Teacher Tea
Beyond Boredom: Engaging Students for Academic Growth
Every teacher knows that student engagement directly impacts learning outcomes. When students are engaged, they’re more motivated and therefore more likely to pay attention and retain information, which inevitably leads to better academic performance.
But why do so many high school students feel that their education is disconnected from “the real world”? Are they confined to an education that doesn’t interest them?
In Kappan’s “Connections and Choice for High Schoolers,” Editor Kathleen Vail writes about the success of the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (known simply as “The Met”), a public high school in Rhode Island that focuses on student engagement through internships and projects. The Met's approach differs from that of traditional high schools in significant ways.
According to Vail, the more traditional approach often leads to student disengagement due to factors such as a lack of connection to the real world, impersonal environments, and limited choices. The Met, however, utilizes a few key strategies that address these issues. Most notably, students participate in internships and projects that are aligned with their interests. Such internships provide hands-on learning opportunities and career exposure, which significantly increases overall student motivation. Students also have dedicated advisers and mentors to help guide them through the process, and relationship-building is a major focus of the academic experience.
By prioritizing student engagement and offering a more personalized learning environment, The Met has achieved high graduation rates for its students. Vail suggests that other schools could adopt similar reforms in order to address student disengagement.