Melissa, Welcome to teaching. I wish you much success as you get settled into your new professional role. As to ideas about how to motivate and engage students I wish suggest that you use case studies and role playing in addition to what you are already doing. Both of these strategies get students involved and sharing during class. I use a lot of small group activities and so those students that are shy can feel comfortable in contributing to class discussions. Use graphics, videos and other media to illustrate your content points. Students like variety and change of pace in learning so program both into your instructional planning. With the average adult attention span being 15-18 minutes use mini-lectures to share content and then do an activity to reinforce what has just been taught. All of these methods will serve to strengthen your delivery and instructional style development. Good luck! Gary Gary Meers, Ed.D.