Engaging the 21st-Century Learner: Teaching Strategies to Reach Today’s Digital Generation Students

A Practical PD to Help Educators Boost Student Engagement and Deepen Learning

Strobel Education Workshops

Less than half of students report feeling engaged in school (Gallup survey)—a challenge that directly affects learning, motivation, and long-term success. This PD training helps educators move from passive instruction to active, student-centered learning and how to make it happen.

Key benefits of increasing student engagement:

  • Improves academic performance and retention – Active, student-driven learning helps boost comprehension and long-term retention.
  • Minimizes distraction and disengagement – When students are invested in their learning, they stay focused and on task.
  • Fuels curiosity and independent thinking – Student voice and choice encourage exploration, ownership, and a deeper connection to content.
  • Builds real-world skills through the 5 C’s – Critical thinking, creativity, communication, collaboration, and character are essential for success in and beyond the classroom.

 

Through hands-on activities, reflective practice, and real-world application, this PD equips educators with strategies to create dynamic, engaging classrooms for today’s students.

  • Digital Resource Bundle: Lifetime Access to Resources
  • Professional Development Hours
  • Downloadable Handout for Note-Taking
  • Break-out sessions & collaboration
  • Interactive engagement
  • Elementary School Teachers
  • Secondary School Teachers
  • Education Specialists
  • School Administrators (Principals, Asst. Principals, Curriculum Directors)
  • Counselors
  • Coaches
  • Special Education Teachers
  • Curriculum Coaches
  • Educational Support Staff
  • Title 1 Teachers & Directors
  • Gifted & Talented Teacher
  • Full-day or Half-Day Training
  • PLC Sessions
  • Before/After School Faculty Meetings
  • Virtual Professional Development
  • Coaching & Support
  • Mini-Lesson Modeling

Research-Based Engagement Strategies:

Integrate proven techniques to enhance instruction, increase student engagement, and improve learning outcomes.

Student-Centered Instruction:

Leverage student knowledge to create personalized, relevant lessons that deepen understanding.

Provide Opportunities for Student Choice and Exploration:

Empower students with opportunities to choose and explore, fostering curiosity, independence, and a love for learning.

Module 1: Brain-Based Strategies for an Interactive Classroom: Research-Driven Teaching That Works

This module explores the foundational research behind effective, 21st-century instruction, including Cognitive Load Theory, the Zone of Proximal Development, and the Neuroscience of Learning. Educators will gain insight into how the brain learns best and how to design interactive classroom experiences where students actively engage with content, apply skills, and retain learning more effectively.

Module 2: Boosting Student Engagement: Total Participation and Active Learning Strategies That Work

This module dives into the science and strategies behind student engagement, highlighting Philip Schlechty’s model and the powerful impact of active participation on academic success. Educators will explore motivation techniques, Total Participation Strategies, and collaborative learning approaches that get every student involved—mentally and physically—in the learning process.

Module 3: Empowering Student Voice and Choice: Fostering Ownership, Confidence, and Independent Learning

 This module highlights the transformative power of student voice and choice in creating a more engaging, equitable, and personalized classroom. Educators will learn how to build a safe learning environment where students feel heard, empowered to make choices, and supported in becoming independent, reflective learners. Through strategies like multimodal instruction and student-designed criteria, teachers will cultivate essential 21st-century skills such as curiosity, creativity, responsibility, and metacognition

Module 4: Redefining Rigor in the 21st-Century Classroom: Inquiry, Depth, and Student-Driven Learning

This module reimagines rigor as the practice of challenging students through meaningful, thought-provoking learning—not just assigning more work. Educators will explore how to differentiate content, process, and product to foster critical thinking, academic discourse, and deeper understanding. With a focus on inquiry-based learning, Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, and real-world project-based experiences, this module empowers teachers to create classrooms where rigor is engaging, student-driven, and purposefully aligned with high-level outcomes

Module 5: Effective Evaluation and Feedback: Boosting Student Growth in the Interactive Classroom

This module focuses on how meaningful, timely feedback drives both content mastery and deeper thinking through a trial-and-error learning process. Educators will explore how to use rubrics, self-assessments, and peer feedback to make evaluation more transparent, reflective, and student-centered. By shifting feedback from correction to connection, teachers can foster a culture of growth, ownership, and continuous improvement

Module 6: Maximizing Every Minute: Structuring the 45-Minute Interactive Classroom for Student Success

This module equips educators with a research-backed framework for making the most of the limited instructional time students are truly engaged—approximately 45 minutes per day. Teachers will learn how to structure lessons with purpose and flow, incorporating anticipatory sets, focused direct instruction, active practice, formative assessment, and meaningful reflection. With intentional pacing and design, every minute becomes an opportunity to deepen understanding and boost achievement

Module 7: Inside the Interactive Classroom: A Hands-On Simulation of 21st-Century Teaching Strategies

 In this immersive module, participants will step into the role of the student to experience firsthand how an interactive, student-centered classroom functions. Through simulation and multimodal learning activities, educators will apply key strategies from previous modules, deepening their understanding of engagement, collaboration, and instructional design. Reflection activities will help translate this experience into actionable insights for their own classrooms.

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