I don't think I have ever had so many comments on my blog! Lots of good chatter about what engagement looks like. I think it was agreed that in the video Dave Burgess really shows his enthusiasm and you can see how it is contagious, just as he talks about in his book. This was a great resource to really bring what we were reading about to life.
Jule posted a comment on my blog about providing new experiences for students to keep them engaged. I did not post about this in my blog post but I am in total agreement with it. Students need to have experiences they resonate with. This is why PBL is so good. It reaches all students at their level and allows them to show what they know. The hardest part with this is that it is hard to prep for and it is hard for a teacher to step back. I tried a project last year in my physical science class and the students were all over it. They loved making something and then collecting the data on it. Natalie first pointed out that "teachers must be willing to change." So many teachers are not willing to change and this can be detrimental to students. We must do things that are good for students not just good for us as teachers. A key point is that with this change we need to interact with students and get their opinions. Sometimes we might falsely think they enjoyed something when in all actuality they just didn't want to fail. Natalie also talked about how the Essa Academy in England was able to turn around their failing school with the use of tech. So many times this does not happen because schools just throw in tech in hopes that their scores go up. With out thoughtful implementation it is rare that a school would see gains with the use of tech. We need to get all students engaged in the use of tech. I can think of a couple of examples at school: our high schoolers are asking to do ALEKS with any free time they have, when I assign CK12.org almost all of my high schools instantly go in and start reading and watching the videos, and in middle school the students ask for sumdog when they are done with any work.
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