Ways to Engage Students Inside and Outside the Classroom

It is important for educators to support students in taking ownership of their own learning.  When students are empowered in their learning, they are more engaged.  It helps when we design learning activities that are original, relevant, and creative.  Here are three recommendations to help engage your students: make learning authentic, make learning connect to students' environments and communities, and breathe life into learning.  

Time to Get Real
Role playing with your students can be a great way to get them to use their critical thinking skills and start to problem solve.  You can be the one acting out scenarios, or you could invite your colleagues to "visit" your class in character for your students to interact with them.  You could even take it a step further and have your students fill roles and act out cases.  Students should be responsible for assessing the situation, determining possible solutions, and creating a way to address the situation.  

Time to Connect
It is important to help students connect to their own environments and communities.  Sometimes lectures cannot engage students in making these connections.  Instead, consider taking a field trip!  Look in your community for shows, plays, and exhibits that can reinforce your content.  Visit as a class or encourage your students to go on their own time and then connect and reflect on the visits during class.  Can't organize a field trip?  Go on a virtual field trip!  You can organize virtual field trips yourself, or you can see if others have created ones you can access.  

Time to Breathe
Students remember stories.  When explaining concepts, especially difficult ones, tell them a story from your own life or practice.  Ask them to share stories they find connect to certain concepts.  Breathe life into your lessons.  They are more likely to remember the stories than their notes.

Consider how you are engaging your students both in and out of the classroom.  These three recommendations are only a few of the variety of ways you can support your students' ownership of their own learning.  Do you have ways that you engage your students that you have found successful?  Please share them below in the comments!