Poor Social
Engagement in Harlem Classrooms
Examining how
trauma, social media, and exhaustion lead to a lack of classroom participation
Allary Montague
INTRODUCTION
Student engagement has drastically decreased in the last several years. This can be attributed to the increased number of students who arrive at school exhausted and hungry and the rise of immediate access to social media.
According to an international study of student engagement, “School is central to the daily life of many youths. They view schooling as essential to their long-term well-being, and this attitude is reflected in their participation in academic and non-academic pursuits. These students tend to have good relations with school staff and with other students – they feel that they belong at school. However, some youths do not share this sense of belonging, and do not believe that academic success will have a strong bearing on their future. These feelings and attitudes may result in their becoming disaffected from school (Finn, 1989; Jenkins, 1995).
According to a 2022 Harvard study, “Lack of student engagement is one of the biggest challenges educators face today. And whether you’re teaching in person or online seems to make little difference. Trauma, exhaustion, feelings of hopelessness—there are many possible reasons for students’ lack of motivation, including the way they’re being taught.” https://hbsp.harvard.edu/inspiring-minds/why-your-students-are-disengaged
TASK
Each
group will create 6 flap brochure highlighting the problem, causes, existing
policy, and three possible policies to address said problem. One flap
should be a cover page and the final flap should include links to all resources
used to create your brochure.
- Make sure your brochure examines the
existing policy addressing the issue of Poor Social Engagement and subsequent
lack of student classroom engagement. Is there a policy currently in place to
address this issue? If so, who does it benefit? Be sure to back up your
statements with relevant facts that can be supported by your final Works Cited
Flap
PROCESS/RESOURCES
Your
class will be divided into groups of five students. Your teacher will assign
one group member as the leader.
The
leader will coordinate the
group and see that all tasks are completed. Other members will be as follows:
The
recorder who lists the problems
the group finds concerning lack of student engagement in Harlem schools.
Two
researchers
who gather information and data about the problem of ack of student engagement
in Harlem schools. This could involve observation, interviews with students,
discussions with school staff and administrators, etc.
A
presenter who
will gather the data from the researchers and their reports. The presenter will
organize the reports and display them for the class and others in the school
community to see. Your teacher will guide you as to what will be expected.
You
are to use the six step Public Policy Analyst. This process will carry you through the
stages of discovery to choosing solutions to the problem of Poor Social
Engagement in Harlem Classrooms.
4. What is the existing
policy?
5. What policies can you
create to correct the problem?
6. What is the best policy to
correct the problem
In
your group, each person is responsible for contributing one paragraph to a
one-page report in addition to a visual representation in which the problem of
a lack of student engagement in Harlem schools is examined and a viable and an
easily implemented solution is presented.
RESOURCES
Evaluation
The
following rubric will be employed to evaluate the degree to which the problem
was researched, and solutions were proposed.
|
Public
Awareness Campaign: Lack of Student Access to Technology in New York |
||||
|
CATEGORY |
Excellent |
Good |
Just Ok |
Needs Work |
|
Brainstorming
- Problems |
Students identify more than 4
reasonable, insightful barriers/problems that need to change. |
Students identify at least 4
reasonable, insightful barriers/problems that need to change. |
Students identify at least 3
reasonable, insightful barriers/problems that need to change. |
Students identify fewer than 3
reasonable, insightful barriers/problems that need to change. |
|
Brainstorming
- Solutions |
Students identify more than 4
reasonable, insightful possible solutions/strategies to encourage change. |
Students identify at least 4
reasonable, insightful possible solutions/strategies to encourage change. |
Students identify at least 3
reasonable, insightful possible solutions/strategies to encourage change. |
Students identify fewer than 3
reasonable, insightful possible solutions/strategies to encourage change. |
|
Campaign/Product |
Students create an original, accurate
and interesting product that adequately addresses the issue. |
Students create an accurate product
that adequately addresses the issue. |
Students create an accurate product but
it does not adequately address the issue. |
The product is not accurate. |
|
Sources
- Quality |
Students include 4 or more high quality
sources. |
Students include 2-3 high quality
sources |
Students include 2-3 sources but some
of them are questionable quality. |
Students include fewer than 2 sources. |
|
Sources-Citation |
Information in all source citations is
correct, and in the format assigned. |
Information in all source citations is
correct but there are minor errors in formatting. |
Information in almost all source
citations is correct AND there are minor errors in formatting. |
The information is often incorrect OR
there are major errors in formatting. |
Conclusion
Congratulations!
Your
group has helped to identify the problem of lack of student engagement in
Harlem schools and proposed solutions that will help the whole school
community!
Standards
Common Core State Standards
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1.A,
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1.B, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1.C, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.1.D
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.1, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.1.A, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.1.B, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.1.C,
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.1.D, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.2, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.5.3
Standard 5 – Technology Education: Students will apply technological knowledge and skills to design, construct, use, and evaluate products and systems to satisfy human and environmental needs