Practice First: Engaging Students with Meaningful Activities

We've all been there. 

We've had to sit through the staff meeting, the PD session, the "workshop" that isn't a workshop at all but rather someone talking to us and pointing at slides. 

It makes us feel a lot like this guy. 




If we're lucky enough to have a computer in front of us, we can at least look like we are busily taking notes, when in reality we are answering emails, recording grades, or chatting with a colleague two seats over. 

We know how mind numbing it can be to be talked to for an extended length of time. 

So why do we simply talk to our students? And why do we wonder why they can't pay attention? 

Here's the real issue: 

I recently read through an interesting presentation titled "Why Technology is Failing in Public Schools." The main theme of this presentation is that teachers are not using technology purposefully to create substantial change. 

For adults and for students, technology is a tool, but we see the purpose of that tool differently. Adults use a computer to work efficiently. Students use it to connect with others. For one group, it is a production tool; for the other, it is a social and entertainment tool. 

So it makes sense that, when a student is sitting passively in class, being talked to and not actively doing anything, he will look to his social / entertainment tool to break the monotony. Because in that student's mind, that's what his computer is supposed to do for him. 

The solution is NOT to take the technology away. The solution is to actively engage the students in learning, but how do we do this? 

We have to stop just talking to them. 

How do we change things? 

I observed a business class a month ago, in which the teacher was giving a lesson on logistics. He was teaching from a power point and asking the students, all sitting passively, to "think about what it takes to get a product from the factory to the distribution center to stores and into a consumer's hands." Really? THINK about it? Why not have them do it? 

How much more effective could that lesson be if students walk into class to find themselves in small groups, with a product on their desk. One group has toothpaste. Another group has canned vegetables. Another group has a video game. 

The groups should then proceed to research where these products are manufactured; how many distribution centers the company has; what sort of transportation they use; their transportation costs; how many units are shipped at a time... and several other facts. 

Students create their own presentations about their products, working in the vocabulary terms the teacher needs them to know, and each group teaches the others about what it truly takes to make, move, and stock that product. Isn't that more meaningful? Doesn't that really make them THINK about the lesson? 

If you think this means you now have to do projects for every lesson, then you're over-thinking things. All you have to do is present students with a challenge. 

• Give students a math problem that's a little bit beyond what they already know, so they have to use what they know to work through it. 
• Introduce a unit on the Civil War by asking students to create a timeline with what they think are the six most important events of the time period, then defend their choices.
• Present science students with a description of an animal and have them figure out the habitat to which the animal belongs.

These are questions they can't answer quickly, and are often questions that will prompt them to actively seek answers. In trying to work through these problems, students also better understand what they need to know and are more receptive to the material once you begin teaching. Teachers can use these challenges as a means of formative assessment as well, so you can identify gaps in understanding before you begin your lesson. 

A final thought:

Technology will not be meaningful in schools until students are able to recognize these tools as something more than a source of entertainment. Technology will also not be meaningful in schools until teachers see them as more than just a means to deliver content. Students need to be actively engaged with the technology to use it effectively. This means doing inquiry-based and project-based learning. This means teachers need to create lessons that challenge the students to solve problems and create and share their results. 

Image citation: GRPH3B18. A Bored Person. 3 Nov 2011. n.p. Web. 1 April 2014. 
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bored.gif