classroom. This type of classroom is each-student-for-them-self so you will see some degree of authentic and ritual engagement, along with passive compliance as well. Teachers in the off-task classroom spend most of their time dealing with rebelling students rather than teaching lessons that engage.

Seven Student Engagement Strategies

Student engagement is a byproduct of effective instruction that has major payoffs. When students are engaged during explicit phonics instruction they learn and retain more information. Student engagement during reading instruction also increases the likelihood that your students will become passionate about reading. So, how can you increase the amount of time that students in your class are engaged during reading instruction? Here are some suggestions:

1. Use the 10:2 method. For every 10 minutes of instruction allow the students 2 minutes to process and respond to the instruction or reading material. This can be done in various ways: have them write about what they have learned or read, have them ask or write down questions they have about what they have read or learned, or have students discuss the lesson or reading material with a partner.

2. Incorporate movement into your lessons. Require students to respond to a question about a reading passage or lesson by moving to a certain spot in the room, writing on whiteboards, or standing (or sitting) when they are done thinking about the question, etc.

3. Pick up the pace. One misconception is that we must go slow for students to really understand and engage in a lesson or story. There is a lot of evidence that shows that when teaching and reading are done at a brisk pace, students have more opportunities to engage, respond, and move on to the next concept or idea (Carnine & Fink, 1978; Williams, 1993; Ernsbarger et al., 2001).

4. Provide frequent and effective feedback.Correct students as they learn new decoding skills or reading strategies. Be sure students know how to use each strategy correctly so they experience success and mastery.

5. Allow students 5-7 seconds of 'think time' when asking a question about a story or reading passage. At the end of the time draw a random name to answer the question.

6. At the end of a lesson have students use the 3-2-1 method of summarizing by having students record three things they learned, two interesting things, and one question they have about what was taught or read. Allow time to share their findings with a peer.

7. Periodically pause mid-sentence when teaching and require students to fill in the blanks.

Learn more about teaching reading strategies ›

Pinterest Reference Guide:

Conclusion

At the end of one of my recent day-long trainings, a teacher approached me and said, "This was a great training. I know, because I didn't get my knitting needles out one time." Whether we are teaching young people or adults, it is important to keep in mind that student engagement is more than just listening. If we are constantly monitoring the level of student engagement in our classroom we can consciously work to increase the amount of time that students are involved in learning and expect greater success in our teaching.

Related Articles
Five Ways to Activate Student Attention, Anticipation, & Interest During a Lesson The 4 C's of Effective Instruction That Boost Student Engagement What is phonics instruction? >Misconceptions About Phonics Instruction - #2 - Phonics Instruction is Boring
Interested in learning more about Early Literacy? Explore our free educational resources to learn how you can help the young readers in your life! Take a look at one of our Reading Horizons reviews (from California - the state).

*Carnine. D., & Fink, W. T. (1978). Increasing the rate of presentation and use of signals in elementary classroom teachers. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 11, 35-46.

*Ernsbarger, S. C., Tincani. M. J., Harrison,T. J., Frazier-Trotman, S., Simmons-Reed, E., & Heward. W. L. (2001, May). Slow teacher/fast teacher: Effects on participation rate, accuracy, and off-task behavior by pre-K students during small-group language lessons. Paper presented at the 27th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis. New Orleans. LA

*Gettinger, M., & Ball, C. (2007). Best practices in increasing academic engaged time. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology V (pp. 1043-1075). Bethesda, MD: National Association of School Psychologists.

*Schlechty, P. (2002) Working on the Work. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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How to Measure and Increase Student Engagement During Reading Instruction

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Reading is fundamental to all learning and is crucial for your students' future success. Researchers have found that the more students are engaged during instruction, the more they learn. So, can you be sure your students are engaged during reading instruction?

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A few new practices that I thought were good (Hall, 2016

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4 Practices for Increasing Student Engagement

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Spend the first five minutes of each class focusing on your students as people. Then keep them engaged through the agency of makerspaces, PBL, or Genius Hour/20 Time.

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When it comes to partner activities, students have a tendency to what to go sit next to an individual they know. Now at this age, I know it is for only one reason: To talk about non material cov

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Students become disengaged in a classroom when they either have to communicate with the whole class and myself, or in partner activities with their partner or partners