8 Easy Ways to Engage Students Throughout the Year

Kirsten 0:00

If you're ever wondering ways you can keep your students engaged throughout the year, then this episode is for you. I'm going to be sharing with you eight ways you can keep your students engaged and focused on what they're learning from the beginning of the year all the way through the very last day of school.

This is the social studies teacher podcast, a show for busy elementary teachers looking for fun and engaging ways to easily add social studies into their classroom schedule without feeling overwhelmed or pressed for time. I'm KEARSON of southern teach an educator and mom who is passionate about all things social studies, I love sharing ideas and strategies that are low prep and easy to implement. So let's dive in together.

This is also a round up of a variety of blog posts I've written so for each way, you can actually click on the link in the description for more resources and information on how you can implement some of these strategies.

All right, the first way is to use Kahoot. For review games. Kahoot is so much fun students loved this activity. This is basically a free database of quiz style learning games. There's a variety of topics you can do one related to social studies or something completely off the topic like can they recognize different cartoon characters or different logos. You can play it live in class as a whole group or you can assign the game to students to complete on their own. But this is a really great way to get students reviewing different topics. This was also for me a way to see if they are understanding what we're teaching. So sometimes if they in real time they're answering a lot of people are answering the wrong answer. And then maybe half of them are answering the right answer. That's a great time to stop and addressing their misconceptions so that they have the right answer. And it can be really great for students in the moment, they're getting that automatic feedback. So rather than just having them go through the game and not saying anything, I would always kind of repeat those questions and answer choices as well. And read it out loud as they're answering. And then at the end, I'd say like, oh, the answer is a southeast region. So and then I kind of go into you know, more details about that answer. Like do you know if you remember the southeast region is located near the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, or however you want to do it, but that's one way to keep students engaged is using Kahoot for review games.

The second way is to engage by differentiating. Differentiating is when a teacher is tailoring their instruction to a student's needs based on their readiness interests and learning profile. There's four ways to differentiate there's, there's differentiating through the content itself, the process or steps with, you know, first they're going to be listening to a story, then they're going to be reading the story. Or you can have students reading the story on their own without having to hear the audio version, that's a way to differentiate, differentiating by the product, that type of product they're producing, and also differentiating through the learning environment where they are working. This could also be known as flexible seating, so where they get to work on a certain task.

Alright, the third way to engage students is by conducting fun book projects throughout the year. Book projects are really great because they have control of the product that they are creating, so that they're showing what they understand about their books in their own way. So this is great for any book that they've read. Or you can have students make a board game or create a character scrapbook or create a book trailer, having students instead of doing a typical book report, having them do an actual fun project is a great way to engage them and get them excited to share what they know about the book that they've read.

The fourth way to engage students throughout the year is through novel studies. Novel studies are my favorite. I know some schools, they do novel studies to teach throughout the year. That's something that I know we did in middle school in high school, pretty much our curriculum was heavy on novel studies. And I actually really liked it. Some of my very favorite books are books that I was, I shouldn't say forced to read, but I'm saying this in quotation marks, air quotes. Forest Cherie the like, we had a book list, and we had to purchase those books. And that's how we were taught certain skills. Novel studies are kind of the same way. But in the upper elementary space, I wouldn't recommend more than two to four novel studies a year. But it depends on sometimes the schools do novel studies to teach skills, sometimes they're doing it kind of towards the end of the year after they have directly taught certain reading strategies and skills. But novel studies are a great way to engage with the novel through prompts and student and teacher led discussions. And this is where students can learn comprehension and critical thinking skills. It's just really great overall, to utilize and engage students, especially if the plot is interesting. So one book that we mean students probably would have never picked up in the library is blood on the river, we did this with our fifth grade ELA, social studies classes. And this was really great, because it integrated with what we were learning at the time is, you know, the 13, colonies, Jamestown, all the way through, you know, the American Revolution, since it was US history. So it was usually done in October, around that timeframe, September, October, November, they went through the book study, and we talked about a lot of the plot elements, the characters, all of the different themes, and how that you know, how everybody interacted with each other. And by the end of the novel study, students were, most of the students, if not all of the students were very invested in the book and they were engaged. And I think it helps you know, them kind of get a better understanding about what happened during that time, even though it is a historical fiction novel.

All right, number four, engaging students with choice boards. I love choice boards, because it can help them stay motivated. And it gives them as it kind of suggests choice, they have choice in how they complete their assignments or projects. And you can make sure that each student's needs are met. So nobody is bored. Because there are a variety of choices that can hit on a variety of skills and a variety of learners. The whole goal of a choice board is to give students opportunities to show their understanding in different ways that meet their individual learning styles and interests in general. Some things you want to keep in mind with the choice boards to make sure it's not too hard or too easy for them, is to make sure that they are aligning with grade level expectations and standards, and that you're giving them some you know, support and guidance so that students know how to approach each activity. So I would not give them a whole choice board and just say hey, have Got it, it's due on Friday, I'd have I'd explain each project or activity on the choice board, give them maybe some examples and just kind of go into what they could do, or some ideas just to get them sparked. And then if there are students who are like, I still don't know what to do, you can pull them over to your small group and have them you know, kind of work with them on what they might need to do, what they might be able to do. Now, also, just depending on if someone is not able to independently complete a task, you can always pull a group of students and have them do the same activity that they all can do with minimal assistance, or something that you can support them with. So I would not recommend having students who need additional support, if they are having trouble learning the content itself, I would definitely modify as necessary and not have them complete an item on the choice board that is completely something that would be very difficult for them to do without major help or support.

Kind of expanding on student choice, I'm going to go into also reading stations, this is a really, really great way to engage students is through the variety of activities you offer, maybe if you have reading stations that also integrate with social studies, this is a great way to engage. But I feel like the more that I gave my students options, the more options I gave them, the less behavior problems and management issues I had, in the long run, it seemed as though if I gave choices to students, in my class, they were less like they were less likely to be bored, and more likely to be really excited and engaged with what they were learning or doing. Let's say you've got a lot of talkers in your class, like I did. And you told everybody in your class that they needed to work on a specific project by themselves, that not only would be very hard for me, because I'm going to have to grade 30 individual projects. But it's also you know, it's not giving them that choice of Well, I didn't, I don't really want to work by myself. There are some of course, some things that you want them to work by themselves on, like, you know, an assessment or some type of activity where you're trying to get them to show their understanding. But if it's, if it's a project, this is a great way for them to give the option of working with a group or maybe just a partner of their choice or working by themselves, students are going to be more engaged when they feel that they have more autonomy of what they're doing. So if they're like, I get to work with my friends on this project, or I get to work with a partner, maybe I didn't get to choose the partner, but I still get to work with someone rather than by myself, they're still going to be engaged regardless.

Alright, tip number seven is making sure you're engaging students before a long break. This can be for before Thanksgiving break before winter break before spring break any type of break. This tip is a great thing to have in your back pocket. Because sometimes behavior can get a little extra rowdy right before a break, everybody's excited. And then they're going somewhere on their vacation. And so it may take a lot of extra time to get them back in and focusing a couple of tips that I mentioned in this particular blog post was to review expectations. So this is kind of like a given, you know, one of the first things you want to have modeling, reinforcing and practicing classroom routines and expectations. Because if you stick to this, especially before a break, it will be much easier to redirect. So since this is the beginning of the year, this is a great reminder, if you're listening to this in real time, is to always always, always continue to review expectations and routines so that it's easier to get your students back together back to focus before those big breaks. Something that I always used was a wooden chime to get my students attention. This was always great because we would continue to practice to the point where it was second nature second hand they heard that ding. They knew they could they had to stop talking. And I didn't even have to raise my voice or talk when I did the chime. I would just ring the time and wait for students to stop. Another tip is going outside right before a break can doing a lesson outside would be a great way to get some fresh air and it's something that students really love. You know, it's just something different. They don't owe me them. may not get to work outside all the time. So if it's a nice day, spending some time outside and working on independent reading or some type of activity before a break is always a really great way to engage students and do something different something out of the norm, the last way to engage your students is for the end of the year. So this is another thing to save in your back pocket.

This is when you are you see the light at the end of the tunnel, you're ready for summer break, and you're ready to reset and rest. But you also feel a little sentimental because you know, these are the last moments you'll have with those group of students in your class. One really fun way to engage students is a year in review poem. So you can have students build a poem on various things that they liked or disliked about the school year, and get students creative, you know, have them thinking a little bit. You can have students write narrative, or lyrical or free verse or humorous poems. So it doesn't have to rhyme if they don't want it to. And then at the end, after they finish their year and review poem, you can host a poetry slam, or students share their poems. So that is really fun. And then also having your students write a letter to you. So have them you know, write something, it can be anything, really just have them write a letter to you. And also, it'd be fun to respond back on a separate sheet of paper, or it can be part of your interview, your gift is to write a letter back to you responding to them, based on what they said.

So to review eight ways to engage students throughout the year. One way is to use the hoop for review number two, engage with differentiation. Number three, utilizing book projects, number four, utilizing novel studies, number five, choice boards. Number six, using choice during stations, number seven, engaging before long breaks, and number eight, engaging for the end of the school year. So hopefully having this as a resource for you throughout the year, whether it's in social studies or any other subjects you might teach. This can be a really great way to kind of take heed and make sure you remember as you go through the school year. So you can always listen to this again if you want, anytime just to kind of remind yourself of what you could do to make students engaged.

Alright, well, thank you for tuning in. I cannot wait to share with you more tips for social studies. And I will talk to you again next week.

Thanks for listening to the social studies teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, hit that subscribe button and leave a review. I would love to hear your thoughts. You can also find me on Instagram at the southern teach. I can't wait for you to join me in the next episode for more teacher tips and strategies.