Fostering Engagement by Hagen Donahue https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4 Over track out, we asked teachers to come up with one idea to help mitigate the issue of student stress, overwork, and burnout. Please share your idea here! What can we do as a staff to help foster student engagement and happiness? en-us 2018-10-04 15:21:45 UTC 2025-09-30 19:41:01 UTC hello@padlet.com L. Jones Idea laura_jones6 https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/289650506 Increasing student morale has a lot to do with the overall feel of the campus. 
·      We have eliminated many ways for students to personalize their spaces and some of them feel that the campus is a sterile, blank environment. Even removing names off their lockers sends a powerful message to students. Teachers feel this too….we are discouraged FOR our students, this decreases morale all around. So, what can we do? We can use discretion when rewarding students. However, one of my favorite ways to reward my squirrelly 6th graders for working hard was  using walks. This may seem like a small thing, but this gave them fresh air and movement, and allowed them to feel more like well rounded humans and not JUST a student who needs to produce constantly. I believe it reduced stress and sent a message that we see them as valuable humans and that we don't ONLY
 want and expect/demand production and performance. Could we bring walks back? Can we trust teachers enough to know when a walk is appropriate, how to adequately use this tool, and not take advantage of it to the detriment of learning?
]]> 2018-10-05 14:42:57 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/289650506 Merinoff - Action Step https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/289753581 I think I as a teacher I need to take more time to create resources for my students (e.g. study guides, guided reading packets, handouts on note-taking, literary concepts) that will help all of my students remain on pace with each other, feel more confident about the material, and feel like their workload is more manageable. My hope is that this will encourage student engagement and boost their overall happiness! ]]> 2018-10-05 17:44:59 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/289753581 Ashlie Canipe MagistraCanipe https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/289754715 I am reflecting in my own teaching practice that this is a good time to revisit how I break down concepts and foster mastery before teaching application in novel situations. As a staff, we could all approach thoughtfully whether we have scaffolded concepts and tasks sufficiently to promote students' feelings of confidence and their success in the task.

]]> 2018-10-05 17:47:07 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/289754715 Rebecca Romeo https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/289799428 I second Canipe's response and Jones' response. Honestly, I am going to smile more. This is something simple and that most people do anyway, but I find it to be quite challenging (especially when my morale is low or I am stressed out). I am going to make a concentrated effort to humanize my students more by smiling at them and trying to make eye contact with them. It's simple, but I believe that this small gesture will make a big difference. I think our students are feeling more like robots and less like kids. I am going to do what little I can to alleviate that feeling. ]]> 2018-10-05 19:25:24 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/289799428 Melanie Chappell melanie_chappell1 https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/289810385 I am going to make sure that I send a positive email to the parents of every one of my students this track with something specific to their child that I appreciate about them.  From past experience, I know that this really makes a difference with students when they know you took the time to write something special about them and share it with their parents.  I also am going to include more "hooks" at the beginning of my lessons to increase student engagement in the lesson by having them see the value (or real-world application) of what they are learning that day.  I will also make sure to give more positive LiveSchool points.  Are we going to offer any rewards to students for receiving positive points?  Seems like the positive office referral, LiveSchool positive points just fizzled away. Finally, is it possible to have a grade-level or school-wide day (or two) this track (or every track) in which students can participate in fun activities or community involvement?  It seems like the emphasis is placed more on clubs/sports to be the outlet for fun activities and/or community involvement.]]> 2018-10-05 20:05:18 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/289810385 Heather Williams https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/289832065 I would like to spend more time listening to my students
I would like to help them build more self confidence by giving them an environment that they can experiment and discover more about science.
I would like to encourage my students to take more accountability in a team.
I would like my students to feel empowered to take risks.
I would like my students to learn and be ok with failure and learn to work through failures as a way to build more confidence.
I want them to see my classroom as a place of experimentation where they get to try to be the scientist and make sense of the world around them.]]> 2018-10-05 22:00:32 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/289832065 Nicole Boriotti . I would like to provide my students a forum in which to express their stress. I have started allowing students to complete a free-write on Friday's weekly journal. So many of our students have expressed that they were stressed out over assignments, assessments, and projects. Just letting the students know that stress is okay as long as you have a strategy to handle it. I think providing my students with ways to cope with stress would prove beneficial in the end. https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290067784

]]> 2018-10-07 18:43:36 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290067784 Brittany Rathvon https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290095547 My goal is twofold: I am going to focus on organization and movement. I am going to schedule time into all of my classes to help students ensure their materials (binder, books bags, lockers) are organized. When assignments are given to students I am going to explicitly state where they should be kept within student's binders and note when older assignments can be thrown out. 
My second goal is movement. On reflection, I've realized alot of days in my class students don't get the chance to move around the classroom space. I am going to aim this quarter to plan more activities and lessons that incorporate movement to get students up out of their seats. This may be sharing journals with someone not seated near them, stretch breaks, scavenger hunt notes, or station activities. ]]> 2018-10-07 22:46:31 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290095547 Alexis Franco https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290246349 I find that taking the time to build personal connections with my students has helped increase student engagement- getting to know a little bit about each of them and finding something we connect on has helped create those relationships where they feel a human connection.    
In turn, this allows students to feel comfortable in expressing stress and concern when they are feeling it- regardless of the subject area.  
Aside from continuing to build these relationships, I am beginning the track reflecting on what went well last track and what we will be improving on.  I am setting clear expectations and guidelines, as well as assignment expectations and assessment dates for the track.  This will allow them to have a clear understanding of what the track will look like from the beginning.  
]]> 2018-10-08 12:03:03 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290246349 Stacey Egger https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290261035 9th: this semester will be more reading-heavy than the last. Provide time at the end of class each day to begin reading assignments, and spend this time guiding student reading and helping them with reading/ comprehension/ note-taking strategies. Create greater pattern of structure for 9th grade week so that class can operate more efficiently, and students can become more habitual and thus efficient with in-class writing work (which will also be almost-daily this Track) 

Minimize homework for Trivium. Goal: no written homework for Trivium until the end of the Track. No more than 5-10 minutes of reading a night, if in-class time is used effectively. 

Emphasize structure of Trivium for high school, show 9th graders both how what they have learned in previous years is serving them now, and how what they are learning this year will be invaluable to the rest of their career at Thales. Show 6th grade how what they are learning now will serve them in the rest of their years of middle school and high school. 
]]> 2018-10-08 12:39:04 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290261035 Josh Herring https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290300040 As a group, we teachers should avoid using pragmatic language. I would love to see us moving in the direction of giving a rationale for things in terms of “because it’s good!” or “Knowledge is worth having for its own sake”, etc. the pragmatic utilitarian language of “you’ll need this for college” is 1) possibly untrue and 2) does not call the student to love learning.

We need to find ways for student to be able to put their own thumbprint on the school. All of the places where students could look to and see their contributions to the community are currently gone (with the exception of the trophy case). I don’t know how to do that within Dr. Hall’s requirements for the model. But we need to figure it out. Getting the screens in place would be a start - something that breaks up the white monotony of our hallways.

]]> 2018-10-08 13:53:38 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290300040 Laura CoppI want to get to know my students on a more personal level and find out what gets them excited about learning. I also thought about adding a "drop your ideas" / "hit me with your concerns" box for students. I want them to feel safe about expressing their opinions or sharing things that they may be embarrassed to speak about directly.More school activities (fun Friday) – teacher dodgeball etc… https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290384928 2018-10-08 16:35:50 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290384928 Don Beck https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290386279 To lesson student stress, I am going to provide a more updated plan of upcoming events(quizzes, tests, projects) by reminders at the beginning of class both verbal and written. I also want the students to set goals for themselves, such as academic, for the class, so they will feel more of a sense of ownership and motivated for what they are doing .This should also encourage being more proactive towards an increase in student engagement.
Building more personal relationships is also a way of getting students to feel at ease during class which increases student engagement.]]> 2018-10-08 16:38:20 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290386279 Nikole Kelly, Fostering Engagement https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290450121 10th and 11th: I think that the two groups are especially stressed this year and I found that giving them an outlet to talk about that has been helpful. I have found that some students have felt frustrated but could not fully flesh out what was frustrating them until they were able to talk about it or write it down. I like the idea of a comment box/suggestion box at appropriate intervals (like the end of track). I did this last track and was intrigued by some of the suggestions students made, and have incorporated some of those into how I will run things this track. One of these, was lessening the amount of homework, and providing more time for classwork assignments.I also like the idea of creating more movement in the lessons, which may include moving around the classroom for activities, or going outside for a portion of a lesson when appropriate. I also think that students crave personalization of some kind throughout their day at school. Some are able to show this through their work, but many of my students feel limited in their creative expression, perhaps their can be more group oriented things like pep rallies for sports or field days at the end of track after testing and grades have been completed. ]]> 2018-10-08 18:48:20 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290450121 Justin Keever - https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290465946 To lessen student stress, I am going to be extremely transparent with my students on assessment expectations using the Study Recommendations Template, providing this at the beginning of each unit. Also, I have learned with time constraints to provide more detailed notes outline for the students to add comments, elaborate on, etc. versus spending too much time. Also, as another teacher noted, sending "Positive Emails" home to parents. Finally, I am trying to thank the students for their hard work and how excited I am to be here! ]]> 2018-10-08 19:28:34 UTC https://padlet.com/hagen_donahue/a6zrkcnlabw4/wish/290465946