Abstract
In a secondary education classroom, many English teachers must focus on the complex relationship between student engagement and current events. Current events are important events that are happening in the world. Student engagement characterizes their behavioral, emotional, and cognitive state (Fredricks, Blumenfeld, & Paris 2004). This study investigates how teaching current events contributes to student engagement. The study took place in a senior English Research and Communications class. The class was split up to fit a hybrid learning model due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The hybrid learning model that the school had implemented allowed for 50% of the students in the building at a time. The other half would learn remote asynchronously. Data collection included the following: observational field notes, lesson plans with teacher reflections, and student academic work and assessment. The results demonstrate that when students are in-person they are active in all three fields of engagement. However, most were not active in the three fields of engagement when working remotely. These findings are significant to the field of education because engaging with topics in current events are crucial for students to have access to windows, mirrors, and doors within the classroom in order to view different perspectives.
Original language | American English |
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State | Published - 2021 |
Disciplines
- Education