Choice is a waypoint on one route to engagement

Could a classroom be transformed into a place where "on task" and "off task no longer had any meaning, where all student activity that led to learning was honored and promoted?

@GeraldAungst poses this disruptive question in his recent post entitled On-Task is not a waypoint on the route to engagement. He describes a four-quadrant grid with On-Task as the horizontal axis and Engaged as the vertical axis.

He correctly observes that "While we'd like to have all students in the upper-left quadrant (on task and engaged), we seem to think that the lower-left quadrant is the next-best place to be." And he asks, "What if instead of forcing kids to the left, we looked for ways to raise them up into the quadrant of off task but engaged? What kinds of teacher action would encourage a student to engage on his terms without necessarily participating in our activity?"

The distinction that @GeraldAungst articulates between on-task and engaged relates to Phil Schlechty's distinction between ritualistic engagement and authentic engagement. With ritualistic engagement, students go through the motions of a task, complying with the instructions of teachers, but not fully committing themselves to a task because they do not intrinsically value it.

I commented on Gerald Aungst's blog about practical considerations relating to his proposal for a classroom where ALL student activity that leads to learning is honored and promoted. Gerald appropriately responded, "If practical things are getting in the way of learning, maybe we have to change what we consider practical . . .Change the system, and what is practical may change."

Honoring ALL student activity that leads to learning is an incredibly high standard. Accepting Aungst's challenge to "change the system" with this high standard in mind leads to many disruptive questions. How should the student day be organized? What type of classes, if any, would be held? To what extent, if at all, should we rely on direct instruction? How should we assess and recognize student progress in learning? Is there still a role for course credits/Carnegie units?

And this brings me to the key role of student choice. Even within the confines of the current system (standardized tests, bell schedules, Carnegie units, etc), educators can increase the likelihood of student engagement by providing more student choice. This leads to greater variety of student activity within a classroom, even if it does not achieve the proposal of honoring and promoting ALL student activity that leads to learning.

Imagine a continuum that runs from teacher control to honoring ALL student activity that leads to learning. Providing students more choices moves us along the continuum.

We can provide students different types of choices. Broad or narrow. Relating to means or outcomes. In any case, as we provide students more choices, we will open our minds to the possibilities and avenues towards honoring ALL student activity that leads to learning.

To use the language of @GeraldAungst, choice is a waypoint on one of the routes to student engagement. 

You might also be interested in reading, 

Fretting about Authentic Projects

Students & Transformative Work

Using Technology to Transform Teaching and Learning

Kindergartners Do Work That Matters

Gallup's Five Questions Regarding Student Engagement

If you were to ask students just five questions in an effort to gauge their engagement, what would you ask?

@punyamishra blogged recently regarding a five-item Gallup survey that concludes that student engagement drops precipitously as students progress through school. @punyamishra did not disagree with the Gallup conclusion, but he questions whether the five items Gallup used were the best measure of student engagement.

Gallup asked students to respond to these five statements:

I have a best friend at school

I feel safe in this school

My teachers make me feel my schoolwork is important

At this school, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day

In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good schoolwork

Should Gallup have omitted the statements relating to best friends and feeling safe? It makes sense that these items would correlate positively with student engagement: students are more likely to fully commit themselves to their schoolwork in a positive, safe school climate. However, even if positive, safe school climates are a necessary condition for high levels of student engagement, one should not conclude that high levels of student engagement exist in this situation. Educators need to take advantage of this climate by giving students high quality work.

Asking students whether they believe their schoolwork is important comes the closest to measuring the heart of student engagement. When students value schoolwork, they are more likely to fully commit themselves and to persist when they face difficulties. However, should Gallup have omitted the reference to teachers in the third item? Teachers greatly influence student engagement with the quality of work they provide, but this item could just ask students to respond to "my schoolwork is important."

The statement relating to students' sense of efficacy is also on the right track. Although we need to stretch students to work in areas in which they are not comfortable, we can build engagement with opportunities for students to experience a sense of mastery, a sense of being in the zone.

The item relating to recognition or praise is certainly on the right track to the extent that it is asking about students' opportunities for affirmation. Teachers can promote student engagement by designing tasks and activities so that the work of students is visible to persons who are important to students. Students are more likely to be engaged when they know that they quality of their performance matters to peers and others whose opinions matter to them. We need to be careful with this particular item. When students sole motivation for working hard is the pursuit of a good grade or other external recognition then the engagement, using Phil Schlechty's terminology, is ritualistic, rather than authentic. Authentic engagement leads to deeper, longer-lasting learning.

Even if we would create different items or approaches to measure student engagement, kudos to Brandon Busteed and Gallup for their focus on student engagement. Asking students about their level of engagement can provide rich information to guide our efforts to engage students in meaningful work.

Check out these other blog posts regarding student engagement:

Design Qualities that Promote Student Engagement

Discussion of #Edchat regarding Student Engagement

Designing a Mousetrap Vehicle and Student Engagement

Building Engagement by Giving Students Opportunities to do Transformative Work

Spaghetti Boils Over During Student Engagement #edchat

“How do teachers know when students are engaged?” asked the organizers of last Tuesday’s #edchat.  They received an earful of responses!

@Blairteach quipped, “Maybe it's like the Supreme Court definition of porn--you know it when you see it.” @Techsavvyed observed, “You measure engagement in the classroom same way you decide if it's cold enough outside for a coat, you just know.”

Some participants described specific times they know a student is engaged in learning.

@PernilleRipp: “When they go home and blog about it” and “when they groan because you asked them to get ready for something else.”

@8Rinaldi: “When students volunteer to give up snack/recess to Skype with other students in diff time zone.”

@BosleyAmy: “When lunch lady asks about what's being taught bc kids excitedly talking about it during lunch.”

@MarkBarnes19: “When they ask insightful, topical questions that shock you.”

@BroomerJG: “When they can't stop talking about a topic.”

@ahenrey: “When they refuse to go to recess. When their friends come to get them and end up joining the lesson.”

@DebbieFuco: “When they work on their Glogs and Prezis at all hours of the night.”

Other participants identified words they associate with engagement in learning.

Passion @21stPrincipal: It “happens when students are passionately connected with the learning.”

Excitement @LopezBraus: “Isn’t true engagement the same thing as excitement?” 

Flow @MbTeach: “When I think of engagement, I think of flow--completely losing yourself in what you are doing because it's so engrossing or challenging.”

@MrsBeck25, @Cantiague_Lead, @DoctorJeff and others focused on student ownership of the work as another key indicator of engagement in learning. When students own the work, they are not just working for a grade.

@VMC_Teachers: “An engaged student doesn't care much how to ‘win points’, rather than gain knowledge/ability/understanding."

@Elizeducation: “The engaged student is not worried about the grade, but more likely to get a good one.”

@Lhowe100: “You know students are engaged when they don't ask, ‘Is this going to be on the test?"

@TekkieTalk: “I have had students work on projects after a grade has been given because they wanted it to be better.”

@Matt_Arguello: “If they're spending their own time discussing, we've done something right.”

@AndrewTeacher: “When they talk about home or personal change I'm pleased.”

@cybraryman1: “When they take the learning home on their own & want to extend their knowledge you know they are really engaged.”

@Vmc_teachers: “There is a drive, perseverance, a feeling that the student takes it personal rather than as a task.”

The concept of student interest in work/learning extending beyond getting a good grade is at the heart of the distinction that Phil Schlechty makes between ritualistic engagement and authentic engagement. For other posts on Schlechty and student engagement click here, here, and here. @KStansberry asked, “Lots of tweets on engagement (that suggest that it is) caring about more than grades, but can desire for good grades help promote engagement?” Students may be compliant. They may work hard to get a good grade. But this compliance or ritualistic engagement differs from authentic engagement.

@BlairTeach: “Keep in mind there is a BIG difference between ‘compliance’ & engagement.

@Delta_DC: “We need to recognize difference btwn engagement & conformity.”

@StumpTeacher: “We can't confuse engagement with ‘on task’ behaviors.”

@BroomerJG: “Engagement should never be confused with being on task.”

Authentic engagement leads to deeper, longer-lasting understanding. This occurs because students are more likely to analyze, synthesize, and apply information rather than just memorize it. They ask better questions and make better connections. They persist when work is difficult, leading to greater understanding.

@davidwees engagement is often the gateway to learning

@JudyBrunner: “When engaged, students ask meaningful questions and want meaningful answers. They then follow up with more thought provoking?’s.”

@MrsBeck25: I “notice my students are engaged when responses are their own interpretation and not a regurgitation of the text book.”

@Lookforsun: “I do believe perseverance is part of engagement, a very important part.”

So, the latest #edchat certainly expanded participants’ understanding of student engagement, as indicated by positive comments regarding the #edchat. @Ktvee even commented, “True teacher engagement is when your spaghetti boils over because you can't quit talking about engagement on edchat.” @Ktvee, I hope the #edchat was worth the mess in your kitchen!

I hope to blog in the near future regarding other aspects of the #edchat regarding student engagement, including the discussion of whether educators can take steps to increase student engagement.

Special thanks to @jswiatek for maintaining the #edchat archive. To see the archive of the #edchat discussion regarding student engagement, click here. #edchat is held at noon and 7 p.m., EST, on Tuesdays. For more information, click here.