engagement

Aug 27 2014

The Quiet Kids

I recently received this link via my mom, who identified as a quiet student. She reminded me that I was quiet, too. The article suggests teachers think about quiet students and takes a few positions—seven in fact. She also writes:

The word “teacher” is a verb, not a noun. Hence this year, I encourage all teachers to break the barriers that separate them and their students and to create an inviting atmosphere where no student should hold back being themselves for fear of rejection. Teachers should aim to bring an accommodating atmosphere to the classroom where both extroverts and introverts can share their ideas and reach their potential without feeling pressurized. Your students might not thank you in- person, or write it in a card or note, but some day they may express their gratitude in an acceptance speech and thank you for giving the wallflower a chance to shine.

Being quiet doesn’t make us any less smart.
We are not a problem that you need to solve.
The feeling that comes with [the] hearing the phrase, “Speak up! I can’t hear you.”
Group projects can get really stressful for us.
We are not going to speak when we have nothing to say.
We have a personality.
Just because we’re quiet, doesn’t mean you have to give up on us.

I thought I’d weigh in because I don’t agree with everything she says.

First, teacher is a noun.

Second, on problems needing solving. I agree with this, because I know some people are naturally extroverted and some are naturally introverted. You can move in and out and beyond those labels, however, too. If a student is so quiet that their thoughts are never heard or their opinions never voiced, then that’s a problem. We can help students, and it doesn’t necessarily mean we make them into loud, outspoken students.

Third, if a student is a soft talker, and they cannot hear, we might want to be sensitive to why they are soft talkers, but at some point we have to develop their communication skills. Aside from a comedy sketch on Seinfeld, sometimes there are situations where we have to step out of our comfort zones.

Fourth, group projects can be stressful for some, and not a preferred method for learning. Yet learning to work with others is an important skill. Teachers should encourage group projects, but be sensitive that some students need help transitioning to this style of work. Using self-selecting groups or groups composed with students with similar interests, learning styles, or learning preferences, might be a good idea.

Fifth, our teachers should set a classroom climate where students can speak and be heard when they have something to say. Sometimes this may not be out loud, but through private journaling, online discussions, or in group discussions that are less intimidating. Students should be encouraged to take positions, to think critically, and we need to develop these skills. And yes, not talking a lot isn’t a sign of danger or concern.

Lastly, I hope no teacher would give up on a student because they don’t hear a lot from them in class. Instead, I know our teachers know how important it is to develop strong relationships with kids and in that, we have to remember that each relationship will be unique and develop on its own velocity vector. We might really connect with some students through talking, through an online chat, through glances and praise, or through written feedback. I’m probably leaving out at least half a dozen other ways we can begin to establish positive relationships with students to show that we care, we want to help them with their goals in life and in school, and that the way they are–either quiet or even exceedingly talkative–is just fine.

By John Hendron • General News • • Tags: engagement, relationships

May 12 2014

How engaged is engaged?

Over the weekend I encountered two infographics on Twitter that related to a conversation I had with Mrs. Cantor on Friday about some of the theoretical models we’re looking at to help us with our one-to-one rollout, including SAMR, TPACK, LoTI, HEAT, yadda, yadda, and yadda. On their own these models (on technology integration, twenty-first century learning, engaged instruction, etc.) might look good and make sense. However in a larger context, a real-world one, they do not necessarily play well together. Central in our discussion was the role of engagement, which is, be definition, a big concept. You’ve no doubt heard from a lot of us that we want engaged students in our schools. Dr. Geyer has shared with me that this is a two-part construct: it’s developed through our relationships with students and also the design of instruction to be actually, engaging.

One of the best-known names in the field of student engagement is Phillip Schlechty. Both Dr. Gretz and Dr. Geyer and I have consulted his work before, for instance, when developing the walk-through look-fors for student engagement. But I like even more Schlechty’s distinctions of 5 levels of student engagement.

This infographic by Dr. Rios is more comprehensive, and goes further to distinguish what an “engaged classroom” might look like, with a mixture of students at different engagement levels. I like that and know that is realistic. Anytime we attempt to think about “taking a temperature reading” for engagement, it’s one moment in time, and is a result not only of the content of a lesson, the relationship teachers have with students, but also the well-being of a student, their emotional state, and their level of anxiety (or interest in) the current activity. Furthermore, we cannot be fooled that engagement is a behavioral construct alone. To really try and measure engagement might be a foolhardy pursuit, when it is, at heart, a metacognitive state. I do think we can work with students to be mindful of being engaged, to recognize what it’s like when you’re engaged, and try and maximize the opportunities to foster engagement. We can do a lot to develop positive relationships with learners and designing instruction, for me, is all about personalization. I’ll save that for a future post.

But I did like the labels and created the above graphic to make these distinctions more clear. How might we describe the engagement levels of some of our students? Are they interested? Committed? Where is their attention?

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers • • Tags: engagement

Feb 25 2013

Reflection on Zen

In full disclosure, I was asked to read Reynolds’ Presentation Zen for a course I am taking on data presentation. Other texts that came recommended were those by Nathan Yau and Edward Tufte. I like the topics all three folks focus upon in their writing. Zen is probably the best to speak of, and perhaps not for the most obvious of reasons.

So, to paraphrase how the book came about, and before that, simply the idea, picture a guy riding on a train. He happens to be in Japan, where they serve food different than what you’d probably get on a train here in the U.S. (go figure). He’s had a fulfilling day, and he pulls out his bento box meal. He looks outside, and sees a majestic mountain–Mt. Fuji. So far, you can probably picture all of this: sun setting with a mountain outside, a fast-moving train, business people around him, and he pulls out his meal, a bento box. You’ve likely seen them at a Japanese restaurant.

He looks over and sees one of those business men looking at a handout (education parlance creeping in) of Power Point slides. They are chock-full of images and bulleted text, and the guy looks awful. We can’t be sure why he looks tired and upset, but Reynolds assumes its the tedium of reading through a “deck” on paper of poorly-prepared slides.

Inspiration hits. “Presentations,” it comes to Reynolds, “should be like my bento box. It’s beautiful, and everything is in its place, and it’s just enough. It won’t over-stuff you, or cause stress. Presentations need to take on the zen of the bento box.”

And that’s the gist of the book.

So, Reynolds prescribes to not do all the things I feel I shy away from doing now: using clip art, using bullets, using small text, using illegible charts and tables, etc. He also believes the presentation is the speaker. Slidware, such as Power Point or Keynote, is there to support the speaker, who ultimately, should be a story teller.

Yes. I know this, and who knows how I assimilated these ideas years ago. It probably was through Reynolds, his blog, and those who liked what he had to say.

But I got more out of this than I thought. He shares the ideas of Ben Zander, whose TED Talk I loved. To wit:

Look at their eyes. If their eyes are shining, you know you are doing it… if the eyes are not shining you have to ask yourself a question… Who am I being when I am not seeing a connection in the eyes of others?

He’s talking about engagement and when you know you have it. Reynolds talks about rows of chairs (in a lecture hall) not lending itself to engagement. Yes! He is a fan of Steve Jobs and found a reason why he was a successful speaker: you knew he believed what he was talking about. He was authentic.

And he talks about stimulating curiousity in your audience. For an educator, that is your students.

the problem today in many schools is that the methods of instruction do a poor job of nurturing students’ natural curiosity. This is nothing new. Einstein said many years ago that ‘it is in fact nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiousity of inquiry.’

He goes on to say quote Kenichiro Mogi, a brain scientist in Japan. “By forgetting how to be curious we are losing something really valuable. Because curiousity is the single most important trait that brought us here today.”

Chapter 10 is the one on engagement and it opens with the photo of a classroom. Reynolds says “We praise the best teachers for being able to engage their students. With or without multimedia, engagement is key.” Reynolds goes on to suggest that emotions are the key to winning an audience’s engagement.

Finally (no not finally, there’s more good wisdom in the book than what I’m rehashing here) there’s a mention of Brenda Ueland’s book If You Want to Write which speaks of finding a way to maximize your creativity. I believe creativity is at the heart of all good education. Reynolds writes:

Harnessing this creative energy and being fully present is more of an intuitive activity, not an intellectual one. Brenda compares this kind of creativity and connection to a wonderful musical performance.

And with that, I’ll leave you with two TED Talks. The first from Benjamin Zander, which I referenced above, and the second about the importance of creativity (and I believe too, curiousity).

By John Hendron • Learning for Teachers, Resource of Interest • • Tags: engagement, presentations

Feb 1 2013

How important is passion?

When we speak about “engagement,” especially as it pertains to us in our work as educators, or in the tasks of students as learners, it’s obvious that the word can mean so many different things.

Am I having fun?
Am I paying attention?
Am I focused?
Am I dedicated to the task?
Have I just become more curious?
Am I being creative?
Do I want to speak and participate in a discussion?
Do I have something to contribute to the group?

We don’t talk as much about passion. In one sense, we hope many of our educators who work with kids do have a passion for the job or vocation. Just as you would like your teachers to have a passion for teaching, you’d hope your school leaders had (a) passion for… school leadership. And we could even say that the goals go beyond teaching and leading. You could find yourself in this profession because you simply want to make the world a more interesting and better place, and you feel the best way you can do that is through educating young people.

But what about students’ passions in life? Is it our job (as educators) to worry so much about that? Or is passion something best left to a student’s parents?

We can talk about, as I already have, passion for a profession. But what about passions for other things? If we were to make a list of the passions of people we know, it would no doubt be varied and long. But what about some of our own? Certainly the list would be manageable?

I am willing to bet that if we could honestly list our passions, and then list how we spend our days, evenings, and weekends, we’d see one of several things.

We spend a lot of time doing the things we have a passion for, and we’re happy.
We don’t spend enough time doing the things we’re passionate about, and we long for more of it.
We don’t spend much time at all doing the things we’re passionate about, and we’re miserable.
We’re having a hard time coming up with what we are passionate about, and darn it, we’re not that happy doing what we’re doing, either.

I believe there is a type of magnetic relationship between passion and engagement. I would like to see more people saying #1 above, that they’re happy, and they’re doing the things for which they have passion.

One of my passions in life has been music. I am that general about it; I like listening to it, I like making it. There are many days I wish I was simply better at making it, as my love for making music has somewhat informed me that playing a major concerto on a stage with an orchestra must be fun. I’m never going to do that, but I can imagine having the sound around you, the technique to play overcome the challenge, and to hear the applause, must all be very awesome. It would be engaging.

While I believe a lot of different things may cause us to become engaged in an (educational) activity, I’d wager that one of those things, perhaps quite significant in comparison to the others we could name, would be passion.

Following your passion slavishly is not likely a good idea, however. I’m not saying we should all find our passions and devote ourselves to them shamelessly. Some passions could be harmful, destructive, or lacking in pragmatism. So…

We have a very definite passion about something, but following it leads to strife: either it’s too much of a good thing, or we’re simply misguided by the fact that we’re not very good at doing what we’re passionate about.

There’s a couple things I’ll say to conclude about this. First, the fact that #4 could exist for any kid growing up, to me, is sad. One of the major goals of growing up ought to be finding the things that inspire us, that instill passion.

Second, we ought to have opportunities to develop those passions into marketable skills. Every passion doesn’t need to be our vocation. If I had a passion for riding in speedboats, I could meet that a number of ways, including becoming a professional racer, or by becoming a successful businessman and buying a boat for weekend cruises. A K-12 education may not ever fully prepare us for transforming our passion into a career, but it should certainly give us opportunities to develop towards that goal, or else learn that the goal is misguided.

Third, and finally, our passions help define who we are. And if that really is true, then those same passions are a huge key to unlocking our engagement. Those passions will inform my values and my choices, and will help me to put myself into pleasing situations and take myself out of painful ones. Engagement, I believe, is a mental switch. I’m more likely to engage in something when it leads to what I’m passionate about. Conversely, I’m more likely to “tune out” when the activity doesn’t lead to my passion.

Which brings me back to #4. How engaged can I ever be, if I’m not even sure what I have a passion for? It speaks to me that schools should be:

concerned with the concepts of passion and engagement,
primarily focused on offering a variety of different types of opportunities in learning that reflect the interests and curiosity of young minds,
helping kids develop the skills and competencies in the things they want to try.

I’m being totally philosophical here, without citing any experts or research, but if any of this resonates with you, do at least this: Find out what the kids around you are passionate about and figure out what you (if you’re an educator) are doing about it. What might become of this challenge?

You strike up a conversation about the child’s interest, strengthening your relationship with that student;
You change a lesson plan to accommodate a passion;
You modify a lesson with differentiated options, so that students are not all doing the same thing;
You provide students time to think about who they are;
You talk more to parents, in an effort to try and learn more about their student;
You exercise leadership in joining a school committee to offer extra-curricular enrichment;
You take the time to share with kids at least one of your passions in life in an effort for them to better know you (improving relationships.)
We reflect on who we are, and what we’re about, and self-correct.

By John Hendron • General News • • Tags: engagement, passion

Oct 22 2012

How do you activate the desire to learn?

I started reading a book that’s been in my library for some time, but up until now, I hadn’t had the time to read. It’s called Activating the Desire to Learn, and it seemed quite appropriate for our recent focus on relationships and student engagement. In fact, it’s perfect.

Alfie Kohn, from 1993:

Rewards for learning undermine intrinsic motivation.

Eric Jensen, from 1995:

Forget the use of rewards… Make school meaningful, relevant, and fun. Then you won’t have to bribe the students.

Sullo, the author, likes the theory by William Glasser called choice theory. It’s based on biological understanding, and tells us we have four basic psychological needs:

Belonging or connecting;
Power or competence;
Freedom (to make choices), and
Fun

One very popular quote from Sullo:

A joyless classroom never inspires students to do high-quality academic work on a regular basis.

Of the methods described later in the book, one that seemed very powerful to me was “class meetings” led by students. He also talks about the dynamics involved in bringing folks together in circles, instead of traditional classroom rows. I think if we’re going to truly address issues of student engagement with learning in our schools, we have to look for ways to:

further develop relationships with students to ensure they feel connected to their school community,
celebrate achievement and have conversations of how kids can apply newly acquired knowledge and skills,
give students choices about their learning and opportunities for personal development,
strive to make learning appropriately challenging for each student. Great learning happens between an intersection of curiosity, challenge, and confidence to succeed.

By John Hendron • Resource of Interest • • Tags: engagement, learning

Sep 19 2012

Engagement

This morning, I know we’ll be asked in our leadership meeting to share a schooling experience from our past that demonstrated the concept of engagement. I’m always cautious about this word because in schools engagement is part of a recipe for learning success, but it’s not the only ingredient. And alone, it may be “tasty,” but it has to whipped, stirred, or kneaded in such a way that something greater than entertainment comes out of the mixture.

For me, the two examples I’d share are from my time in the Avon Lake Public Schools in Ohio. My eighth grade Spanish teacher Mrs. McCann was someone who always seemed to care for me — not just as a student — but as a person. This made me feel awfully special to know that someone outside my family was looking out for me. But I ultimately think it helped with engagement, too. That rapport she built with students and getting to know them as people helped us in our comfort level to learn. And that “comfort level” is akin to having the oven at the right temperature, or allowing dough to rest, for the correct amount of time, in a recipe.

Furthermore, I recalled my time as a member of the Avon Lake Shoremen Marching Band.

This was an extra-curricular activity. (And yes, although I won’t point myself out, I do see myself in that video from 1992, along with many of my high school friends.) The musical experience was engaging. But the part that was magic was the knowledge that we were good, and that after a halftime show, we’d accomplished something great. It was something any one of us alone could not accomplish. It was the satisfaction of knowing we worked together as a team to create an awesome show, a “wall of sound,” with the suicide line (trumpets and trombones), batons rising in the air set on fire, and herald trumpets purchased from the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Marching off the field on a Friday night was among the most engaging experiences I had as a high school student because of the experience of achieving something great as a team.

So, I’d pass the question onto anyone in our community. What truly engaging experiences did you have in your school experience? How can we do something simliar in our Division today?

By John Hendron • General News • • Tags: engagement