EYESON

STUDENTENGAGEMENT
A N D T E A C H ER E F F E C T I V E N E S S
Britney D. James
English 341
Francis Marion University
From working within the family
funeral home to being a wellness coach and
full-time secondary English teacher, who
would have ever thought that any person with
such an occupied life would have the time and
energy to provide students with the
knowledge and guidance to be greater. Mrs.
Poiette McGill Bromell is the master for the
job. After teaching on and off for seven years
in Mullins and Darlington High Schools, she
finally decided to join the Swamp Fox team at
Marion High School in the rural town of
Marion, S.C.
Mrs. Bromell is one of the most
dedicated and enthusiastic teachers at Marion
High School, committing to the lives and
education of her students. She is known to be
most effective in finding ways for students to
become actively engaged and prepared for a
life after high school. She expresses her
dedication through her daily planning and
extensive in-class lessons. She believes that
every student should have the opportunity to
learn skills to benefit them in the future, rather
in college or the work place. Mrs. Bromell has
incorporated her own methodology in the
classroom.
During the start of the semester, she
has been teaching her students the
fundamentals of writing, how to complete
college applications, how to develop personal
statements, and how to complete job
applications and rsums. She doesnt
incorporate much reading into her lessons
until the second semester, when she feels that
her students are ready to effectively interact
with the texts. Despite the different levels of
texts her English III and IV students are
confronted with, she teaches them the same
general concepts. I teach all of my students
the same material. English III and IV students
are all on the same page, she stated.

Effective and innovative

teaching methods are the gateway
to creating engaged learners.
Students are more willing to learn and engage
in activities that they can see the relevance of
and how it directly affects them. In the
classroom, students are more engaged when
the teacher is enthusiastic and caring.
Teachers often have trouble reaching and
connecting with students when they have such
a traditional style of teaching. The curricula
can always use revamping and lessons can
always use some tweaking. Teachers may
often be required to research innovative
teaching strategies to incorporate into their
classrooms in order to deliver material to
students in an effective and efficient manner.
Classroom interaction should be something
students look forward to and get excited
about.
In Mrs. Bromells class, the students
show much eagerness when they are engaging
in activities they can directly relate with and
the relevance is obvious. While observing her
students, I was not aware of any cliques or
pods within the classroom. All of the
students appeared to get along, support one
another and share some type of bond. Hannah
Jacobs, an 11th grade English III student
stated, I love to participate all of the time. I
really enjoy engaging in class activities.
Hannah is a very attentive and dedicated
student. She finds joy in encouraging her
classmates and engaging in activities as a
class. She states, Mrs. Bromell is one the
most caring and fun teachers I have ever
had.
While reviewing Mrs. Bromells
lesson plans and daily agendas posted in the
front of the classroom, I realized that they
emphasize student engagement and how the

students will interact within the classroom.

The lesson procedures on the posted daily
agenda states the actions the students will
perform, for example, The students will
recite IF by Rudyard Kipling or Students
will work as a group to develop the Brain
Board. She tailors all of her lessons to the
students present needs and details how they
may help them further on.
When it comes to Mrs. Bromells
expectation of her students and completing
assignments, she makes sure they are all
equipped with the knowledge to complete the
task. She states, How can you expect your
students to excel with any assignment, if you
havent even assured they have the knowledge
to do it? Its like giving them an essay and not
teaching them how to structure sentences or
paragraphs. Mrs. Poiette Bromell has
incorporated various innovative teaching
methods into her classroom. Many of the
activities are used to get students engaged in
review sessions, group and class discussions,
and other class activities.
In class, she demonstrated for me, a
SmartBoard vocabulary review game that she
uses to review the weekly vocabulary with the
students. As Mrs. Bromell displays the
definition of a word and answer choices on
the SmartBoard, students are to use their
small whiteboards and dry-erase markers to
display their answers. She uses another
method, known as code calling, to keep
students attentive. With code calling, she
keeps a case of index cards with students
names on them and as the class reviews, she
pulls a name at random to answer the
question. While reading selections in class,
Mrs. Bromell will tape a huge piece of paper

on the board and divide it into 6 or 8 sections;

this is known as the Brain Board. In each
section she writes a name or term related to
the reading and allows each student the
opportunity to approach the board to write
whatever they would like to say about each
item. This activity is entirely student-led and
allows the students to teach one another and
give peers guidance when needed.
Mrs. Bromell declares that she is
beyond ecstatic when it comes to teaching and
engaging with her students. Student Erin
Bennett stated that Mrs. Bromell is a good
teacher and explains information well. He
also stated that, She is hands on for students
that need a better understanding of
assignments and is all together an awesome
teacher. Many students and staff members
believe that Mrs. Poiette Bromell is an
exceptional English teacher. She puts forth the
greatest effort to exceed the needs of her
students.
Getting students to engage more and
interact within the classroom is a dynamic
way of getting them to care about their own
education. Students dont care unless the
teacher does. The education system could use
more educators like Mrs. Bromell. She is very
involved in her students education and how
they use what she has taught them. Current
and future educators are responsible for the
education of our youth and they should
implement as many innovative teaching
methods as possible, allowing students the
opportunity to gain all of the information and
skills needed to excel and be productive in the
future. A great teacher produces great learners
who will later become great citizens.

Work Cited

Bennett, Erin. Person interview. 30 September 2014.

Bromell, Poiette. Personal interview. 29 September 2014.
Jacobs, Hannah. Personal interview. 30 September 2014.