Engagement, as a condition that exists in the classroom, is not always easily defined. To steal a quote from Justice Potter Stewart when describing something hard to define: “I know it when I see it.” There is a certain energy in a classroom of engaged students. There is movement, chatter, discussion, disagreement, and no one person is the center of attention. We can say all we want about student centered learning, but until we realize that students want to be in charge of their own learning, we are going to have a hard time engaging them. Do not get me wrong, we have to guide, persuade, sell, and curate their direction, but learners want to be actively involved in the lesson. So many times I walk down the halls at PHS and notice the varied degrees of active student learning. When students are not passively listening or completing desk work, they are much more involved….engaged. I can watch the same student in various classes and see the difference an active classroom has. The engaged class is not waiting for the bell to ring, they are disappointed that it does. The challenge for teachers is to make the content available in an active exercise. In an engaging classroom students interact with information, resources, each other, and perhaps the world at large instead of being dependent on a text or the teacher for their learning.
What Does Student Engagement Look Like?
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Another year comes to close. Where does the time go? We started in August with freshman orientation and in what seems like just a few minutes later, we are getting ready to say goodbye to our seniors. This is always a bittersweet time of year for me. I am so happy to witness the accomplishments of our students. Like any other school we have a lot of amazing students. For them there is so much hope, so much promise. There are so many moments to remember. Every once in a while a student says something that just makes every minute of toil worth spending. A moment to say “ah, this is why I do what I do!” The other day, a student told me that we have a faculty the talks with students instead of down to students. You all care about us. I know I can talk to you any time I need to.” He made my day. No, he made my year! That kind of feedback, just once every so often, is all I need to keep doing this job I have been blessed with. Often I am asked this time of year, “Bet your glad the year is over?” I can honestly say no. I miss the kids almost as soon as they are gone. I miss being able to tease them. To witness their unabashed energy and their ability to see things through a lens (youth) I no longer have. They are not jaded by a view clouded by age and disappointments. They are so capable and talented and when they choose to tap into those qualities they have very few boundaries to what they can do. It is my hope that they choose work hard and realize the only real boundaries they face are between their ears.
(This is a rambling, unedited mess. Maybe I will come back and re-write it, maybe not) If you have noticed, I have not written much here lately. I have pulled back on my social media participation. Part of that is out of necessity. Being part of a team that designs and prepares to build a new school is incredibly time-consuming. Yet, there are other reasons why I have not blogged, tweeted, or participated in my usual technology pursuits. I have experienced some personal disillusionment brought on by several factors. My school is being asked to do more with less. The state sends us less money, but tells us to completely revamp our curriculum, change our teacher and administrative evaluation systems, and prepare for yet more exams based on our new curriculum (and we are supposed to use the results to evaluate staff?!) Hard to get my staff and student body fired up about that. . Yet, in some ways we have been lucky. The districts that govern our school have been very fiscally conservative and we have been able to avoid the draconian cuts our neighboring districts have experienced. If things do not change for our state in the next year, though, (fat chance) we will be looking at some serious cuts next year. The new PARCC exams that will be here in a blink of an eye will require us to upgrade our technology. Three years ago we seemed to be on top of the technology wave with lots of new computer technology, but three years of austere budgets leaves us with a very outdated network. We will be forced to upgrade what we have (with resources to be determined?) to do what? Give our students standardized tests? To keep myself moving forward in these times I choose to spend more time with students. Spare moments are spent in hallways, classrooms, and the media center. I like to talk to and tease our students. They remind me everyday why I do what I do. Connecting within the building is more important than connecting anywhere else. Leadership is challenging on the best days. Leading in the times that I have done a poor job of describing is very hard. I know that I cannot let the circumstances we face keep me from being enthusiastic. I have to keep us moving in such a way that we keep our students as our key focus. Sometimes I need to be the crazy guy that
For whatever reason, during the last week I have been inundated with messages about items or ideas that are touted as the “real” game-changers for education. I guess it is human nature to look for the “magic” bullet that makes everything “right” (whatever that is). I have seen the be-all-to-end-all game changers masqueraded as devices, curriculum implementation strategies, applications bought from a cloud based store, conferences, professional development strategies, and test preparation programs (ugh!). The purpose of this little reflection is not to be cynical. I guess it is mainly a self reminder to look first in the image on the left of this short piece of…well, wisdom? I am sure many of the things that have me thinking do have value, but none of them have any real value without people who are willing to change, learn, take risks, and….FAIL! The real game changer is what you see when you look in the mirror.
What happens when 75 adults and 300 teenagers “lower the waterline” and let others really know them? What is the affect of bullies telling their victims they are sorry in front of a large crowd of their peers? How do students react when they find out that many of their school peers have experienced some horrible emotional situations? What is it like for students when their teachers, school administrators, school board members, and other community members share true stories about their lives and shed a tear or two? What is the affect of six hours of laughing, dancing, listening, crying, hugging, and caring for people in ways never thought of before? CULTURE CHANGE! The building of empathy and understanding. The realization that we are all so much more alike than different. The awareness of what we say, do with and to others has a major effect that can be both life affirming or devastating.