Student engagement is a huge issue in my school across all grade levels. Many teachers complain that they cannot find ways to get their students to want to learn or participate. This is a problem I struggle with myself. When you walk into a classroom, you will see students playing in their desk, talking with friends, or any other off task activity. As educators, we know that all of our students are capable of learning, we just have to find ways to teach them. Finding things or activities that they are interested in is a great way to reach students. I chose to focus my professional development plan on engagement because this is where a lot of our problems in the classroom seem to come from. It is not necessarily always that the student doesn’t understand the content or skill being taught, but rather that they are not focused or engaged in the lesson. There are multiple students leaving their classrooms daily or being disruptive. Suspension and referrals are steadily increasing. Younger students, at my school, seem to struggle the most. I use a lot of PowerPoints because students love having that visual piece for every lesson.
I, at first, wanted to so badly use Plickers for this activity. Being that my professor wanted us to use a tech tool that we were not familiar with, I knew I had to use something different. After checking out each site that was a choice, I fell in love with Buncee. I was lucky enough to be able to sign up for a live webinar where I was able to chat live with a Buncee expert. He was extremely helpful in answering every question and demonstrating how to use Buncee. Buncee is definitely a tech tool that would aid in getting our students to be more engaged. I can’t wait to try it out with my second graders!
Part I : Professional Development
Part II : Presentation
https://app.api.edu.buncee.com/player/b5962206cd3247e09267c6e4ca4c326a
Thoughts of an Educator 