Best Ways to Keep Elementary Students Engaged in Learning

Teachers, what are your go-to tips for keeping elementary school pupils engaged? You’re not alone if you’re having trouble keeping your kids engaged at school. Teaching elementary students every day involves thousands of options with an equal number of techniques to keep elementary school students engaged. However, the engagement itself is a “learning” word but it is taken as an “entertainment” (Barkaoui et al., 2015). Don’t get confused. With the correct amount of planning and exploration, you may find the best strategy to prepare your student for learning success. Don’t get disheartened if you face some obstacles along the way! It takes time and trial and error to figure out what works best for your child, so if at first, you don’t succeed, try again!

The ongoing situation of Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the studies of students. Lots of hurdles come in the way of students that badly affect student engagement (Robeck, 2021). Keeping students engaged in learning in pandemic situations is a huge topic in Dissertation Proposal Writing Services. There are a number of research studies that have found that a high level of student engagement in learning is associated with higher achievement and better classroom management. Which is enough for you to believe in the role of a teacher in the student learning process.

Tips for keeping students engaged in learning

Table of content

• Provide a variety of guided learning options for your student
• Adapt to the attention span of children
• Stand close and make eye contact
• Communicate with your students
• Break up your lesson
• Allow yourself to be open to creativity

1. Provide a variety of guided learning options for your student

Like any other person, students also love to know that they have other learning options and are in control of their learning styles. Students are more involved in their studies when they have multiple options on how they would like to learn the topic rather than being passive observers. Give students the ability to choose a Laptop or pen or paper? Seminar or small groups for learning options. Also, the options of online dissertation help, which topic they would like to study and which activity they want to perform. You can also provide the option of presenting the final project through an e-portfolio, slideshow presentation, and trifold.

2. Adapt to the attention span of children

Elementary school students usually have a limited attention span as compared to secondary school students. According to the research, kindergarten students can only focus on things for just 10 to 30 minutes. First-grade students can focus for 12 to 35 minutes and second-grade students for 14 to 40 minutes.

In order to keep elementary school students engaged it is necessary to engage in educational activities and lessons for a short time to keep their minds fresh and active. In other words, this is not the time to give long hours of lectures. Undoubtedly your student becomes unfocused and tunes out if you try to exceed your lecture.

3. Stand close and make eye contact

To make sure whether your elementary students are paying attention or not, make eye contact and stand close to them. Elementary students will feel that their teacher is paying attention to them; they eventually shift to a higher level of attentiveness. But make sure to not stand too close to your students because it will distract them. Don’t underestimate eye contact even if you are conducting a virtual classroom. Even in virtual class students will stay engaged if they know their teacher is observing them.

4. Communicate with your students

As you know actions speak louder than words but it is sometimes difficult to achieve especially in the online class. Instead of focusing on what needs to be taught, focus on how to speak with the students. When communicating with the elementary students, be aware of your tone, body language, demeanor, and what message these nonverbal gestures convey.

When introducing a new topic to your students try to speak with them rather than talking to them. Instead of delivering a monologue to an audience, engage in a conversation. Students will get bored and distracted if they sense they are passive listeners. Ask a variety of wide questions, explore their thoughts, and get their response on the things you’re talking about. Learn about your students’ emotions or views when they begin a new activity, and be open to them if they tend toward more personal topics.

5. Break up your lesson

Especially when you are introducing a new topic it becomes hard for the students to digest the whole topic in one go. You can’t expect elementary students to stay connected with your lecture by listening to you. The best way to keep students engaged on the new topic is to break the topic into small chunks, this way helps students to learn with excitement. For instance, give a brief introduction and then move into some activity. Return to the discussion, then introduce another group activity or get your students to move from their seats for some round of jumping jacks. The class should conclude with a discussion. A 30 seconds break can do wonders every six minutes.

6. Allow yourself to be open to creativity

It’s simple to teach year after year using the same lesson plans. You can be hesitant to try anything new once you’ve found something that works. But keep in mind that each year you’ll have a new group of students with a variety of interests. The best strategies to keep studying interesting are variety and creativity.

Allow your students to express themselves freely. Allow your students to make adjustments to assignments and projects as long as you approve them first. It’s possible that their suggestions will give a class a unique spin. Furthermore, when kids create something on their own, it is more significant to them, and they might gain confidence in their decision-making abilities.

7. Create a group time

When students collaborate, they retain information more quickly and for longer. Collaboration also helps in developing critical thinking and communication abilities. Group time breaks up the routine of your session, making studying and teaching much more fun.

Final thoughts

Keep in mind that every elementary student will react in a different way to your techniques due to their personal preferences and learning styles. That is why it is critical to be flexible to change. Don’t forget that keeping your primary school child engaged may appear difficult, but it is entirely possible with the correct methods and tactics.

Reference list

Barkaoui, K., Barrett, S.E., Samaroo, J., Dahya, N., Alidina, S., and James, C., 2015. Teachers’ conceptions of student engagement in learning: The case of three urban schools. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 61(1), pp.80-99.

Robeck,  A. PTTMCO., (2021).  Major Online Learning Challenges And Their Solutions. Online Available at https://paytotakemyclassonline.com/major-online-learning-challenges-and-their-solutions/ [Accessed on 7th June 2022]

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