A recent survey, conducted by the EdWeek Research Center between December 2022 and February 2023, found that 87% of teachers saw lower motivation in students and 82% recognized lower student morale after the pandemic, but no one needed to tell us that. Brian and I had already noticed this in our classrooms. Assignments felt more transactional, attention spans were diminishing, and learning styles were changing. Sure we have observed many moments through our years in the classroom where teaching and learning shifted, but the last couple of years have signaled a monumental movement in education. Like many of you, we had a choice: keep doing what we had always done or rethink our approach.
We chose the later and in many ways are still actively choosing this every time we walk into the classroom. Phones in the classroom, lack of teacher respect, and ChatGPT just to name a few forced us to think about student engagement. What does student engagement look like in the 21st century? How does this affect our teaching? We started by shifting our focus from the problem to what true engagement looks like in the classroom. Here are our core beliefs:
1. Learning occurs when students are actively involved, using multiple modalities in creative ways.
I’m (Susan) the classroom at the end of the hall – you know the one: the loud class that seems chaotic where students spill into the hall and everyone from colleagues to admin to even me at times wonder what’s really going on. Elementary school is often marked by wonder and creativity with students engaging all senses by listening to birds, tracing letters in sand, and looking up in the sky to identify clouds. Somewhere along the way students become more tied to their desks and we lose the element of purposeful play in the classroom, and it’s time to bring it back.
Action Step: Create at least one lesson each week that involves multiple senses such as hexagonal thinking (Cult of Pedagogy) or walking out a poem (Teach Living Poets).
2. Students see meaning and value in the work they complete.
The long-time Michigan State basketball coach, Tom Izzo, once explained the difference between college players today and those from 30 years ago. He said that three decades ago, a player would run through a brick wall for a coach.
Today, the case is different.
Now, players need to know why they are running through the brick wall first, then they will do it.
Students are no different. They are motivated if they see value in the work. They have to know why the work will be meaningful.
Action Step: Start or end class with a mini-sermon. They are foundational to my class. They have become foundational to Dave Stuart Jr.’s class as well.
3. Students are connected to something bigger than themselves and feel safe taking academic risks.
A teacher in Arkansas once offered me a glimpse into her classroom. She said, “I want hold my students to the highest standard, but I am there every step of the way if they falter.” She was, and still is, a teacher leader because she sees what her students can become if they embrace the pursuit of their own excellence. Often, they can’t see it themselves because they are living in the here and now. But when she offers these visions, For the first time in their lives they see that what’s immediate is small, and what’s big is who they can become if they master the material.
Action Step: While you may not be able to reach every student every day, Todd Finley provides a way to build meaningful relationships with five each day in “A Focused Practice for Relationship Building.”
4. Literature speaks to students about themselves.
Most of us became English teachers because we like reading books and believe in the power of them. Loving literature, however, can be our kryptonite. Without realizing it, our passion for literature or specific texts causes us to be heavy handed in our interpretation of a text thus leaving little room for students to experience the literature themselves. We must force ourselves to step aside and provide students with opportunities to read and discover a text on their own.
Action Step: Incorporate The Perfect Way to Begin Any Novel which allows students a personal connection at the start of the novel and is a way to connect to thematic ideas at the end.
5. Learning through collaboration is an essential part of a classroom community.
On day one I tell my students that we are a learning community, and I am going to learn alongside them throughout the year. Then I spend the rest of the year sharing with them exactly how and what I’m learning. It’s important not only for every student to feel like they have something to offer to their peers but also for us to build an environment where every student feels comfortable contributing.
Action Step: Rearrange desks frequently so discussion groups and group sizes are always changing or include activities such as Tri-color annotations which require students to work together.
6. Questions are open and inviting to all.
Sometimes I catch myself only asking questions to receive an answer. It looks something like this:
What I really want to do is use questions as portals to student thinking. When posed broadly and with open-ended possibilities, good questions can lead us down the breadcrumb trail to deep understanding of not only what students think, but how they think.
Action Step: Terry Heick has a great guide to questioning techniques on Teach Thought. Use his guide on the strengths and weaknesses of questions during a prep period and use it as a self-reflection tool to evaluate your questions from the previous period.
7. Multiple answers reveal the diversity of students and how each one thinks.
This is the standardized tested generation. Students have been conditioned their entire school career to choose A, B, C, D, or E. But in secondary English classes, we know that not everything is that quantifiable, but breaking students from the “there’s no one right answer” mentality can be challenging. We all bring different experiences and ways of thinking to texts so our interpretations and experience of texts will be different. Encouraging – even celebrating these differences – should be our daily work.
Action step: Bring back annotations, and in general leave directions as open as possible. Some scaffolding and directions for annotations at the beginning of the term may be necessary, but the more we allow students to make and demonstrate authentic connections with a text, the more personal and meaningful the work becomes.
8. Technology is a tool for 21st century thinking.
Our students are digital natives, and we cannot ignore the influence of technology in today’s society. But posting an assignment online is not the same as being intentional about creating assignments that engage students with technology. Teaching research and individualizing student learning no longer require a trip to the library, and most teachers were making these adjustments in their classrooms when AI forced us to rethink writing. We believe technology in itself is neither good or bad but rather a tool to utilize in lessons, and neither completely ignoring it or completely submersing our lessons with it is the answer. We must be thoughtful about how technology aids student learning.
Action step: Consider starting a classroom blog. I have been participating in a poetry blog exchange for several years and love how learning and collaboration are extended beyond the classroom walls.
9. The teacher facilitates an environment in which students discover knowledge on their own terms.
With any assignment, my students want to see samples from previous years. They want clear steps articulated so they know what to do every moment along the way. They want a well-defined rubric that identifies where each point will come from and how it will be judged. While all those things are beneficial to learning outcomes, they also create a conformist classroom where every exists in the safe space of duplication. Some of my best student work comes when there are no models and no outlined steps of completion. Sometimes, it works best when I give them a few loose guidelines and I offer them the hope that if they trust their instincts and the individuality of their own thinking, they will get it right.
Action Step: You can see a bunch of lessons that allow for this autonomy and creativity in 100% Engagement such as the Quick-Fire Challenge, Wrong-Memes Only, and Mastering the Masters.
10. Lessons are wonderfully dynamic, drawing inspiration from beyond the walls of the classroom.
Human nature often dictates that we operate in scarcity mode, and this plays out in how we approach the classroom. Set curriculums, rigid grading practices, and required lesson plan templates often feel constraining but we must fight against only looking in and instead look outward for new ideas and ways of connection. Ultimately, I control what happens in E216 – the content, the culture, and the connections; therefore, I can keep my lessons engaging by personal growth and learning and let that spill over into the classroom.
Action step: What is one song, piece of art, billboard, or anything else you have encountered this week that you can tie into a lesson?
Brian (a high school teacher and basketball coach on Long Island) and Susan (a high school teacher in Atlanta) met on Twitter (#rip) over a decade ago and became fast friends bonding over teaching literature, building classroom culture, and the importance of a good cup of coffee. Their book, 100% Engagement: 33 Lessons to Promote Participation, Beat Boredom, and Deepen Learning in the ELA Classroom, is available through Corwin. (use SAVE20 for 20% discount at Corwin).
