Fostering Engagement in a Middle School Classroom

The purpose of this qualitative study is to investigate how to properly implement and create a classroom that fosters engagement. This study looks at the practices, strategies, roles, and relationships that are necessary in order to fully engage all students in the classroom. During the course of this research, engagement is found to be a very broad term. In this study, engagement is defined as students synthesizing information in student-directed learning environments where they are physically and mentally involved (Edwards, 2015; Trowler, 2010). The hope of this study is to emphasize the need for educators to understand the meaning of engagement and the importance of engaging students in daily lessons in the classroom. Studies show increasing awareness about engagement can create a connection between students and curriculum (Trowler 2010). By creating a framework for a classroom to foster engagement, students are then able to reach their full learning potential.