Project+summary

Our goal is to address a lack of engagement that many of our struggling students experience while at school. Engagement is a central aspect of learning and it is clear that many of our students are not accessing the core curriculum because we are not focusing on what will motivate them to become actively engaged in the learning process. We are interested in seeing if differentiated enrichment opportunities that are driven by brain research and student interest will improve engagement and student achievement. Through collaboration between three classroom teachers, two reading specialists and the AIG (Academically and Intellectually Gifted) teacher, we will design instruction so that targeted students will build both foundational and high level thinking skills, which are required for academic success. This is part of our continuing efforts to close the achievement gap, which is compounded by a lack of engagement. __**Project Goals:**__
 * Project Summary/Abstract**
 * 1) Teachers will research and identify a checklist of best practices that positively impact student engagement and habits of mind in order to increase our frequency in using best practices by the end of the year.
 * 2) Students will identify and increase their use of Brain SMART (Setting goals, Memory, Awareness of self, Regulating self, Totally organized) strategies by the end of the year.
 * 3) Specific targeted students will increase their scores on the student engagement checklist by the end of the year.


 * Enrichment mindset means fostering intellectual curiosity, emotional engagement, and social bonding.(pg 94, //Teaching with Poverty in Mind//)