Student engagement has been a big topic ever since the pandemic drove us from the classroom to remote learning, but I’ve been trying to supercharge the hype train at my school since starting in August 2020. As the school counselor at Toby Farms Intermediate School in Chester, Pa., one of my roles is facilitating community engagement for our sixth- through eighth-grade students.
We have a large population of at-risk students and our city has one of the highest crime rates in the nation. It’s not uncommon for us to have students with school attendance required as a condition of probation. In that context, the difference between a student who wants to be at school and a student disengaged enough to skip a class here or there may be life and death.
It’s hard on a good day and certainly more challenging in a pandemic, but we keep our students coming back to school day after day with a lot of help from our community. Here are a few tips I’ve picked up along the way to help keep kids coming to class.
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