Student Engagement Posts
Powerful Questions to Ask Students That Spark Deep Thinking, Engagement, and Learning
Discover powerful questions to ask students that boost engagement, deepen critical thinking, and transform classroom discussions. Includes practical strategies for teachers.
Powerful Cooperative Learning Strategies (And One You Can Try Tomorrow)
Discover why cooperative learning strategies boost student engagement and learn the Give One, Get One activity—a simple 10-minute strategy teachers can use tomorrow.
Exit Tickets That Increase Engagement & Learning
Learn how exit tickets improve student learning, engagement, and formative assessment. Discover powerful prompts teachers can use in any classroom.
Active Learning vs Passive Learning: Why Engagement Improves Student Outcomes
In many classrooms, learning still looks like this: students sit quietly, listen to lectures, watch videos, complete worksheets, and read silently. These methods fall under passive learning—where students receive information but rarely interact with it in meaningful...
How To Improve Your Exit Ticket Strategy
Exit tickets are one of the most commonly used formative assessment strategies in classrooms.But here’s the problem: Most exit tickets don’t actually tell teachers what students understand. Too often, exit tickets ask students to...
No More Sit and Get PD: Why Active Learning Professional Development Actually Works
Schools everywhere are working to improve student engagement, instructional practices, and academic outcomes. Yet many professional development sessions still rely on passive “sit-and-get” models that ask educators to sit quietly through lengthy presentations. The...
Back-to-School Activities That Build Engagement from Day One
Here are five tried-and-true back to school activities that encourage collaboration, communication, and a strong sense of belonging:
How to Use High-Leverage Practice 18 to Increase Student Engagement
In today’s classrooms, engagement isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the lifeblood of effective teaching. High-Leverage Practice 18 (HLP 18), "Use Strategies to Promote Active Student Engagement," lies at the heart of inclusive, responsive, and transformative instruction. But...
Student-Led IEPs: Building Self-Advocacy and Essential Life Skills
Discover how student-led IEPs build self-advocacy, communication, collaboration, and independence for students with disabilities. Learn practical strategies educators can use today.
10 Powerful Questioning Strategies That Increase Student Thinking (With Examples)
Discover 10 powerful classroom questioning strategies that boost engagement, critical thinking, and student participation. Includes examples for every subject.
Choice Board Book Reports Are Amazing! Get Started Here.
Visionary Teaching has previously explored the use of choice boards for student assessment opportunities. In this article, we will look at how choice board book reports help students deliver amazing projects that play to personal...
How to Make Your Professional Development Exciting & Effective!
Let’s admit that a lot of professional development (PD) is subpar- boring & ineffective. Regardless of what we call our adult learning activities- workshops, conferences, webinars, inservices, training, professional development, or professional learning- we are...
Equity in Education: What It Means and How to Apply It in the Classroom
Learn what equity in education means, how it differs from equality, and practical classroom strategies to support every learner effectively.
A New Take on the Think-Pair-Share Strategy: How to Increase Student Engagement Instantly
Most teachers ask great questions—but only a handful of students ever respond. The result?A classroom where a few students do the thinking… and everyone else checks out. Think-Pair-Share is a common classroom activity that gives every learner a chance to think and...
10 Exit Ticket Strategies That Increase Student Engagement and Improve Formative Assessment
Checking for understanding is one of the most important parts of effective teaching—but it’s also one of the easiest to rush, skip, or reduce to a quick “Does everyone get it?” The problem isn’t that teachers don’t value formative assessment. The problem is time. You...
Back-to-School Icebreaker Bingo Activities That Build Classroom Community (and Work All Year Long)
Engage students from day one with Icebreaker Bingo activities that build classroom community and participation. Perfect for back-to-school and teacher professional development.
Student Choice in the Classroom: 5 Powerful Ways to Boost Engagement & Learning
Student choice increases engagement, motivation, and achievement. Discover 5 easy classroom strategies—and get ready-to-use resources, training, and ideas from Visionary Teaching.
100 Great Questions for the ‘Turn Your Camera On If’ Game
The Turn Your Camera On If game has become very popular over the past year and a half. The game is also frequently called Camera On Camera Off and can be played on Zoom or other virtual platforms with camera access. Teachers, trainers, counselors, and youth group...
Multisensory Instruction Strategies: Proven Techniques to Engage Every Learner (With Classroom Examples)
Discover powerful multisensory instruction strategies that boost engagement, retention, and comprehension for all learners. Includes practical classroom examples and teaching tools you can use immediately.
Powerful Would You Rather Questions for Virtual or Face-to-Face Experiences
This blog has allowed me to share ideas with educators across the United States and around the world. It has been very interesting to note which topics have been the most popular. Without a doubt, the most popular blog post on this site is How to Play Would You...
Formative vs Summative Assessment: What’s the Difference and Why It Matters for Student Learning
Learn the difference between formative and summative assessment with classroom examples, a clear comparison chart, and practical strategies to improve student learning through formative feedback.
How to Implement Student-Led IEPs Successfully
Learn how to implement student-led IEPs with practical strategies, rehearsal ideas, vocabulary supports, and student voice activities that build self-advocacy and engagement.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): Practical Strategies to Engage and Inspire Every Student
Let’s explore the 3 brain networks associated with UDL. As related posts, videos, and resources are published, they will be hyperlinked below. The items that are not currently hyperlinked represent great content that will be offered in the near future, so please bookmark this post and check back often.
Universal Design for Learning (UDL): How Great Teachers Reach Every Learner
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) helps teachers engage diverse learners through flexible instruction, assessment, and classroom design. Learn practical UDL strategies that improve student engagement and achievement.
Let’s Go! Ten of the Most Amazing Virtual Field Trips
Field trips are one of the great joys of school for many students. They get to leave school and generalize learnings by interacting with artifacts, witnessing demonstrations, or meeting with experts. Unfortunately, COVID has denied opportunities to visit...
The Pause Procedure: How Strategic Wait Time Boosts Student Thinking and Retention
Learn how the Pause Procedure and strategic wait time improve student thinking, engagement, and retention. Includes classroom strategies you can use immediately.
10 Powerful Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do on Zoom
Here are 10 easy tips and tricks that will take your next Zoom meeting to the next level.
Your Students Will Love Using the Stamp Tool During Zoom Lessons.
Annotation Tools, including the Stamp Tool, on Zoom and other virtual platforms tend to be underutilized. These tools can be very powerful and versatile. The greatest benefit is that they allow all students to be actively engaged in learning at all times. If we rely...
Brain Breaks That Energize, Engage, & Refocus Students
Discover powerful brain breaks that increase student engagement, improve focus, reduce off-task behavior, and re-energize your classroom. Perfect for elementary, middle, and high school students.
How to Enhance Would You Rather Games on Zoom
Would You Rather is such a popular classroom game that many teachers are seeking ideas for how to play it online with their virtual learners. We have previously offered step-by-step instructions detailing how to play Would You Rather virtually with your students....
Check Out These Amazing Ideas for Virtual Breakout Rooms
While educators continue to hone their virtual teaching skills, breakout rooms remain one of the most underutilized features on Zoom and other platforms. Let's explore how teachers can leverage breakout rooms to promote small group work and much needed social...
How to Improve Professional Development for Teachers (4 Proven Strategies)
Too often, professional development for teachers feels passive, disconnected, and quickly forgotten. Educators sit through long presentations filled with information but leave without practical strategies they can immediately apply in their classrooms. Effective...
5 Virtual Classroom Soft Openers That Instantly Boost Student Engagement
Discover 5 virtual classroom soft openers that increase student engagement, improve participation, and energize online learning. Perfect for Zoom, Google Meet, virtual teaching, and professional development sessions.
Three Virtual/Hybrid Exit Tickets That You Should Try Immediately
Exit Tickets are formative assessment activities that teachers use to collect valuable data. They can answer any number of important questions including Did my students learn what I expected them to learn? Were my teaching methods...
Simile Cards Across Content Areas: A Strategy That Deepens Student Thinking
Use simile cards across content areas to boost engagement, critical thinking, and authentic assessment. Includes ready-to-use strategies and examples.
Why “On-Task Behavior” Is the Wrong Goal—and What to Focus on Instead
Traditional “on-task behavior” doesn’t guarantee learning. Discover what actually drives engagement and how to build active learning classrooms.
How to Use Pinch Cards for Instant Student Engagement and Formative Assessment
If you’re looking for a simple, low-cost strategy that gets every student actively involved, pinch cards might be the most powerful tool you’re not using yet. Also known as response cards or hold-ups, pinch cards transform passive classrooms into highly interactive...
Choice Boards: Examples, Templates, and Strategies to Increase Student Engagement
Choice boards are a powerful instructional strategy that boosts student engagement, supports differentiation, and gives learners meaningful choice in how they demonstrate understanding.
Opportunities to Respond That Improve Engagement & Learning
An opportunities to respond (OTR) occurs when a teacher asks a question or gives a prompt that elicits responses from students. Unfortunately, the traditional OTR involves teachers calling on one student at a time to answer a question. When we call on a single...
Make Your Own Individual White Boards with Household Items
Individual white boards are an extremely versatile instructional tool in both face-to-face and virtual settings. Teachers can pose a broad range of questions and prompts for students, who indicate their responses using dry erase markers. As with...
Scavenger Hunt! Energize Your Class with this Ultimate Virtual Brain Break!
When we are teaching in a face-to-face classroom, it is always a great idea to utilize a Brain Break when needed. Virtual Learners also need opportunities to recharge and re-energize. Some folks might even argue that such activities are even more...
How To Play ‘Would You Rather?’ During a Virtual Lesson
Would You Rather? is both a classic icebreaker game and a powerful educational activity. I find that many teachers are aware of Would You Rather?, but have not considered how it can be used academically. The rules are simple. The teacher offers 2 different choices,...
How to Get Students to Turn Their Cameras On During Virtual Learning
Discover a fun, low-pressure strategy to encourage students to turn their cameras on during virtual instruction. Includes examples, engagement ideas, and classroom-ready prompts.