What Does "Engagement" Look Like? (11/7/2014)

posted Nov 7, 2014, 9:59 AM by Ellen Crews   [ updated Dec 3, 2014, 7:43 AM ]

What does “engagement" look like?   I have been asking myself that question all week, and I am still not sure that I am any closer to a definitive answer.  During a group activity, I saw a group of boys all inspecting the inside of another boy's mouth (apparently he had a mighty fine canker sore).  Less than a minute later, they were all on their feet and arguing about how to create a graph.  Is that engagement?  I guess I could be a lot better about classroom structure and routines. I tend to find it amusing when students get up and do a victory dance when they get a problem right.  I don’t care (or notice) if they are walking around the room or lying on the floor while they work. My room can quickly turn in to a disaster zone.  There are times that students are leaning over their work, debating their next step, and there are times when they are looking into each others’ mouths.  Sometimes when I sit in a meeting, I look around at the room full of adult teachers and administrators.  There are times when we are adamantly debating our policy or next steps.  While I have never noticed anyone looking into anyone else’s mouth, I have seen people cheking email, tweeting,  playing solitaire  on their phones, or quietly writing blog posts.  Are we engaged?  Maybe engagement comes in waves.  To get true engagement, where students are totally immersed in the task, do they need the freedom to occasionally be off task? I'll keep asking myself.