Implementing Instructional Strategies to Fully Engage Students

This workshop focuses on equipping educators with research-based instructional strategies that promote deep student engagement across behavioral, emotional, and cognitive domains. Participants explore the foundational importance of engagement, how to create learning environments that foster it, and practical techniques for embedding engagement throughout lesson design and delivery. The session is built around enhancing teacher-student relationships, making learning meaningful, and promoting student agency and collaboration. 

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• Low student motivation and participation in lessons.
  
  
• Over-reliance on teacher-centered instruction that limits student voice and ownership.
  
  
• Lack of cognitive engagement leading to superficial learning.
  
  
• Classroom environments that do not foster meaningful student-teacher relationships or social-emotional learning.
  

1. Creating and Sustaining Engagement Across the Lesson Cycle
   Educators will learn to embed engagement strategies in each phase of instruction—from initiation and modeling to guided and independent practice.

2. Building Positive Relationships and Promoting Student Agency
   Participants will understand the critical role of fostering strong teacher-student relationships and supporting students’ emotional needs. They will develop skills to promote student ownership through reflection, goal-setting, and language that encourages autonomy rather than compliance.
   
   
3. Designing Learning Experiences That Are Meaningful and Collaborative
   Teachers will be able to design instruction that connects content to students’ lives, prior knowledge, and real-world applications. They will learn to use essential questions, formative assessments, and collaborative structures to deepen understanding and foster engagement through meaningful interaction.