Engaging Students through Relevant Context
Pathway Overview
When we think about engaging students in our lessons, an aspect that we must attend to is the context in which students are learning. What we mean here by context is the setting, situation, or role that students engage with and/or take on when learning and applying new understandings. Research shows that relevant learning means effective learning. So not only do we need to help students answer the question of ‘why am I learning this’, but we also need to help provide meaningful and relevant learning opportunities that engage students emotionally so that they are able to connect what they already know to new ideas. Students need a personal connection with the new material, so that they do not disengage, quickly forget, or lose the motivation to try.
Learning Objectives
Objective 1: Participants will be able to explain the importance of providing students with relevant contexts for their learning.
Objective 2: Participants will be able to identify contexts that would be relevant to their students.
Objective 3: Participants will be able to understand and implement methods that allow them to get to know their students in ways that will make learning relevant by embracing students’ identities and bringing their identities into the classroom in a meaningful way.
Objective 4: Participants will be able to design, develop, and implement lessons that provide all students opportunities to learn through relevant contexts.
Impact on Classroom Practice and Student Learning
Upon completion of this pathway, teachers will be able to increase student engagement opportunities to learn through relevant contexts, thus allowing students to make personal connections to what is being learned which in turn will decrease levels of disengagement.
