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Julie Lansing
National University
Abstract
This article will be discussing ways to engage and support student learning. The article that I
have reviewed is from Malissa Gresalfi and Sasha Barab, Learning for a Reason: Supporting
Forms of Engagement by Designing Tasks and Orchestrating Environments. The article goes
into different ways to help students be engaged in the learning situations that they are placed
into. One of the main ways the article discusses student engagement is through initiating whole
After reading the article, Learning for a Reason: Supporting Forms of Engagement by
Designing Tasks and Orchestrating Environments, by Melissa Gresalfi and Sasha Brab (2011), I
have found new ways to engage my students and the importance of keeping all students engaged
in each lesson that we choose to do. The article goes into how classroom culture is a big part of
students being able to want to be engaged in lessons and learning, if more students are involved
in the lesson and participating than there should be more involvement all around.
From the article, there were two different ideas about student engagement, one “Some
theorists consider engagement to be a property of an individual, believing that students either are
or are not engaged as an aspect of their personalities.” (2011). I think this can be partially true, in
some subjects that are taught, but it is our jobs as educators to make all students engaged in a
variety of topics that they are studying. The article goes onto discuss how a student might not
like science and therefore does not become engaged in any of the science lessons, but this
doesn’t take into consideration the different ways that the teacher can help with the engagement
of studying and learning about science. I want to help students gain an appreciation of all
subjects, so I take it as my job to create an engaging environment as much as I can with lessons
In contrast to the previous quote about student engagement, “Others have demonstrated
the extent to which engagement changes situationally and can thus be understood as an
interactive accomplishment among students, the task they are working on, and the aspects of the
classroom practices.” (2011). I agree with this perspective, depending on what students are
doing, it depends on how engaged they are going to be. When I am teaching, if I am just
lecturing students will start to tune out because they aren’t doing anything with the information
DOMAIN C LITERATURE REVIEW 4
that is being given to them. When they are able to collaborate with one another and we have
group discussions or partner discussions, the students are more engaged in the lesson. Recently
my class worked in pairs to complete a math review, they were all completely engaged in the
lesson and while completing the egg math, they were able to learn some new information as well
as review math strategies that they would need for the upcoming state test. This is the kind of
engagement that gets students learning and wanting to be involved. I wish that it would be
possible to do this for every lesson, and maybe when I get more experience, I will be able to do
this more often. I do try to have students get out of their seat and collaborate with others as much
In conclusion, this article brought up some valid points regarding keeping students
engaged and the best ways to work engagement in the classroom. Some students may simply not
be engaged due to how the classroom is set up or where they are seated, while other students
may not be interested in the lesson that is being taught and will have to talk or move around in
order for them to feel engaged and connected to the lesson. Each student will feel differently
about how they want to be engaged in lessons and as a teacher that is our responsibility to work
References
Gresalfi, M., & Barab, S. (2011). Learning for a reason: supporting forms of engaement by
designing tasks and orchestrating environments. Theory Into Practice, Vol. 50 Issue 4,
p.300-310.