High student engagement in math is the most effective way to make concepts stick.
It’s also hard.
Sometimes we are told what to teach and how to teach it. The result is showing up to the classroom and opening the book to the current lesson. We teach verbatim and use the worksheet resources that have been provided to us by the district.
Here’s the problem with that. It’s not always the most engaging for both students and teachers.
If we truly want increased academic success, then the research shows that we have to increase student engagement in our math classrooms.
How do we do that? I have three simple tricks you can use tomorrow that will get high student engagement in math while still using your district adopted curriculum.
#1 Turn any worksheet into a challenge:
Students are highly motivated by a challenge. It is easy to take a district curriculum resource and make it exponentially engaging by adding a quick challenge. Here’s my favorite way you can do that:
Create a riddle or clue small groups have to solve. With every problem they solve, students are given a new hint, clue, or piece of the puzzle. An easy one to implement is a short phrase or a single word that students earn letters or words to. Upon completing a problem, they earn one of the letters or a word from the phrase. When done, they must unscramble the letters or words to solve the riddle.
This approach takes that boring worksheet and makes it a high engagement activity in math with very little effort or time on your part. It’s also easy to use for any season. There are thousands of jokes and riddles online that you could search for.
Sit back and watch the students eager to solve those problems like they never have before, all because you added a little challenge to today’s math worksheet..
#2: Build a math crafitivity for a special occasion with an assigned worksheet
Whether it’s Halloween, Thanksgiving, almost winter break, Valentine’s Day, or St. Patrick’s Day, or just a Tuesday, you can mix math and crafting together.
Instead of earning pieces of a puzzle or clues, students earn parts to complete the craftivity. After solving problem #1, they might earn the main body piece. Then, after solving number two, they might earn a leg. Students enjoy being crafty, so instead of just completing the worksheet, they are working towards a goal.
This is a high student engagement in math activity because it makes an otherwise boring task more interesting. My favorite seller of build-a-craftivity resources is Sasha Mitten at Rainbow Sprinkle Studio. Here are just a few sets that I use in my own classroom activities throughout the year.
#3: Use games to increase engagement when solving problems
Another highly popular activity in my classroom is using games like Pie Face to encourage students to complete a worksheet.
When students answer questions correctly, they are given a turn. I am checking their work and I see the best possible work from them as a result. Once correct, they line up and spin the spinner to determine how many turns to take on the wheel. The anticipation of getting whip cream in the face drives them to work hard. I challenge any district official to come into my classroom and tell me that my students aren’t learning this way.
Not only has that boring worksheet become a high engagement activity in math, my students are laughing and having fun.
That’s what I want them to remember about math when leaving our classroom. That math is enjoyable and that they are capable of doing it.
Other games work just as well. The most popular ones in my classroom are Giant Jenga, Battleship, Pie Face, and Connect Four.
Conclusion:
Those are three easy ways to turn a boring worksheet into a high engagement activity in your math classroom
Even if your district requires you to use mandated resources, you can still make those boring worksheets a high engagement activity in your math classroom.
That is not to say that everyday has to be a high engagement. Spicing up your teaching once or twice a week with one of these ideas can definitely flip your classroom from boring to FAB.
My classroom experience is that you don’t have to break the bank. You can do as little as writing a joke on the board that you found on the internet and still make your math time highly engaging.
All it takes is one student telling you, “Today was the best day of school ever,” to convince you that what you did matters. Those are the lifelong moments that stick with students and make them think positively about their time in math class.
Which idea are you going to try? Share in the comments or connect with me on Instagram – I would love to hear more!
