How do you overcome barriers to student engagement?

1 Know your students

The first step to engaging your students is to know them well. Learn about their backgrounds, interests, strengths, and challenges. Use surveys, interviews, portfolios, and informal conversations to gather information. Then, use this data to tailor your instruction, activities, and feedback to their needs and preferences. For example, you can use their hobbies and passions as hooks for your lessons, or you can group them according to their learning styles and goals.

2 Build relationships

Another key factor for student engagement is the quality of the relationships between you and your students, and among your students. Research shows that students are more engaged when they feel respected, valued, and supported by their teachers and peers. To build positive relationships, you can use strategies such as greeting your students by name, showing interest in their lives, praising their efforts, providing constructive feedback, facilitating cooperative learning, and promoting a sense of belonging and community in your classroom.

3 Use active learning

Active learning is an approach that involves students in the learning process, rather than passively receiving information from the teacher. Active learning can increase student engagement by stimulating their curiosity, creativity, and critical thinking skills. Some examples of active learning methods are inquiry-based learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, simulations, games, and experiments. These methods allow students to explore topics, solve problems, create products, and apply their knowledge in authentic and meaningful ways.

4 Incorporate technology

Technology can be a powerful tool for enhancing student engagement, especially in the digital age. Technology can offer students access to a variety of resources, formats, and platforms for learning. It can also support differentiation, collaboration, and feedback. For example, you can use technology to provide multimedia content, interactive activities, online quizzes, digital portfolios, podcasts, videos, blogs, and social media. However, be mindful of the potential drawbacks of technology, such as distraction, misuse, and inequity. Make sure you use technology purposefully, ethically, and equitably.

5 Foster autonomy

Autonomy is the sense of control and choice that students have over their learning. It is closely linked to student engagement, as it can increase their motivation, interest, and ownership of their learning. To foster autonomy, you can use strategies such as giving students options for how, what, and when they learn, involving them in setting goals and assessing their progress, encouraging them to reflect on their learning, and supporting their self-regulation and metacognition skills.

6 Challenge your students

Finally, student engagement can be boosted by challenging your students to reach their full potential. Challenge can stimulate students' curiosity, interest, and confidence, as well as prepare them for the demands of the real world. To challenge your students, you can use strategies such as setting high but realistic expectations, providing scaffolding and differentiation, offering opportunities for extension and enrichment, and exposing them to diverse perspectives and experiences.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?