Student engagement

When students experience prolonged absences from school due to serious illness, it can bring up unique emotional, social and educational challenges for the student, their teacher and classmates. In this article, Year 5 teacher at Waverly College, Jennifer Hoare, shares some strategies the school uses to support students experiencing illness.

In this video for Teacher, Mathematics teacher Holly Millican shares the resources for 3 activities she has implemented in her classroom to engage students when learning about statistics.

Student welfare has come sharply into focus over the past few years as the pandemic poses unprecedented challenges for students and teachers alike. There’s a lot to explore around student welfare in the Teacher archives, and this month we’re bringing you some recent examples.

Last month, Holly Millican (a familiar face on Teacher’s YouTube channel) received an Early Career Teacher award. In this article, we find out about the initiatives Millican has been involved in at her school to increase student engagement in learning, which has seen her be recognised nationally.

Most schools will have students who experience some level of menstrual pain during their schooling years. So, how well are teachers prepared to deliver menstrual health education, and how can they better support students whose education may be impacted by menstrual pain?

In her latest video for Teacher, Mathematics teacher Holly Millican shares the resources for three activities she has implemented in her classroom to engage students when learning about trigonometry.

Developing children’s reading skills as they start primary school can often mean meeting children at a range of different levels. In this article, we speak with Dr Lexie Scherer who explains how the reader-response method can help teachers find that special ‘hook’ that can open a child up to the wonders of reading.

‘They’re concerned that adults don’t listen to them … adults also tend to be dismissive of their ideas and insights.’ In this Q&A we speak to Helen Connolly, South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People, about the Student Voice Postcard initiative.

New research has shown that while the use of immersive virtual reality (IVR) increases student enjoyment and presence in a task, when used on its own it does not improve procedural or declarative knowledge when compared to the more traditional learning activity of watching a video.

‘There is not a set seating plan. Students choose where to sit according to the task, their learning needs and preferences at any point in time.’ In this reader submission, teachers Heath Henwood and Emily Hales share how they transformed a Year 6 classroom from the traditional rows of desk layout to flexible seating.