How to Engage Students

3 Strategies for How to Engage Students No one likes a dull classroom. It’s harder to teach and even harder to learn. We want to help teachers crack the classic puzzle of how to engage students.   1. Sell the Lesson   One of the most common questions teachers will get at both K-8 and High School levels is: Why do I need to know this? When will I ever need to use this skill? And this makes sense. The students value their time just like all of us and if they don’t think your lesson will help them in life, why should they raise their hand and ask questions or engage instead of thinking about lunch?   So the first strategy is  to sell your lesson to them in a similar fashion as to how businesses sell products. This sounds strange at first, why would I try to sell something to my students? But if you have an iPhone, you didn’t just buy it because Apple said, “Look, here’s an iPhone 5!”. Instead they said, “You can take amazing pictures and videos and always stay connected!” So give examples in how you’ve personally used this knowledge, and  in math, make case problems instead of plain numbers and in history try showing how similar events are happening now.   2. Let Students Help Each other   If you’ve had a really engaged class throughout the semester or even for the day, let them start doing in-class assignments together. Sometimes students are afraid to ask too  many questions during a lecture or while working individually, but when they have the chance to work with their peers they are much more comfortable asking for help. This can be even more […]