Engaging All Students:
Teaching Strategies That Work

John Hollingsworth from DataWORKS Educational Research demonstrated how specific engagement strategies align with brain research to maximize student learning. Rather than offering optional techniques, Hollingsworth presented what he calls “non-negotiable” strategies that should be used in every lesson, at every grade level, to ensure all students participate and learn.

The central message: student engagement isn’t just about keeping students busy or interested. It’s about creating the repetitions and interactions the brain needs to transfer information into long-term memory.

The Seven Essential Engagement Strategies

1. Pronounce With Me

Before students can learn new concepts, they must be able to pronounce the academic vocabulary correctly. This strategy is simple but often skipped:

• The teacher says the word first while students look at it
• Students repeat the word together

For example: “This word is explicit. Let’s all say it together: explicit. One more time: explicit.”

This matters because students looking at words while pronouncing them supports reading fluency, not just listening and speaking. It’s especially powerful for English learners who get both listening and speaking practice simultaneously.

2. Track With Me and Read With Me

This involves pre-reading text for students before having them read it aloud together:

• The teacher reads first while students follow along visually
• Students then read the same text together as a class

The dual benefit: students hear the text correctly pronounced while seeing it, supporting both listening comprehension and reading skills.

3. Gesture With Me

Gestures help students remember concepts.

For example, when teaching prefixes:

“A prefix is a letter or letters [gesture: hand at beginning] at the beginning of a word [gesture: sweep across] that change its meaning [gesture: hands indicating transformation].”

Students practice the gesture while saying the definition, creating a physical memory anchor. This is particularly helpful for English learners, young students, and visual learners. It’s a research-based cognitive strategy, not just entertainment.

4. Pair Share

This is where engagement becomes truly powerful. In EDI (Explicit Direct Instruction), every question includes a pair share:

• After asking a question, have students turn to their partner
• Partner A explains first, then Partner B
• Both partners must speak, using complete sentences

When you use pair shares, every student answers every question for the entire year, even if you don’t call on them.

Compare this to traditional classrooms where teachers call on volunteers. You get the same three students answering all year while others disengage. Pair shares force 100% participation.

5. Attention Signal

When students are engaged in pair shares, you need a signal to bring them back:

• For elementary: “Eyes front!” Students respond: “Back straight!”
• For older students: “Class, class” / “Yes, yes” or “1, 2, 3, eyes on me”

This is classroom management that enables engagement. 

6. Whiteboards

Every student holds a whiteboard (or piece of paper) and writes their answer, then holds it up simultaneously on the teacher’s signal (“Chin it!” or “Up, up, up!”).

The power of whiteboards:

• 100% class participation (not just the three hand-wavers)
• Teachers instantly see who understands and who doesn’t
• Target: 80% correct answers before moving forward
• Below 80%? “Boards down and reteach”
• Specific errors visible? Provide corrective feedback to individual students

For very young students who can’t write yet, use yes/no cards with colored dots or red/green circles. The key is getting every student to show an answer.

7. Complete Sentences with Academic Language

Students must answer in complete sentences using the academic vocabulary from the lesson. Use sentence frames:

• “The character in the passage is _____ because _____”
• “The author used figurative language because _____”
• “I will provide interactions by _____ because _____”

Why complete sentences matter:

Academic language practice: State tests are tests of academic English, not playground English. Students must practice terms like “passage,” “excerpt,” “distinguish,” and “determine” rather than casual language.

Higher-level thinking: The “because” requires justification, not just recall.

Application of concepts: Students use new vocabulary in context immediately.

Once teachers consistently require complete sentences, students naturally begin using them without prompting. One state test even required students to begin their written response with “The author used figurative language because…” to earn full points.

The Bottom Line

Student engagement isn’t about entertainment or keeping kids busy. It’s about creating the interactions and repetitions the brain needs to learn.

The seven strategies work because they:

• Force 100% participation (not just volunteers)
• Create multiple exposures to content
• Activate multiple memory pathways (visual, auditory, kinesthetic)
• Require students to rehearse and apply information
• Use academic language in context
• Give teachers immediate feedback about student understanding

These strategies work at every grade level, in every subject area, from kindergarten through college, even in medical and military training.

The question isn’t whether to use them. The question is: when will you start?