Classroom Engagement

No, someone in the class did not get engaged (because they are only in elementary school), but the students were engaged in their learning! In my service learning, I have noticed a few activities that have been engaging for the students. First, a couple times I have been in the classroom, students have been playing math games on the computer. I personally think technology is very engaging. It is fun and provides experiences or games that you cannot provide in the classroom without it. I can tell that the kids love playing the math games on the computer because they get super excited when the teacher tells them it is computer time. Another engaging activity I have noticed is journal time. The students are given a journal prompt every morning that they are asked to write a short response to. Usually the questions are personal, like what the students did when they got home from school. Sometimes the questions have to do with what happened in the class the day before. I think this is a very engaging  activity because it gives the students the opportunity to write down their thoughts and feelings. I also think it builds trust between the teacher and the student because the students know that the teacher gets to read their journal entries and that knowledge can be exciting. Another engaging activity I have observed is the classroom money system. The students can earn money through different things such as participating in discussions, answering questions, doing good on homework or tests, helping other students, etc. This gets the students involved and it gets them excited about being involved. It also makes them really excited when they get to pick out a prize from the prize bucket. 

 I have observed a lot of engaging activities in the classroom, but there have also been times where it has been not-so-engaging. For example, most of the times when I go in to observe the students are doing math. Math is definitely not an engaging subject. The teacher just helps them with a couple problems then leaves them to do the rest of the worksheet by themselves. Although math is a hard subject to teach, I think there are ways to make it more engaging. For example, edutopia.org suggests that you can create personalized story problems by inserting student's names into story problems. This gets kids excited and helps them pay attention. Jeremiah Dyke also gives some good suggestions. He suggests letting students get up out of their seat or changing the routine up a little. For example, let the students do their math on the floor. Or he even suggests turning the lights off and giving students flashlights to do their work. It might sound silly, but it could be very exciting for elementary students! 

 Here are the websites I got some of my ideas from: 
http://handsonmath.blogspot.com/2012/11/10-ways-to-make-your-math-class-more-fun.html
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/engaging-students-in-math-jose-vilson

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