20 Student Engagement Ideas for High School and College Students

Table of Contents

• Emphasize Discussion Sessions​
• Personalize Learning Paths
• Rely on Technology​
• Encourage Self- and Community Reflection
• Conclusion

High school and college students have a lot to distract them from school. They have a lot going on! Extracurriculars, college or job applications, and friends take up a lot of time, not to mention older students are navigating levels of independence they were never granted when they were younger. With all this in mind, high school and college instructors must employ specific strategies to ensure their older students are engaged.

Danielle Bernstein, a Possip intern majoring in Human and Organizational Development and Sociology at Vanderbilt University, discusses how instructors can keep their high school and college students engaged.

This past summer, Possip published 60 ideas for how schools can engage parents. While parent engagement is critical throughout a child’s education journey, a student’s own engagement in school, their classes, and their educational development becomes more important as they get older. With more autonomy and independence, students have more of a say within and outside the classroom. Additionally, it can be difficult for instructors to balance the educational needs of every student. To assist college and high school educators, we have compiled a list of 20 resources to boost student engagement!

Emphasize Discussion Sessions

1. Use open-ended questions! This encourages your students to think outside the box and lean on their creative sides. 
2. Think-pair-share. Give students the opportunity to develop their thoughts on their own, share them with a friend, and then deliver their ideas to the class. 
3. Fishbowl discussions. Divide the class into two groups, an inner circle and an outer circle. Have the inner circle discuss the topic while the outer circle observes and takes notes. After a certain time, have the circles switch! This allows every student to participate and encourages them to listen to their peers
4. Host a debate! Whether it’s a science class or a history class, dividing the team into two sides and having them debate a topic can make students passionate and excited about class material. 
5. Four-corners activity. Delineate the four corners of the room as “agree,” “strongly agree,” “disagree,” “strongly disagree.” Then, ask the students open-ended questions and have them walk to whatever corner aligns with their opinion. This encourages students to think critically about their ideas on various topics. 

Personalize Learning Paths

1. Let students pick their testing format when possible. While oftentimes assignments have to be one-size-fits-all, allow students to pick their formats when you can. Some students love presenting, while others prefer to write. Others, regardless of their knowledge of the material, have extreme test anxiety. Letting them choose the format can make them more confident and comfortable. 
2. Allow students to pick their own topics. If you have a general assignment, like a paper on a social movement in the 1970s, give your students the flexibility to choose what social movement they write about. This will ensure they are engaged and passionate about the material. 
3. Give students the option of collaboration or solo work. We all have had negative group project experiences, and some of us have had one too many. Letting these students work alone can reduce their anxiety and improve their productivity. 
4. Provide various options for presentations. Some students are hardcore CANVA fans, while others prefer Powerpoint or Google Slides. Let your students use the technology they’re most familiar with. 
5. Set up a “learning playlist!” Provide students with a list of required and optional assignments, giving students a basic structure while letting them choose additional activities. This offers a sense of control while ensuring core content is covered.

Rely on Technology

1. Don’t ban AI! Your students are likely using ChatGPT, and banning it does not prevent this. Rather, ChatGPT and similar AI technology should be used and encouraged as tools to enhance students’ learning. 
2. Use Learning Management Systems. Applications like Google Classroom and Canvas allow instructors to engage with students easily. 
3. Implement gamified learning platforms. My favorite classes in high school used Kahoot! religiously. Platforms that gamify learning are highly engaging and enjoyable for older students. 
4. Host virtual speakers. Zoom and Teams have made it much easier to host folks who are not the most geographically desirable. 
5. Share your slides before and after class. If you are an instructor who relies on lectures, sharing the slides with your students allows them to download slides beforehand and write their notes on the slides!

Encourage Self- and Community Reflection

1. Provide rubrics for self-assessment. When students have a big assignment due, provide them with a self-assessment. This encourages them to assess their own work and progress. 
2. Utilize reflection journals. Encourage students to journal about their experiences and progress within the course. This makes classroom work much more meaningful and engaging. 
3. Make real-world connections. Remind students why the material is still relevant today. 
4. Provide weekly reflection prompts. My favorite “do nows” when I was a high school student were questions that prompted me to reflect on class material and my experiences in and outside the classroom. Weekly reflections encourage students to think critically about how the material relates to them. 
5. Personal goal-setting. At the beginning of the year or semester, have your students set goals for themselves. This way they progress through the class with specific goals in mind. 

Conclusion

Engaging high school and college students is not an easy task, but by utilizing discussion-based strategies, personalized learning paths, technology tools, and self- and community reflections, instructors can ensure their students remain engaged.

Curious how you can improve classroom engagement? Sign up for a free one-month trial of Possip Pulse Checks here!

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Diverse Holidays

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Consultancy Protocol

My name is Amanda Richards and I work at Possip to lead the Reporting team and help facilitate professional development. I am a former school principal and teacher. I’m here to share a resource that I consistently used to involve community members at my school. 

A few years ago, I was able to attend one of Elena Aguilar’s conferences on her book “The Art of Coaching Teams”

Her focus is to build strong school teams and use the power of people to make collaborative decisions. 

The resource that you’ll go through today is based on Elena Aguilar’s Consultancy Protocol. While I was a principal, I mostly used this with my grade level teacher leaders and our school leadership team. It provides a structured agenda to problem-solve and make decisions with trusted community or team members. 

As a result of using this protocol, I found that it helped my teachers, school leaders, and myself. When we are able to hear more voices and perspectives it leads to more equitable decision-making for everyone.

I hope you find this group work time helpful and you’re able to use this tangible tool. 

Consultancy Protocol Steps

While you’re walking through these steps, make sure to check out this resource you can use as well!

1. Firstly, a presenter prepares a dilemma or decision for the consultancy meeting.
2. The first part of the meeting, the Presenter shares the dilemma or decision verbally or through artifacts like data, emails, or other information. The Presenter can ask for feedback or input on one key question or decision.
3. Group asks the presenter clarifying questions that require yes–no or short answers only so everyone can get clarity on the decision or dilemma efficiently.
4. The group silently reflects on the presenter’s dilemma or decision and prepares for discussion.
5. Next, there’s a Group Fishbowl Discussion where the Presenter doesn’t participate and just take notes. In the discussion, group members can ask probing questions, share insights they gained, and voice any other ideas or reflections they came up with.
6. The presenter takes One Minute of Silence to reflect and share their takeaway with the group.
7. Lastly, the Presenter shares any reactions, insights, or next steps they want to take based on the community input during the consultancy. 
   

Resource: 

• Click the image below to access Possip’s exclusive Equitable Decision Making Framework Worksheet

Interested in a Free Trial of Possip? Let's Chat!

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The Transformative Power of Gratitude: 5 Practices to Start This Holiday Season

The original version of this blog was published in November 2021 and has since been updated.

Last year around this time, I wrote a blog on some gratitude strategies for teachers and students to use inside and outside of the classroom. Even though a year has now passed, the importance of finding thankfulness and building intentional gratefulness still feels like a big need. Thankfulness has been proven to improve relationships, increase work motivation, and improve your overall health. Knowing all that, I will definitely take an extra scoop of gratitude on my mashed potatoes this holiday season! 

But seriously, how can we continue to do small things each day to feel more thankful. By beginning to practice intentional gratitude will be key to lifelong “happiness” habits.

Here are Five Strategies to Try Out This Holiday Season:

1. Be present and appreciate the little things 
2. Seeing challenges as opportunities
3. Be intentional about your inputs 
4. Celebrate and encourage positive self talk 
5. Spend time with loved ones and do things you love

1. Be Present and Appreciate the Little Things

Being grateful in your day-to-day situations can actually create something psychology calls “positive memory bias” that allows you to recall positive memories more frequently throughout life. Set alarms for “gratitude moments” during your day, leave sticky notes around your house or in your car as a reminder to find something you’re thankful for today or find an accountability buddy for gratitude to text throughout the day. Whatever works for you, it can help to remind yourself to be present, appreciate the little things, and start building gratitude “muscle memory”. 

2. Seeing Challenges as Opportunities

A psychology term called “benefit finding” refers to the process of mentally listing out all of the positive things associated with a challenge. Research has found that some people find a greater appreciation for their own personal strength, increase feelings of self-reliance, strengthen relationships, have more compassion, or find new spiritual beliefs. Try to focus on and intentionally pick out the “benefits” you have encountered during this challenging time. 

3. Be Intentional About Your Inputs

Personally, any time I watch a dark or negatively emotional tv show, my whole day is thrown off. Once the evening finds me, I find it hard to fall asleep. Being intentional about what you are watching, reading, listening to, and “taking in” can help keep positive and grateful emotions flowing. For me, The Science of Happiness podcast is always a positive “input” and I learn more about topics like gratitude. Here are a few more podcasts you may want to add to your “Gratitude Input List” this holiday season!

4. Positive Self Talk

Most times, you are your biggest critic. I know I can relate! Make sure to keep the inner thoughts you have positive and realize when those thoughts become negative. When we keep our thoughts about ourselves positive, that positive self-talk can spark gratitude towards other things in our life. As you become aware of your internal monologue, find a few specific questions to ask yourself:

• Are my thoughts positive right now?
• What is one good thing about my current situation?
• What helpful things did I learn from this situation?
• How can I bring joy to this situation?

Use one of these questions or find another question that you connect with to ask yourself throughout the day. Positive self-talk will not only make you feel more grateful, but it will also decrease stress and improve your immune system. 

5. Spend Time with Loved Ones and Doing Things You Love

Prioritize finding things you enjoy doing. Never give up the quality time strengthening relationships with family and close friends. Research shows that social support and spending time with loved ones can lower stress, improve recovery time for illnesses, and positively benefit your overall mood.

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All these benefits of gratitude make me grateful for gratitude! And Possip is grateful for YOU! We hope you all have success in finding thankfulness this holiday season! 

Want more ideas on how to show thanks? Check out our gift ideas for teachers!

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Possip Spotlight: Keller ISD Harnesses the Power of Pulse Checks with Emergent Bilingual Families

“Ciao!” and “Hola!” and “Hi” echo off the hallways. It’s a lovely sound of children from different backgrounds coming to learn together every day. But engaging and empowering families can be challenging with emerging English speakers. It can be especially challenging when your school or district may have students speaking dozens of languages. 

Ensuring those families feel their voice is heard is critical to students’ success. We spent some time talking with Keller ISD in Texas about how the use of Possip has helped them hear from more multilingual families in their district and other added benefits from this tool.

Cate Reed, seasoned administrator, current Senior Vice President of Teach For America, and Possip Reporter, explores the power of using Possip with multilingual families. 

The Possip team spent some time with Mara Betancourt Coker, Director of Language Acquisition at the Keller Independent School District, discussing their district’s work with emergent bilingual families and using Possip to improve family engagement.  

Engaging multilingual families can be challenging but critical.

Keller ISD serves a diverse population with over 4,200 emergent bilingual families speaking over 65 languages. Translation for that many languages creates logistical and time challenges. Initially, the district struggled to engage more than 10% of their families using in-house surveys, which often needed clarification due to multiple languages being displayed simultaneously. 

However, with Possip, the district saw a significant increase in engagement, with 32% of families responding and 80% of responses coming in languages other than English.  With over three times as many families sharing their voices, the district has much more confidence that they understand trends and feedback from a far greater number of their constituents. 

Possip enables simple, easy-to-access technology that ensures families can be engaged easily and effectively regardless of their primary language.

Possip greatly enhanced the district’s efforts to engage these families since it allows parents to respond in their native languages. Families saw short and simplified questions in their chosen language, significantly decreasing their ability to engage on a deep level. This ease of use and accessibility increased response rates and more meaningful, specific feedback from families, which had been challenging to obtain with previous methods.

Mara emphasized that the success of Possip in Keller ISD is due to its accessibility, particularly through text messaging, which made it easy for parents to participate and provide feedback. The vast majority of families use cell phones, so they can use a tool that everyone has, without worrying about computers or access to wifi. Having the responses automatically translated through Possip ensures families have a voice and provides the district with valuable insights to improve their services for emergent bilingual students and their families.

The use of Possip also has regulatory benefits that can assist districts and schools.

When deciding if Keller would continue to use Possip, their decision was also influenced by its ability to meet Title III requirements for parent engagement. Title III aims to ensure that English learners (ELs) and immigrant students attain English proficiency and develop high levels of academic achievement in English. The tool was initially introduced to the district through a pilot program by the Texas Education Agency (TEA) focused on improving services for bilingual families. The positive results and the alignment with federal requirements made it a natural choice to continue using Possip, funded through Title III, to ensure ongoing engagement with bilingual families.

Keller ISD sees Possip as a win-win for everyone. Families can easily share feedback, schools can better engage with families, and the district can utilize Title III funding to continue the surveying. 

Conclusion

For further reading on related topics, consider exploring the following resources:

• Encouraging and Sustaining ELL Parent Engagement
• Ways to Support Multilingual Learners – Literacy Partners

By using Possip, with the ability to translate into dozens of languages, you can better set up multilingual families to be an active part of your school community.

What matters most to your families, staff, and students? Find out with Possip

Keller ISD

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8 Tips to Boost Response Rates

Table of Contents

• Why Survey Response Rates Matter
• Key Obstacles to Response Rates
• 8 Tips to Boost Survey Response Rates
• Resources

Surveys can help schools understand how things are going and what your people need, but it only works if enough people respond. Some challenges might stop you from getting the responses you need, but with the right planning, you can overcome them. The more people you hear from, the better you can guide your organization or school to meet those needs.

Cate Reed, an experienced administrator and Senior VP at Teach For America, shares tips to help boost response rates on Pulse Checks powered by Possip and other surveys.

Why Survey Response Rates Matter

Surveys are a great way to hear from staff, funders, constituents, families, and students and Possip makes it easy. But it can be disappointing if you only hear from a small group. How can you know if the feedback represents everyone? How do you make sure one voice doesn’t overpower others? And how do you avoid hearing from just one group of people?

Making sure most of your people engage in surveys – whether it’s a one-time or annual strategic survey or in at least one in a series of shorter surveys over a period of time – makes the data you collect more valuable.

Key Obstacles to Response Rates​

Surveys are a powerful tool, but getting enough responses is crucial. Here are some common obstacles:

• If you only send a survey once a year, you may not get much useful feedback.
• Long surveys take a lot of time and effort, which can overwhelm respondents.
• Some people may worry about negative consequences for sharing critical feedback.
• Language barriers or confusing questions can stop people from responding.
• People may feel like their feedback won’t be heard or acted upon.

Luckily, these obstacles can be addressed with a few simple strategies!

8 Tips to Boost Survey Response Rates

1) Publicize Your Survey

Make surveys a normal part of your community’s life. Let your people know when surveys are coming and how often. Update their contact information to ensure they get the surveys. Talk about surveys in person or through other communication methods. Put up a poster in the hall. Send a heads up through Slack or in a newsletter. If people see surveys as the main way to share quick feedback, they’ll be more likely to respond.

2) Offer Anonymity

Some people may be nervous about giving honest feedback. If they are your staff, reassure them that their responses won’t negatively affect their job. If they are a student, reassure them that their responses won’t affect their grades. If they are a parent, let them know their honest feedback won’t adversely affect their child. If they are a funder or volunteer, let them know their standing or loyalty will not be held in question. Let them know they can submit feedback anonymously.

3) Send Surveys at the Right Time

Timing is everything! Don’t send surveys at busy times, like right before the winter holidays. If you are sending a survey to families at your school, don’t send your survey in the morning during drop-off. Instead, try sending them during pickup or other times when families have a moment to spare. Conversely, sending surveys to staff members first thing in the morning gives them a chance to reflect throughout the day or respond immediately before they get swept into the tasks they need to complete that day. Pro Tip: Don’t wake up college students with a survey request. 

4) Ask Simple, Quick Questions

Keep questions short and easy to answer. For example, instead of asking, “What’s the best way we communicate with you?” ask, “Does the weekly email from the HR team give you enough information? Yes, No, or Somewhat?”

5) Use Social Media

Post reminders on your company, school, or organization’s Instagram or Facebook page when you send out surveys. Use these platforms to share what you learned from the surveys and what actions you’re taking based on the feedback.

6) Offer Incentives

Fun incentives can motivate folks to participate. For example, you could hold “Popsicle Fridays” if you hear from 75% of families or do a lottery for those who respond for lunch with a teammate of the winner’s choice or a local diner gift card.

7) Ask Questions That Apply to Everyone to Increase Response Rates

Keep your questions relevant. For example, consider these scenarios: 

1. Instead of asking how parents liked the first grade play, ask about events that everyone attended, like a school-wide carnival. 
2. Instead of asking for feedback on a professional development session that a portion of the company attended, ask for suggestions on future sessions.
3. Instead of asking program participants if they enjoyed the last program event, ask if they would recommend or invite a friend to the next event.

8) Share Results and Actions

When people see that you are listening and acting on their feedback, they’ll be more likely to respond next time. Share what you heard and what changes are being made based on the feedback. Possip makes this easy by providing customized and editable 360 script that summarize the responses you gather from each Pulse Check. 

The more people you hear from, the better you can meet their needs and guide your staff and community in the right direction. When folks see their feedback making a difference, their trust in you will grow.

Resources

For further reading on related topics, consider exploring the following resources:

1. Possip Spotlight: The Key to Happy Stakeholders, High Response Rates, and Other Advice From Liberty STEAM Charter School
2. Increasing Parent Response Rates

What matters most to your families, staff, and students? Find out with Possip.

Speed Read of 8 Tips to Boost Survey Response Rates

• Asking people to use surveys to get a sense of how things are going and what they need can be super helpful, and boosted if you get a good response rate.
• There are ways to predict what might stop you from getting the responses you need, but you can overcome them with some planning.
• When you hear from more people, you’ll be more confident you are steering your community in a way that will meet the most number of your people’s needs.

Read below for resources, tips, and the why!

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Supporting Mental Health: Types of Support

The National Institute of Health study found that a social network of varying supports is an important factor in an individual’s mental health. Social support can influence many aspects of our mental health such as resiliency, self-esteem, decision-making skills, and achieving goals. Support networks can be comprised of Emotional support, Instrumental support, and Information support.

Elizabeth Janca, an experienced school administrator, licensed professional counselor, and Possip Reporter discusses the types of supports and importance of a support network.

Emotional Supports

Emotional supports are individuals who show us love, care, and reassurance. These individuals often show that they are actively listening and empathizing with what we are experiencing. An emotional support makes us feel valued and gives us a sense of belonging. 

Think about the people in your life who you see on a regular basis. Who are some individuals who provide acceptance and support for you? For some people, this is parents, grandparents, and friends.

Consider times where you have turned to the individuals you identified. When were they helpful for you? For some people, social supports are necessary in times of grief, making hard decisions, and during stressful times. In addition to our coping skills, social supports can provide assistance in self-regulation. 

Click here to read Supporting Mental Health: Understanding and Coping With Grief

Instrumental Supports

Instrumental supports are the tangible aid, or action, that individuals do to support us. Instrument support includes things such as doing the shopping for a sick friend or helping someone with chores around the house.

Consider the group you thought about for social supports. How do these individuals aid you in accomplishing tasks? Maybe a parent helps you make the first call for your first doctor’s appointment at 18 or a friend helps you clean up your room so you can go to the movies later.

Informational Supports

Informational supports are the advice, guidance, and assistance individuals can give us in problem-solving. Consider who you turn to when you have a question about an assignment, homework, or a job application. Parents, teachers, administration, and counselors can be great sources of informational support as they can share their life experiences. Informational supports can also help inform how we approach cognitive distortions.

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