Education is a fast-paced landscape that is constantly improving its best practices to support students, staff, and educators. Those who are just breaking into the space frequently seek the guidance and insights of professionals who can help them contextualize their efforts and reach success.
Michael Treco is an education professional specializing in science, teaching, and art. Through a variety of high-level resources that explore his areas of expertise, he hopes to inspire those interested in learning more about core concepts in teaching, student engagement, volunteer work, and more.
About Michael Treco
Michael Treco is a science educator with experience working as a teacher in middle school and high school settings within the greater New York area. Michael has worked in various capacities within schools, working as a student teacher, substitute, full-time science teacher, and supervisor. Most recently, Michel Treco utilizes his background in sustainable energy and green technologies to serve as an environmental and energy consultant.
In addition to Michael’s experience as an educator and environmental and energy professional, he has displayed an interest in combining his passion for natural environments, history, and art installations to create innovative 2D and 3D works. Michael Treco is also a proponent of giving back to student communities and worked as a volunteer member of Columbia University, Teachers College Young Alumni & Student Engagement Committee.
Colleagues of Michael Treco maintain that he is a professional who is incredibly invested in keeping up with innovations and recent developments within STEM fields and believes in empowering students to connect with their love of science and the natural world. As an educator, Michael consistently seeks out resources that allow him to better facilitate the learning experience, and he has shown a profound interest in concepts such as increasing student engagement, helping students prepare for end of year examinations, and learning the impact of science on the world around us. Michael’s students speak to his patience and empathy in educational environments, noting that he is always looking for ways to improve the learning experience and improve outcomes for his students as they learn more about STEM fields.
Michael Treco on Improving Student Engagement in K-12 Classrooms
As an educator with experience in substitute and full-time positions, Michael Treco speaks to the importance of student engagement within classrooms. Experts have researched the relationship between student engagement and improved learning outcomes, finding that students who feel properly engaged and supported through their classroom experiences are much more likely to perform better than those who are under stimulated. Here, Michael Treco explores a few ways that teachers can seek to improve student engagement in K-12 classrooms.
Contribute to a Healthy Classroom Environment
Students are much more likely to feel comfortable getting more engaged in classrooms when they feel as though they are properly supported in their learning endeavors. The best educators know this and help to facilitate a healthy classroom environment in a variety of ways. For example, teachers should encourage students to try to answer questions without a fear of being incorrect, discourage teasing or bullying, and show an interest in learning more about their students. Michael Treco recognizes that his favorite teachers growing up acknowledged that each student had a different set of strengths and weaknesses and tried to tailor lessons in ways that showed that each were valid to the learning experience. Healthy classroom environments show students that they are appreciated and supported.
Utilize Technology Within the Classroom
Michael Treco notes that many teachers complain about younger students’ reliance on technology. Fostering student engagement can be difficult when forced to content with the fact that some students would much rather look at their devices than the teacher. One great way to facilitate student engagement in today’s landscape is to utilize classroom technology to keep students’ attention. Classroom technology can be an excellent method for making lessons more interactive and engaging and many educators have harnessed this tech for note taking, screen mirroring, games, and more within classroom settings.
Empower Students to Have Choices
It can be hard for students to feel properly engaged if they do not have much control over their own experiences. For this reason, it can be extremely helpful to empower students to make some of their own choices as a way to foster student engagement. Michael Treco maintains that integrating decision making can be very simple, and teachers can achieve this with steps such as letting students choose odd or even problems on their worksheets, allowing them to pick their topics or group members for projects, etc. Curriculums may decide certain aspects of the learning experience and the material learned throughout the year, but there are many opportunities to give students the ability to learn concepts that interest them.
Set Time for Fun
Students of all ages enjoy some fun during their educational experiences. As an educator, Michael Treco acknowledges that games can be good ways to help make learning opportunities memorable and increase student engagement within the classroom. For example, many teachers use games as a method for group studying before an exam. This gives students different ways to interact with their learning material by incorporating concepts such as light competition into the experience. A benefit of integrating fun time into lessons is that it provides teachers with the opportunity to learn more about how their students learn in different environments. If the classroom enjoys games and seems to learn key concepts better when playing them, there is an incentive to integrate them into lessons more often!
More from Michael Treco
Michael Treco acknowledges that there are many people who would like to learn more about the educational field and core concepts such as student engagement, improving learning outcomes, and recent developments driving innovation within the space. To this point, Michael Treco would like to update this website with high-level resources pertaining to key concepts within his field and his areas of expertise. Michael Treco also realizes that his experience with art, volunteer work in education, and sustainability science puts him in the unique position to discuss his interests and help others gain a foundational understanding of their application to the world around us and would like to include various resources on these concepts as well.
Future posts from Michael Treco will include topics such as ways to contribute to a positive educational environment, the impact that student engagement has on educational communities, art and creative opportunities’ effect on our mental health, and recent developments in sustainability.
Are you interested in learning more about teaching, art, volunteer work, and science from an experienced educator such as Michael Treco? Be sure to check this website frequently for more insights, updates, and resources from Michael.