How Might We Create More Opportunities for Kindergarten Students Engage in Class?
This school year, my primary focus has been to increase student engagement in class. Having taught various grade levels, from kindergarten through 8th grade, I’ve observed that the same group of students tends to be more engaged and participative. As a JK teacher, I wanted to explore whether providing more opportunities for each student would impact their level of engagement.
To address this, I’ve introduced two successful initiatives in my classroom. First, the “Lucky Duck” system: a lottery-style approach where names are randomly selected during our Morning Meetings. This ensures that every student has the opportunity to share their thoughts and ideas daily. Once chosen as the Lucky Duck, students have the chance to answer and then wait until their name is drawn again.
Secondly, I introduced a class pet. Each night, a different student takes the class pet home. The following morning, students share their experiences with the class pet, choosing to share as much or as little detail as they feel comfortable with.
One significant takeaway from these initiatives is that students are eager to participate and share their ideas. Even students who are initially hesitant to join class discussions become more confident over time.
Moving forward, I aim to expand on these engagement strategies, both within and beyond the classroom. I envision opportunities for students to present their work to other classes or participate in school assemblies. By providing more platforms for student engagement, I hope to foster a more inclusive and participative learning environment for all my students.
I think what you are doing to get kindergarten students inspired to share their ideas out loud is going to have a great effect on our next generation of students. We all need to learn to be communicators and if you start early it most certainly corelates to better skills later. As a teacher at your school Diana, I will join your team giving opportunity to as many as possible to practice sharing in class, presenting on stage or singing in a concert hall.
@dquatrale Congratulations on completing your action plan and the end of the beginning of your cohort 21 journey. I hope you enjoyed the process and that you will continue to apply what you learned to your next classroom challenge. Consider coming back as a coach next year!
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