Research has demonstrated that engaging students in the learning process increases their attention and focus, motivates them to practice higher-level critical thinking skills, and promotes meaningful learning experiences. Instructors who adopt a student-centered approach to instruction increase opportunities for student engagement, which then helps everyone more successfully achieve the courses learning objective. However, there are different management strategies that would help in engaging students and in preventing problems. All these strategies are guided by different schools of thought and research bases. But the two best schools of thought are implication from learning theory and implication from studies of social interaction and communication.
Based on the implication from learning theory we need to make use of the teaching cycles to get the students to choose one task and prosocial behavior. One thing the teacher can employ is ‘Inquiry Instructional Strategies’ in which the teacher can get the students to interact with the information, make observation, and formulate and articulate ideas that lead them towards discover, concept, construction or invention. Not to mention, the use of ‘Direct Instructional Strategies’ especially in the teaching of issues related to management and classroom rules and expectations of prosocial behavior like teaching them directly certain social skills like greetings, saying please and thank you, listening to others, etc.
This theory helps in classroom practice to organize the process of teaching and learning, so as to make sure that process of information goes smoothly. Also it shows that curriculum should be organized in such a way that the sequence of materials reflects the notion of repetition so that the content at one level is built on the basis of the previous one. Implication from learning theory helps the teacher stipulate the kind of knowledge and the way learners can inculcate them.
Social interaction plays an important role in learning. Interacting with other people has proven to be quite effective in assisting the learner to organize their thoughts, reflect on their understanding, and find gaps in their reasoning. The second important theory is implication from studies of social interaction and communication in which the success of the teacher depends on how the teacher tries to engage the students in the learning activities. How much we engage the students depends on two interrelated variables:
1-the types of communication styles teachers model as they interact with students.
1-a-true dialogue vs IRE which means Initiation, Response, Evaluation. And IRF which means Initiation, Response, Feedback.
2-b-types of classroom climates that the teachers establish.
As a teacher I plan to use these theories in my class by asking meaningful questions that focus on the deeper meaning of the minor details and give them opportunities to collaborate and learn from each other. Also to create a meaningful activity that gives students the opportunity to apply new knowledge.