24 Jul Increase Student Engagement with Supplemental Content

Imagine you arrive early for a faculty meeting and find yourself with some unexpected free time. Do you chat with a colleague? Do you jot down your grocery list? Maybe you pull out your cell phone and scan Facebook for a bit. When it comes to managing unexpected free time at school, teachers and students are often not so different. We can probably all make better use of our time.

In almost every K-12 classroom, students will experience occasional periods of wait time. Some students settle in at their desks early. Some children will finish their work before others. Sometimes a simple lesson plan change can result in a spare ten minutes before the lunch bell. Are you prepared? A lot of things can happen during wait time. Behavior can plummet and students can lose interest in learning. They can distract others from completing assignments. The way students handle wait time is often contagious, and before you know it, you’ve lost the whole class.

Short, planned breaks are important for children. But having extra activities on hand to fill gaps in your academic schedule can help keep kids engaged at school. Supplemental assignments will focus students on learning even when they have time to spare. You can customize activities for your particular class. They can be specific or open-ended, standards-aligned or exploratory. Assignments can be used for enrichment or extra support as a daily warm-up, end-of-day wrap-up, or even challenge homework.

Bridgeway Education can help you create custom content to integrate in your curriculum as you see fit. Whether you want to build workbooks, printable worksheets, ancillary textbooks, or eTexts, Bridgeway can work with you to plan a product that makes sense for your classroom. Contact us today to find out how we can guide you in designing supplemental materials to meet your needs!