Teaching & learning
– Katie Klajnblat, Assistant Principal; Jo Capp and Paisley Blank, Learning Specialists
Engagement Norms
WHAT
Engagement norms are strategies used by the teacher to help students to actively participate in learning throughout a lesson. These norms support consistent student participation, checking for understanding, and cognitive engagement.
WHY
Engagement norms create a participatory environment where every student is actively engaging in thinking and held accountable for learning.
Engagement norms:
- Keep all students cognitively engaged and thinking about the lesson.
- Support checking for understanding and make it easier for teachers to monitor learning continuously, not just at the end of a lesson.
- Promote equity and accountability and give every student an equal chance to practice and succeed.
- Create consistency and predictability; students know what’s expected and the routine ways they will actively engage in learning.
- Increase learning time - minimise distractions, transitions, and off-task behaviour.
In the classroom
At PMPS we utilise 8 Engagement Norms that form the backbone of an effective, explicit direct instruction classroom:
- Pronounce with me
- Track with me
- Read with me
- Gesture with me
- Pair-share
- Attention signal
- Whiteboards
- Complete sentences.
Check out the ‘resources’ section to learn more about each strategy.
How to support at home
- Encourage complete sentences – Encourage your child to avoid one-word answers and to speak in complete sentences.
- Practice focus – Encourage your child to make eye-contact with the person they are speaking with.
- Use repetition – When supporting your child with Home Learning, repeat maths facts multiple times or re-read decodable passages to improve fluency.
- Promote partner talk – Ask them to explain their ideas ‘like they would in class.’
- Don't accept "I don’t know" – Help them think it through, then revisit the question and give them another opportunity to answer correctly.
- Use quick-response tools – Try whiteboards or paper to “show” answers if they need to work out a problem from their Mathletics tasks.
- Praise engagement – Positively reinforce effort, attention, and participation.
- Create routines – Set a quiet space and consistent homework time that works with their schedule at home.