Student Engagement

Keeping students on task is the primary challenge for any teacher. If your high school or middle school students are doing what they should be doing, then you do not have any management problems.

Getting Students on Task

Classroom procedures and routines are essential for getting students on task. Once students enter the classroom, they should follow a routine up until they are dismissed from class. Routines are created by procedures. Students should work on a warm-up right when the starting bell rings. Work at the beginning of the class goes by many names: do now, starters, bell ringers, etc. This is a good routine for getting your students on task in class. A list of good classroom procedures is covered on the following page.

Keeping Students on Task

Having lessons that students actually want to learn will be your main tool for keeping students on task. The other nine rules also help keep students on task. As you can see, everything comes back to curriculum.

Differentiated Learning

Every student is different. Writing lessons that every student will want to learn is difficult. If you threw an ice cream party, would every student be happy? Probably not. What about students who are lactose intolerant? They might feel left out.

Differentiation is not only having multiple learning modalities in one lesson, it is using many lessons that concentrate on different learning modalities. Almost everyone is a visual learner, but those same people may be kinesthetic learners, as well. Be aware of which learning modality you are targeting in a lesson, and try to target a different modality the next day. This keeps your class fresh and interesting for all students. For an example, please see our assessments that use differentiated learning modalities.

Lesson Plans Inc. strives to create great curriculum. We incorporate multiple learning styles in our lesson plans. While it is hard for every lesson to meet the needs of every student, as a teacher you can meet their needs by incorporating multiple lessons with different modalities.

* Disclaimer: Before implementing any ideas from this website, please first consult your principal to make sure they are in compliance with state laws, district and school procedures.