ECUR 379 DAY 1

Day 1:

Wednesday, May 8th, 2019 was the first class of ECUR 379. We learned about a variety of different ways help keep students engaged in different types of lessons which could be used in many different types of classes.

One way to keep a student engaged was the "Monkey See, Monkey do" technique.
When the teacher asks the students to do something such as a silent reading period, quick write, or simply telling them about their weekend, as the teacher of the classroom, the teacher should whatever they asked the students to do. While listening about this technique, it brought up a memory of when I was in high school. When we were asked to read silently every Tuesday, some of the teachers would read, and the class was usually quiet. But when a teacher would not read, the class was not quiet. When a teacher leads by example, it shows that the teacher is there to follow the rules, and to not only make the rules. When a teacher gives their input for any type of conversation, in shows that the teacher wants to be engaged in the activity, and when one person becomes engaged, many become engaged as well.

Another way to help keep a student engaged in their work was to give them options for a project. Rather than having a student hand in a paper or a power point for any kind of project, have the student bring different ideas to the table. A video we watched included having students present different ideas such as: Journal entries, word clouds, collages, pictures, videos, and plays/skits. By using different ideas likes these, it would show how creative students can become if you give them options, rather than telling them what to do. As a future teacher, I want to do something like this where my students can become engaged in what they create and how they are graded on their work. By using something like this could be the stepping stone in having students become fully engaged in their work.

Another activity that we were given was a body break, and with that body break we were given a list of things to think about such as: What makes you smile? If you were to write a novel, what would it be about? A quote that inspires you and explore what it means to you; The list goes on. With this list, I find that this is a good way to help get a students mind thinking about what makes up their identity. This activity along with this list is something that I will be using when I get my own classroom, because it helps a student take their mind off of anything that might be bothering them, and sometimes we just need to get out of reality.

Taking different types of activities into my classroom, such as these ones, is something that I want to do because they kept me fully engaged, and when I am fully engaged, I like to make the activities fun. When fun is included, happiness becomes involved as well.