Student Engagement Fuels Opportunity
Schools are full of opportunities for student engagement. There’s something for everyone, from sports to clubs to instruments and performance arts. Students involved with clubs become more connected with the school and often find passion in their extracurricular activities, which leads to increased involvement and can spark interest in their path after high school. Student engagement is also shown by being emotionally, physically, and behaviorally engaged in school.
Students can be behaviorally engaged by attending class and completing homework on time. Strong student-teacher relationships are part of emotional engagement in school, as teachers often care about students’ social-emotional needs and life outside of school, providing an environment that works best for that student to learn. Engagement isn’t limited to extracurricular involvement; it also includes everyday classroom behaviors- but those everyday behaviors are what school is all about. It’s a place where students can learn, grow, and be engaged in their environment.
The culture of being involved can be seen throughout school. At football games, students are involved by cheering on the football players, who are involved by playing for their school. Students choose which clubs they can join based on their interests, which contribute to their extension of knowledge in that subject- leading to further applications in learning. Students involved in school activities often can make new friends and connect with teachers and mentors for those activities.
There are numerous benefits of being involved at school. Research shows that student involvement is a critical part of success in high school. Students who feel engaged in their learning are 2.5 times more likely to say they get good grades and do well in school, and they are 4.5 times more likely to be optimistic about the future than disengaged students. This discrepancy in student attitudes toward school shows how critical student engagement is to the overall school experience and outlook. Students who are engaged in activities are more likely to have plans for the future and perform better in school.
Engaged students see an opportunity to improve in the future and have an idea of their path after high school. Being involved in extracurriculars and attentive at school leads students to build strong foundational habits for the future. Involvement outside of the classroom leads to further learning in areas students might want to explore further, while involvement inside of the classroom promotes good qualities of a student as a learner, such as being on time, turning in assignments, and participating in discussions. Together, the many components of engagement come with benefits that will impact students for many years, showing that student engagement fuels opportunities and builds the foundations for someone to become a better student.