Week 4 Reflection: Student Engagement

My 7th grade students have recently prepared for and completed a frog dissection. To prepare the students for the task, we created frog dissection paper dolls, took notes on the body systems of the frogs, and practiced labeling the frog's’ internal anatomy. This is one of the units that all of my 7th graders look forward to with excitement, dread, or a mix of both in the weeks and days leading up to the actual dissection. At last, the day of the actual event arrives and my students are buzzing around the room finding their goggles and aprons as the time to commence the task draws closer.

Let me tell you how I saw this classroom activity affect one of my students this year. One student (I’ll refer to him as Student A) has struggled with my class all trimester. He recently disqualified for special education services for his ADHD and he and I have both had trouble adjusting to this new arrangement. As his science teacher, I know that he did perform better on certain tasks with the accommodations in place. I’m sure that Student A is just as perplexed as I am, suddenly not receiving accommodations. Watching Student A during most daily work in my classroom, I can see that he looks bored, lost, or indifferent to most of the activities I’ve provided throughout the past 8 weeks. That all changed the day of the frog dissection. Suddenly, Student A was transformed into both a student who was excited to learn and confident in his abilities. He had a proud grin on his face when I stopped by his lab table to check in, which was only matched by the glimmer in his eyes as he proudly showed me all of the internal structures of the frog on the dissection tray. The difference between his prior demeanor to his demeanor during this lab was shocking to me - it was as if a light had been illuminated inside him. It’s been about 10 days since we completed the dissection lab, and Student A has returned to his glassy-eyed boredom in my classroom. In these past weeks, I’ve been thinking about what it was about that specific activity that so changed his attitude. I want Student A to be this engaged in my class all the time. How to make this happen?

In my graduate class, we are currently reviewing Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Could this pedagogical theory help me to understand why Student A was briefly engaged in my coursework? UDL is based on the idea that teachers can reach all of their students by providing multiple means of representation, expression, and engagement.  The dissection was a big change in means of representation and expression, as the students were physically taking apart a once-living specimen while identifying its parts on a checklist. Considering Student A’s previous ADHD diagnosis, he may have preferred hands-on learning activities to more traditional ones. I think that the most significant change for Student A was in engagement. “Individuals are engaged by information and activities that are relevant and valuable to their interests and goals” (CAST 2011). Had I chosen an activity that spoke to Student A on a personal level? How can I be sure?

One thing I could do to find out what caught Student A’s attention is an interest survey. We are headed into the end of a marking period, so it would be relevant for me to ask students questions about what lessons they have liked and what could use some work. This would have the added advantage of informing me of other students preferences and needs in future lessons. I’m hoping to find the source of each one of my students’ engagement with my course, and to also develop lessons that are more engaging for all of my students. Hopefully, I’m on the right track!

References

Anglas, J. (1903). Les animaux de laboratoire: La grenouille (Anatomie et dissection.). Retrieved from https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41671387 on 15 Nov 2018. doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.64040

CAST (2011). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 2.0. Wakefield, MA: Author.