DOMAIN C LITERATURE REVIEW !

Running head: Domain C Literature Review 1

Erin Woodson

Domain C Literature Review

TED 690

December 10, 2018


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Student engagement and support is very important in the classroom. Oftentimes, it can

make the difference between a successful classroom environment and an unsuccessful one.

Although different teachers may approach this goal in very different ways, the end goal for every

classroom is to provide an environment of engagement and support for every student, and every

learning type. In my classroom, I find it important to establish the learning center mentality at the

very beginning of the year. This looks like encouraging students to share their answers even

when they are not very sure and simply celebrating students who share their answers and may

not be correct. Like Thomas Wangler and Ellen Ziliack say in their journal Increasing Student

Engagement and Extending the Walls of the Classroom with Emerging Technologies, “we strive

for a more engaging classroom environment where students actively participate in deep

discussions[…]” (p. 44) Ultimately, we want all students to actively participate in classroom

discussions at all times. To make this possible, we must provide an environment where they feel

comfortable enough to take risks where their learning and not feel like they’ve done the wrong

thing. It is also important to create an environment where students can say the wrong answer

because that misconception could be in the minds of many students and this presents an

opportunity for correction and reflection. Like Wangler and Ziliack mention, “The discussion

that follows an incorrect response can illuminate common misconceptions and the instructor can

dynamically adjust the lecture to address the confusion.” (p. 46) It is important for us to

encourage engagement and offer support because that is when opportunities are created to

expand on ideas and increase learning.

Aside from encouraging a learning environment, it is also important to support students

in their goal of grasping new concepts. To provide that support, teachers will often build on prior
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knowledge, or scaffold, to allow students to make connections to prior knowledge. To support

this concept, Wangler and Ziliack go on to say, “Oftentimes, new material

can seem less overwhelming when the instructor is able to demonstrate how a new fact is a

natural extension of prior knowledge.” (p. 49) As a teacher whose goal is to provide support, it is

important that I often provide those links for students to build those bridges on their prior

knowledge.

Ultimately, our goal in providing engagement and support to students in the classroom is

to create or draw on a feeling that creates lifelong learners in them. This is important because, as

Wangler and Ziliack say, “we do not want learning to stop when the students exit the

classroom.”(pgs. 44-45) Yes, we want to teach our students the standards, but more importantly,

we want to teach them tools that will help them learn far more than what can be tested on a

standards based test.

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Reference

Wangler, & Ziliak, Thomas, Ellen G M. (2013). Increasing Student Engagement and
Extending the Walls of the Classroom with Emerging Technologies.Hershey, PA.