What do I typically do when students are not engaged?

Marzano suggests that it is important as a teacher to understand when students are no longer engaged in a lesson and also to actively apply strategies to reengage students and check in to see when they re-engage. Students should also know that the teacher is looking for engagement and try to increase their level of engagement when prompted. Marzano provides several strategies to try in the classroom including scanning the room for engagement and using "proximity, questioning, or eye contact to help those students reengage." He also suggests that you can use technology to support this work. Although Marzano suggests using PollEverywhere, I have decided to use PearDeck in my classroom as my school has a subscription. The benefit of using this program is that PearDeck allows me to see student answers in real time and provides a range of types of questions I can ask students. For example, I can ask open-ended questions, multiple choice questions, and even have students underline or circle on images I upload. I am excited to give this a try because I will be able to, in real time, see when students are not engaged, identify which students need redirection, and provide it subtly within the course of the lesson by asking them questions as Marzano suggests. I will be implementing this strategy several times in the next few weeks and determining its effectiveness in my classroom.