Classroom Engagement

What is Classroom Engagement? As an educator, are YOU engaging your students? These are just a taste of the challenging questions presented to us on September 25th by Namiko Tsuruta, the Program Director of Global Language Institute and Creative Director of The Tokyo Life.
We first started by defining the concept of classroom management in groups, after which we returned to share our ideas and come to a consensus upon its meaning. Following this, we explored the importance of understanding our learners through such questions as What interests them? What motivates them? What do they want? How has the pandemic deprived them of learning experiences? Etc.
However, according to Ms. Tsuruta, classroom management is NOT classroom engagement. Management primarily establishes and enforces classroom rules and encourages positive classroom involvement while discouraging behaviors that may distract from learning. But while we as teachers are controlling our learners, are we sure that we are engaging them through the content of our lessons?
Determining the learning environment, and addressing the issues that prevent one from achieving said environment, is paramount to the engagement process. Once this has been accomplished, educators should prepare the lesson’s content by deciding the methods and approaches that are most effective for sparking joy in their students. During the class, educators should prioritize meaningful interaction and balance teacher talk and group work. After the lesson, educators should reflect upon the content to determine if any revisions should be made.
Ms. Tsuruta concluded her presentation by pointing out the significance of engaging our learners with connections to the real world. Sharing about events from other classrooms, having students share facts/events from their lives, or even the instructor telling stories about their own experiences are examples of pushing the learning experience beyond just the content and having them learn life skills.
Nagano JALT would like to thank everyone for attending this event and, of course, thank Namiko Tsuruta for her informative presentation. I want to reexamine how well I am engaging my learners.
Report written by Trent Abbott