After
listening to an ASCD podcast featuring an interview with A.Wade
Boykin and Pedro Noguera, the authors of Creating
the Opportunity to Learn: Moving from Research to Practice to Close the Achievement
Gap, I am thinking that this question about engagement should be added to coaching conversations and
PLC explorations of teaching and learning.
The authors
use the questions:
What is your
strategy for getting students more deeply engaged and invested in learning?
What’s your
strategy to get students to care about learning?
They define engagement (ASCD Education Update
page 6) as:
Behavioral Engagement-on-task
behaviors including persistence, asking questions, taking part in discussions,
asking for help
Cognitive Engagement-
deep involvement and effort to understand a concept or master a skill
Affective engagement-
high interest, positive affect and attitude, curiosity, and task involvement
Boykin and
Noguera report that low performing students often receive more instructional
time than other students but less engaged time…a process not likely to
close the achievement gap.
In an earlier blog, I noted Phil Schelechty’s thoughts about judging engagement:
On task behavior can be confused with
engagement. A teacher cannot judge engagement simply through observation. Has
the student persisted? How committed is the student? Why is the student
investing attention? Conversation with students is critical to uncover the
level of engagement. This conversation only can happen if a trusting
relationship has been built with students.
“How do you build trusting
relationships that support engagement?” is another question administrators and coaches should
be asking.
A website for Oregon Small Schools examines how personalized learning
environments can drive engagement.
The personal connection between
teachers and students also allows teachers to push students farther. Teachers
can demand higher levels of achievement because their expectations are based on
a personal understanding of students’ capabilities. Because of their sustained,
mutual trust, students grant teachers the authority to challenge them as
learners.
In a personalized learning environment,
students are
treated as individuals
given responsibility
spoken to honestly
and treated with dignity and respect
Through these connections teachers
get to know students well; they become familiar with students’ learning styles,
interests, backgrounds, and goals. Knowing who their students are and how they
learn, teachers can adjust instruction to leverage students’ strengths and
build curriculum around issues relevant to their lives.
Coaching
and PLC conversations can increase teachers’ conscious planning for student
engagement.
Footnote:
ASCD Education Update,( Volume 54
Number 3), March 2012, Making Research a Reality: Educators Can Close the
Achievement Gap with Lessons Learned, Richard Allen








