Let’s face it. It is hard these days to keep students fully engaged for any time in the classroom. With so many different things competing for their attention and sometimes poor coping strategies for sustaining attention, it can feel like trying to orchestrate a 3-ringed circus. So, I’ve curated a list of a few easy, high-leverage, low-prep engagement strategies for the busy elementary teacher.
High leverage, low prep engagement strategies are invaluable for elementary teachers juggling many responsibilities. Here are seven such engagement strategies that can be easily integrated into elementary classrooms:
- Quick Draws: Especially useful for younger students, ask them to draw a representation of a concept you just discussed quickly. This engages kinesthetic and visual learners and provides a quick assessment of understanding.
- Think-Pair-Share: This strategy encourages every student to participate. Pose a question, let students think about their answer, discuss it with a peer, and then share it with the class. This way, even shy students can articulate their thoughts in a smaller setting before sharing them with the whole group.
- Choral Responses: Have students answer in unison, particularly for questions with one-word answers or short phrases. This can be especially engaging with rhythmic or repetitive content, like counting by multiples or reciting certain language patterns. This helps students with disabilities and English Learners to recognize patterns and reduce their anxiety about being incorrect.
- Traffic Light Cards: Give each student red, yellow, and green cards. Ask questions or present scenarios; students can lift the color card representing their responses. (For example, “I understand” [green], “I’m unsure” [yellow], “I don’t understand” [red].) This is a great formative assessment strategy. In some classrooms, this may be anxiety-inducing for some students, but fret not. There’s an alternative. Students do not always have to raise the card; they can also put it in the corner of their desk, making it easy for the teacher to see visually the status of the entire class and gauge if they can increase or decrease the pace.
- Gallery Walk: Post different pictures, questions, or student work in various locations around the room. It can be like a museum where students make notes or discuss in groups. Sometimes, when students walk around, you might have some pre-written guiding questions for them to either discuss or write responses. If you post it on chart paper they can even add to what’s on display. This not only gets students moving but also sparks curiosity and discussion.
- Interactive Storytelling: Engage students in a narrative by assigning roles, asking predictive questions, or having them contribute parts to the story. This can be used in literature, history, and even math (e.g., word problems).
- Hands-on Voting: Pose a question with multiple-choice answers. I often called these four “corners” (even when I didn’t have corners in my room). With this type of voting, there are no incorrect answers. For example, “What’s the best season?” I would then designate areas in the room for each choice. Then, students can move to the spot that represents their answer. This allows them to see visually where their classmates stand on a topic. It’s also great for teaching students how to support their opinions in a low-stakes environment. It’s great for engaging students with disabilities or EL students.
The key to making these strategies effective in the classroom is that they involve every student. Each student has the opportunity to access the information and they can be adapted for many different content areas. As a busy educator, I often searched for not just resources but strategies that require minimal preparation but have a high impact on my students. I need to be able to be flexible to gauge student responses and adjust content or timing as necessary for maximum engagement.