Boost Student Engagement

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Boost Student Engagement: The CPM Process

Do you know how to engage student attention? Try this multi-step process to engaging students' brains during learning experiences. You will learn the CPM Process, make connections to high-effect size strategies, and digital tools that work.

Wait, wait, before we get started!! Let's take a moment to ask ourselves, "How do I feel today?"

Acknowledging our feelings can get us feeling "meta" and assist us in moving forward in line with, or in spite of, how we feel. 

Check Your Temperature

Today's Session

1- Brain Myths You Didn't Know About

2- The CPM Process

3 - Resources and Infographics For You

1- Brain Myths You Didn't Know About

There is a plethora of pop research. That is, brain research that is popular, yet inaccurate. 

Here’s a quick review of brain myths that are completely untrue in case you missed some of the latest updates. 

If you put brain-based learning in place, you will see increased knowledge retention; it’s simply a fact. What’s more, you will see improved academic performance (source). 

As we know, brain-based learning strategies affect more than the skills our children learn. 

They can also affect social and emotional development and improve motivation and attitude.

Brain-Based Learning Solution Approaches

Wait, There's More!

The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is our executive assistant, an agent that acts to eliminate the unnecessary information and presents us only with what we need to know to survive. The RAS can be habituated to exclude meaningless and repetitive signals that are deemed to be consistently unimportant (source). 

That means our students' brains can be taught to ignore ineffective learning experiences or those who perpetrate these experiences...their teachers.

2- The CPM Process

Authors Dr. Judy Willis and Malana Willis highlight the power of the brain's Reticular Activating System (RAS). The Reticular Activating System (RAS) works as an information filter. 

The RAS allows only one percent of the information to filter through. That’s right; your attention intake filters block millions of bits of information, keeping out the irrelevant. 

This is a challenge for teachers because it prevents students from paying attention to and retaining what is being taught. 

How do you get around that? 

Activity: Think - Pair - Share

What are some ways you get students' attention to new information you share in the classroom?

The Power of Curiosity, Predictions, and Metacognition

Combine this this 3-step process with technology before and during a learning experience:

Let's explore some ideas.

a) Boost Curiosity

Want to make learning memorable and desirable? Get students' curious while they are learning something. 

Digital tools like Zigazoo and video creation tools to accomplish this.

Use movie trailers to preview upcoming lessons, as well as wall puzzles. 

Access the Film Education website for specific suggestions on how to use film to support instructional goals. Here are some movie trailer storyboard template sites to get you started:

It's easy to get locked into certain ideas or approaches. Experiment and try things out with your students. The variety can offer a bit of relief and stimulate student curiosity about what they are going to learn.

Two examples here to kindle curiosity. The first is an example of how to adjust an old story we are familiar with. The second is (Language Lessons trailer) presents one possibility for organizing movie trailers to introduce new lesson ideas.

Two student-created trailers about existing content. How could students be given the skeleton of a story then make a trailer about it?

Some More Ideas

Ways to Kindle Curiosity

Activity: Let's Give It a Try

Create a dicebreaker activity using one of the templates available. Learn more about dicebreakers here.

Learn more about video examples shown left.

b) Encourage Predictions

Continue to boost during learning. To do that, ask students to make predictions about 

Some ideas:

Prediction, A Key Strategy in Reciprocal Teaching

Reciprocal Teaching (Palinscar & Brown, 1984) has strong support among researchers. View classroom procedure.

Consider that John Hattie’s meta-analyses results include reciprocal teaching as a high-impact strategy. Its effect size of .79 means that it can advance student achievement almost two years growth for one year of school. 

Prediction is a core component of the strategy. Students can use what they have read, text features to figure out what they will learn (or happen) next. 

Prediction Sentence stems include:

Mystery Containers or Boxes

Lesson Ideas

Suggested Procedure

c) Get Metacognitive

Did you know you can train your "attention filter" (a.k.a. RAS) to prioritize information you focus on? Extend the boost to learning with self-regulating activities that enhance metacognition. 

Teach lessons while introducing distractions. Ask students to track what kept their attention or interrupted it, then discuss how to stay focused.

Reflection and Metacognition

The benefits of student reflection on learning include metacognition. Benefits include:

Twig Create makes it easy to create videos for free. 

You can see some examples to the right. Find more online at their website or via their YouTube channel.

Resources and Infographics For You