Capture and incorporate student voice for engaging classrooms

Along is a free teacher-student connection builder that helps educators get to know their students as individuals and as learners in order to build a more inclusive classroom.

How Along strengthens connection

Create a positive school community

Activities created by partners, educators, and students with a lens of inclusivity

1:1 Teacher-student reflections

Research-informed reflection questions designed to build connections

Easy to use
platform

Teachers can set up and use with students in minutes

Data privacy commitment

Along is COPPA Safe Harbor and FERPA certified by iKeepSafe

What people are saying

Teacher-student connections open doors to support academic effort and learning in the classroom. We knew that we had to find some way to offer a different kind of connection for our students and teachers, and Along filled that void for us.”

Headshot of Will Ruffin

Will,
Executive Director of Equity and Engagement, Rochester Public Schools

In order for deep learning to occur, there has to be relationships with students. When teachers know what makes their students tick and what they are passionate about, they can better help them and make their students feel connected to the classroom. Along is a tool that starts conversations and relationship building in a systematic way.”

Headshot of Alyta H

Alyta,
Pasadena Independent School District’s associate superintendent for campus development

I made it a priority to put relationships first. Content will come. We've got to embed time in our school day to allow for social emotional learning, to allow for relationship building. With the Along tool, they are maturing. They are learning how to talk to each other. They’re learning how to talk and interact with adults in a positive way.”

Tanis Griffin

Tanis,
principal at Thompson Intermediate School

Grounded in research and practical experience

Along partners with researchers, experts in the field, teachers, and students to develop questions and resources designed to build strong relationships, solicit meaningful student input, and boost instructional practice.

Create thriving campuses primed for student success

Download our eBook to learn how educators can create responsive and inclusive classrooms to support students.

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How to engage students in active learning

Active learning refers to a teaching approach that encourages students to actively participate in the learning process by engaging thoughtfully with material, solving problems, and collaborating with peers and others in creative, educational ways. This approach is becoming increasingly popular in education for all ages, as it helps students develop important things like critical thinking skills, the ability to problem solve, and teamwork skills that are essential for success in today’s world. In this article, we’ll discuss how to engage students in active learning and provide examples of active learning strategies for students and teachers.

An effective educational journey typically involves more than just a single type of relationship. For example, there are teacher-student and student-student relationships in the classroom, but there are also student-principal and teacher-principal relationships at play as well. It’s important to consider all types of relationships that might impact students’ overall academic success and social development. It’s easy to direct all your attention to teacher-student relationships because teachers often have the most visible direct impact on students’ learning outcomes. However, ensuring positive student-student relationships and other kinds of relationships in education is equally important.

But exactly why is it important to build relationships with students? Prioritizing positive relationships in schools among students, teachers, and other adults is one of the best ways to improve student outcomes in many areas — not only do positive relationships in schools often lead to better academic performance from students, but they also promote healthy development in many other areas that will almost certainly be valuable to students throughout their whole lives.

Active learning skills are so important because it gives students a chance to assume ownership of their own learning and encourages them to become more active participants in the learning process. This approach also helps students cultivate a more comprehensive understanding of the material and the ability to apply what they learn to real-world situations.

To engage students in active learning, teachers can deploy a variety of strategies like flipped classrooms, group activities, and problem-solving activities. These strategies can provide greater opportunities for students to actively engage in their own education and encourage the development of collaboration skills and critical thinking.

How do you effectively engage your students in learning

In order for students to make the most of active learning opportunities, teachers need to know how to utilize various effective active engagement strategies. So how do you effectively engage your students in learning? In this section, we’ll explore how to engage students in active learning processes and provide a handful of student engagement examples.

To effectively engage students in the learning process, teachers must take great care to create a positive and inclusive classroom environment. Instructors should provide students with clear learning objectives and expectations, and ensure that the lesson plan and learning activities are relevant to the students’ lives and engaging.

So what interactive activities keep learners engaged during a lesson plan? Interactive activities like group work, role-playing, simulations, and peer tutoring are excellent ways to engage students in active learning. These activities can allow students to take ownership of their learning and apply what they have learned to their lives. Teachers may choose to utilize technology to help facilitate this process, as online quizzes, interactive whiteboards, and educational apps can also help make learning more fun and engaging.

But why is it important to engage students in learning? It’s important to engage students in their own education because it can help them develop critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and collaboration skills that they can take with them after school on their journey to success. When students are actively engaged in their own education, they are significantly more likely to retain the information they’ve learned and to apply that information in practical ways in their lives.

Active learning is a highly effective teaching methodology that can help students understand the importance of their own education. To effectively engage students in active learning environments, teachers must develop interactive activities and lesson plans that utilize technology, in addition to creating a positive and inclusive welcoming classroom environment.

Creative ways to engage students

One of the most important aspects of teaching involves engaging students and encouraging them to participate in learning environments. To achieve this, teachers can implement creative teaching ideas and activities that are both fun and challenging for students.

In some cases, teachers can use simple tools like games, puzzles, or other hands-on activities to help students develop their reasoning and analytical skills. Teachers may also use art, music, and drama to make learning more engaging and interactive. Other creative ways to engage students may involve the use of technology and online resources.

Creative ways to engage students online might involve online quizzes, educational videos, and interactive simulations or modules to provide fun activities to engage students. Teachers can also encourage students to collaborate and communicate via online discussion forums and digital learning platforms like Moodle or Blackboard. These platforms also have various features that can encourage better classroom engagement and allow teachers to monitor students’ academic performance more closely.

If you’re wondering how to engage students at the beginning of a lesson, there are a number of creative thinking activities for students that can encourage active participation in the classroom. At the beginning of a lesson, teachers can use icebreakers or other warm-up activities to help students get excited and prepare them for the next activity. For instance, teachers may use trivia games, brain teasers, and other group activities to help get students thinking and involved. This also helps set the tone for the rest of the lesson and encourages more student participation.

There are as many ways to engage young learners in creative activities as your imagination can fathom. By implementing more creative teaching ideas and activities, teachers can make learning more fun and challenging for students while simultaneously encouraging greater participation from everyone involved. Whether you’re teaching in-person or online, there are countless fun activities to help keep students engaged while promoting active learning and more student participation.

Engage in learning activities examples

There are a number of benefits for both students and teachers related to learning engagement activities. These benefits may include improved academic performance, increased personal motivation, better retention of knowledge learned, and enhanced critical thinking and problem-solving skills. So what interactive activities keep learners engaged during a lesson, and what are some basic active learning activities examples?

How to engage students in active learning largely depends on the students themselves, as well as their age, the subject material, and the teacher’s strengths in the classroom. Student engagement examples might include small group discussions, problem-solving modules, role-playing exercises, and hands-on experiments. These activities and others can help students understand and apply learned concepts in more substantive, meaningful ways.

If you are wondering, “Why is it important to engage students in learning?” The answer may surprise you. It’s crucially important for students to be engaged in their own education because it can lead to better retention and improved academic performance. Additionally, when students are engaged in their learning, they are more likely to develop interests in educational materials and other tangentially related topics.

Some evidence-based strategies for student engagement include incorporating real-world examples and case studies, providing opportunities for peer-to-peer interaction, utilizing technology and multimedia resources, and promoting good faith participation. Teachers can rely on these strategies and examples of active learning activities to engage students throughout the learning process, promote the development of students’ skills, and improve their academic performance.

Keeping students engaged in learning, however, does more than simply improve their grades and test scores. It can also help prepare young learners for life outside of school by giving them the tools and resources they need to make connections, recognize patterns, and solve problems in real-world scenarios.

Active learning strategies

Active learning strategies generally refer to instructional approaches that seek to engage students in the education process by requiring participation in activities designed to promote critical thinking, problem-solving, and teamwork. These strategies are effective in various settings including classrooms, online courses, and small workshops. In this final section, we will cover the benefits of active learning strategies, various types of active learning, and how they can be effectively translated into classroom applications.

Active learning activities are specially designed to help students engage more thoughtfully with classroom material in a meaningful way, leading to greater retention of information and a more foundational understanding of learned concepts. By participating in these activities, young learners can apply the information they’ve obtained in other classes and in real-world situations as well, promoting greater understanding and improved critical thinking skills.

Active learning in the classroom can also benefit students by providing young minds with opportunities to develop their communication and collaboration skills. When students are asked to work together on a certain task or project, they are required to communicate effectively and develop certain skills that are essential for joining the workforce and for life on Earth in general.

Other learning strategies in the classroom may include problem-based learning, collaborative learning, inquiry-based learning, and project-based learning. Each of these methodologies requires students to actively engage with the educational material, further exercising students’ critical thinking and reasoning skills.

Overall, active learning strategies have a variety of benefits for students, including improved engagement and motivation, enhanced retention of information, and improved academic performance. When teachers are able to get kids engaged with learning, the benefits are exponential; each learning opportunity enables even more learning opportunities in the future, and active learning helps prepare students in myriad ways.

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