The compliant, dutiful learner is easy to manage, does what’s
expected, and participates when there’s little risk of being wrong. They follow
directions, complete assignments, and get good grades, but their hearts aren’t
in it.
Engaged students, on the other hand, follow their own train of
thought, focus on the learning, and share their thoughts without being
prompted, sometimes without consideration of their classmates. Straightforward
questions bore them, but questions that are personally relevant or that require
teasing out ambiguity fascinate them. These learners take risks; they’re not
afraid to try something new. Engaged learners can be needy. They’re often
annoyed by interruptions, they question everything, and they’ll follow an idea
even if it takes them outside the parameters of the assignment.”
Compliance may make for a smoothly run classroom, but it doesn’t
help students expend the effort they need to meet the demands of challenging
standards or take what they’ve learned and apply it to their lives.
How do we get real classroom engagement?
Provide clarity. When you’re in the weeds of daily instruction, you may lose
sight of the larger purpose. It’s vital you make sure that every assignment,
question, and conversation is connected to a clear learning goal. Ask yourself,
what am I asking students to do? How do all these pieces fit together? What’s
the point of learning this? How can students track their progress over time? Students
should ponder big-picture essential questions about the unit.
Offer a relevant context. A teacher can become frustrated when she introduces a new unit
on perimeter and area and students ask, Why
do we need to know this? Why is it so important to be able to do this? and Why will we ever need to know this in life?
Our students need to know that the work they’re being asked to do is relevant
and important to them – right now. Someday
is not a day of the week.
Create a supportive classroom
culture. Students get discouraged and disengaged
when their work is criticized and given low grades. Can students access the
material, understand the discussion, and meet the challenges you’re giving
them? Have likely misconceptions been anticipated, have students been
introduced to difficult vocabulary, is there a scaffold for handling new
concepts, and is individual support available to help them revise their work
when it isn’t up to par?
Provide an appropriate level of
challenge. Students may be able to complete
assignments that can be easily Googled or “Khanified”, but they don’t respect
them and there’s little value-added. We have to train them for the world
they’ll inherit, and in that world it’s unlikely that employers will pay them
to solve a non-problem. Teachers need to give assignments that ask students to
frame ideas, questions, or predictions; to figure out a real problem; and to
risk failure to get to the final product. Offer experiences that enable them to
play with ideas; solve complex, real-world problems; and dig deeper – for
example, interviewing a personal hero, figuring out a way to cover themselves
so they won’t get poison ivy next summer, and designing headphones that won’t
cause long-term hearing problems.
