Active supervision and student engagement matter for students from elementary to high school.
When I arrived at my son’s spring break program, few staff were engaged with the students. Most were sitting and talking to each other. A thirsty student asked a staff member where to find the water fountain (bubbler depending on where you live). The staff said he did not know, and said nothing more. Finally the students’ were told, in a tone that reminded me of scene from a prison movie, to line up and grab everything, “cause we are not coming back.” I was not excited to leave my six year old!
Image from Flickr Creative Commons
Active supervision and student engagement were clearly missing. Even in high schools, simple things like walking students to where they need to go, or having brief positive encounters can make a difference. In fact, active supervision can decrease discipline problems. Increased student engagement can lead to higher academic student performance. Having positive ways to engage students does not imply asking highly personal questions. Some research supports that simply asking about the student’s day, or asking if you can help them may be enough.
IrisEd provides useful courses on active supervision in high school , middle, and elementary schools. They also provide a useful checklist about the steps for active supervision and engagemnet. Based on their work, there were three things my son’s program could have improved:
Move and scan. Rather than stay in one place waiting for a problem, move your body and eyes among the students.
Be pro-social. Find ways to engage students in positive ways. Greet students at the door, check in to see if they need help, or ask about their day.
Be positive. Find opportunities to provide specific praise to students. The goal is to have more positive than negative interactions.
Any one of these steps would have improved the first impression for my son. I did call the administrator about my concerns. Interestingly, and thankfully, the next day we saw the staff sitting with students playing games. The staff were not sitting together in group conversation. My son was so exited to see the activity that he ran in, forgetting to say good-bye. Active supervision and student engagement make the difference.