UEN Teacher Tips

Switching up teaching strategies and applying techniques such as Guided Inquiry Design can boost engagement in your classroom during the end-of-the-year slump. Learning can be fun and exciting when students make real-world connections that reach into their interests outside of school, often creating robust and meaningful lessons. These real-world connections also build student experience within college and career readiness.

Here are some resources and ideas on how to rev up engagement in your classroom through the lens of college and career readiness:

Soft Skills & Power Skills Matter! 

• Even in the world of AI, creativity, collaboration, resilience, leadership and critical thinking are more important than ever! Find new ways to connect your unit objectives to incorporate power skills. Not sure what skills to focus on for your grade level? Check out Utah’s Portrait of a Graduate. Need fresh ideas? Ask AI! (More on that next).

Make Learning Relevant:

• Take time to make your material relevant. Give examples of how your unit objectives connect to professionals and careers, create lesson plans centered around real-world connections or personalize lesson plans for the particular interests of students. Not sure how? Ask AI! Learn how to appropriately implement AI in your classroom and with your students in our UEN AI Course.

Understand Student Career Interests:

• Understand your students’ career interests to establish objectives that clearly connect with their passions. Consider checking out SparkPath, which uses an inquiry-based approach, for students to uncover what challenges and opportunities they are passionate about rather than the traditional approach of picking a job title first.

Bring a Fresh Perspective:

• Get your school counselor involved! It is always a good day to have a fresh new face in the classroom who can show students college and career pathways and exciting new options within their districts. (Ask about YouScience!)

 By incorporating these strategies, you’ll not only keep students engaged and motivated but also empower them with real-world skills—right up until the last day of school!