Tools for Engagement
This year our newsletters have focused on resources and technology tools that increase student engagement by changing how students feel about learning and about themselves. This is the fourth and final installment of the series focusing on:

Academic Engagement -"I Can"
  • Young students sitting at their desks with their hands raised
    Grade-Level Standards
  • Productivity
  • Digital Citizenship
Social Engagement -"I Belong"
  • Social Awareness
  • Relationship Skills
Psychological Engagement -"I Want To"
  • Self-Awareness
  • Self-Management
  • Decision Making
In this edition we take a closer look at "I Want To" with an emphasis on recruiting interest, self-awareness, and self-management.

Other newsletters in this series:

 

Fall 2017 Overview - "I Can", "I Belong", I Want To" 

 

Winter 2018 "I Can" - Grade-level standards, productivity, and digital citizenship

 

Spring 2018 "I Belong" - Communication and collaboration, social awareness, and conflict resolution

"I Want To" - Recruiting Interest

Students conducting a recycling activity
The types of activities that individual learners find interesting or engaging varies considerably and even the same learner will show variability over time or circumstances. Learning activities should be aligned to grade-level standards and they should be relevant and authentic.

To recruit interest and increase student engagement:
  • Highlight the utility and relevance of learning goals.
  • Provide choices for meeting learning goals.
  • Provide authentic and meaningful learning activities.
  • Provide learning activities that are culturally, socially, age and ability appropriate.
Additional resources:
"I Want To" - Self-Awareness

Girl in graduation attire and thought bubbles showing her wearing the clothing of different professions
Self-awareness includes an understanding of one's own character, feelings, motives, and desires as well as an understanding of one's strengths and weaknesses as a learner. Being self-aware enables a learner to choose the pathways and supports needed for attaining academic and behavioral goals.

Self-Awareness Worksheets for Kids - Downloadable PDF worksheets to guide learners in understanding their strengths and weaknesses.

Calm the Storm - Mental health app for Apple devices that supports the identification, reduction, and management of stress. Includes a Safety Plan of additional resources for moments of distress.

screen shot showing a scale with a stress rating of 5

AEM Explorer - Computer-based simulation to help identify what presentation format features will meet a student's learning needs.

screen shot showing text from a passage and controls for text-to-speech

Math Student Rubrics - Generic rubrics to assist students in self-evaluating their understanding, processes, and performance. Also available in Spanish.  Additional self-assessment tools.
screen shot of rubric with very small text and jigsaw images

Project 10 - Information and resources for increasing  Self-Advocacy and Self-Determination skills. Project 10 is a discretionary project funded through the Florida Department of Education Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services. For more information contact your regional representative.
"I Want To" - Self-Management

birds eye view of a hand writing on a calendar with other implements such as pencils_ rulers_ magnifying glass on the desk
Expert learners take responsibility for their own academic and behavioral achievement. This includes decision making, s etting goals, using resources and strategies to sustain effort and persistence, and self-monitoring progress towards goal completion.

Ottawa Personal Decision Guide - Printable PDF to facilitate health and social decision making using a 4-step process.

screen shot of Ottawa charts. Text is too small to be legible

Decision Quality: The Fundamentals of Making Good Decisions - Comprehensive PDF guide that explores how values, preferences, strengths, and weaknesses influence decision making. Provides guidance on making quality decisions focused on long-term results that take into account multiple factors.

Staying on Track - Printable PDF that helps learners identify external and internal obstacles to staying on task.
screen shot of resource page. Top of page is titled external obstacles and numbered 1 to 7. Middle of page is titled internal obstacles and is numbered 1 to 7

Calendars, Clocks, and Confidence: Organizational Skills for School  - Collection of information, tips, and resources to provide organizational supports to learners with and without disabilities.

screen shot of resource by Additude experts titled 10 solutions for disorganization at school

Organizing Schoolwork & Assignments - Article written for learners that includes tips on organization, maintaining focus, and task completion. 

How to Use Google Calendar - Step-by-step directions for accessing Google calendar on a computer or mobile devices including group calendars and event management.

screen shot of a google calendar editing page with a large red arrow pointing to the share with people choice

Beyond Google Calendar and Apple Calendar: The 18 Best Apps to Manage Your Schedule - Collection of free and paid apps organized by category. Includes features and platform availability. 
yellow lightbulb

Ideas and Tips


Creating visual aides as a class and using them to activate discussions or share intent can increase student engagement. For example, students can chart their own progress on graphs, which will help them visualize, understand, and target their next goal.

Announcements

Technology Advisory Committee (TAC) - Statewide workgroup  that addresses assistive technology, accessible educational materials, instructional technology, Universal Design for Learning, and virtual learning for students within a multi-tiered system of supports. The TAC meets quarterly and the next meeting will be online August 29, 2018.

To learn more about current and future activities or join, email Tony Dutra.
 
Additional events and conference information are available on the Technology & Learning Connections  events page
This resource was funded through the Bureau of Exceptional Education  and Student Services with IDEA Part B dollars. The information and  resources are provided as a free awareness service to the educational  community and do not reflect any specific endorsement by any parties  involved . Please note that access to some resources may be blocked by individual school districts.