Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW DOMAIN C

Literature Review for Week 3: Domain C

Linnae Edgeworth
National University
Professor Clifton Johnson
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Abstract
This paper examines domain C as part of a professional teaching portfolio. The article titled,

“Golden Rules for Engaging Students in Learning Activities” by Nicolas Pino-James, PhD

discusses the best practices to employ while engaging students in learning. This article was

selected because it is researched based and straight forward with the information provided.
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“Golden Rules for Engaging Students in Learning Activities”

When determining the success of a teachers ability to engage students in active learning it

is easy to become caught up in the behavior of the students rather than what information is being
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committed to memory. In the article titled, “Golden Rules for Engaging Students in Learning

Activities” by Dr. Nicolas Pino-James six areas to follow when designing and implementing

learning activities are outlined. These six areas are as follows:

1. Make it Meaningful

2. Foster a Sense of Competence

3. Provide Autonomy Support

4. Embrace Collaborative Learning

5. Establish Positive Teacher-Student Relationships

6. Promote Mastery Orientations

According to the article if a teacher is able to incorporate many or all of these steps

during their lesson planning and implementation of the lesson this may “help increase student

engagement behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively, thereby positively affecting student

learning and achievement” (Pina-James, N., 2015). The first step in increasing student

engagement is to make it meaningful. What this means that it is essential that student

perceive activities as being meaningful. This connects to the lesson and article in this domain

as everything they learn throughout this unit will apply to their lives. I had a student tell me

that he didn’t need to participate in the unit because “he was Mormon and did not plan on

having pre-marital sex.” I explained that you don’t have to plan to have sex to be aware of

sexual health, as well, he may have a partner or wife at some point and he will need to know

this information. By connecting the information being presented to prior knowledge as well

as making a connection to the student’s personal life the information is more likely to

increase student involvement. The next step is to foster a sense of competence. The author

outlines that this means that by making students demonstrate understanding throughout an
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activity the students are more likely to continue to engage in an activity because they believe

they can achieve the learning goal. One method a teacher can employ to achieve this is to

conduct informal assessments such as checking for understanding. The third step in the

process is to provide autonomy and support. The article goes on to state “when teachers

relinquish control (without losing power) to the student, rather than promoting compliance

with directives and commands, student engagement levels are likely to increase as a result”

(Reeve, Jang, Carrell, Jeon, & Barch, 2004). Collaborative learning in the next step in the

process. Teacher modeling is a big part of this step with the teacher showing students how to

complete a task and then asking the students to work together to complete the assignment.

Positive teacher-student relationships are another critical factor in determining student

engagement. I believe this is one of the most crucial elements of student engagement. When

the teacher and student have a strong rapport with one another the students are more likely to

be excited about learning, cooperate, and feel a sense of pride in their classroom. The last

step outlined by Pina-James is to promote mastery orientations. The students’ perspective of

learning activities also determines their level of engagement.

By considering all of these steps when designing and implementing learning activities the

teacher is able to be more effective in their delivery of the information and the students are

more likely to be excited about their learning, engaged in activities, and commit the

information to memory. Each of the artifacts included in this domain relate to each step

outlined in this article in that the lesson was carefully constructed to engage students at every

step.
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Reference
Pina-James, N. (2015, December 11). Golden Rules for Engaging Students in Learning
Activities. Retrieved November 17, 2018, from https://www.edutopia.org/

Reeve, J., Jang, H., Carrell, D., Jeon, S., & Barch, J. (2004). Enhancing students' engagement by
increasing teachers' autonomy support. Motivation and Emotion, 28(2), 147-169.
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