Student Engagement:
What Can Curriculum Coordinators Do?
Bill Rich
william_rich@ymail.com
Quotation to Frame Our Day
If you want to build a ship,
don’t drum up people to
collect wood and assign tasks,
but rather
teach them to long for the sea.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Why is engagement so important?
“Faith without works is dead.”
“Learning without engagement is dead.”
Social,
Emotional,
and Cognitive
Needs
Curriculum and Cooking
Precision
&
Romance
Today’s Agenda
1. Framing the Day: Social, Emotional Underpinnings of Engagement
2. Schechty on Student Engagement
3. Daniel Pink’s M.A.P. to Engagement
4. Cognitive Science and Student Engagement
5. Pre-Lunch Exit Card: How Can We Use this Knowledge to
Cultivate More Engagement?
6. TBD
7. Wrap Up Exit Card
Preview of One Question: What can I contribute to our wiki?
Schelchty on Student Engagement
Engagement:
Students who are engaged:
-Student sees activity as personally
meaningful
-Student interest strong enough to fuel
persistence in the face of difficulty
-Student’s emphasis is on optimum
performance and on “getting it right.”
-Learn at high levels and have a
profound grasp of what they learn
-Retain what they learn
-Can transfer what they learn to new
settings
Strategic Compliance
-The official reason for the work is not
the reason the student does the work-she substitutes her own goals (grades,
class rank, parent approval, college)
for the goals of the work
-If the task doesn’t met the extrinsic
goal, the students will abandon it
Students who are strategically
complaint:
-Learn at high levels, but have a
superficial grasp of what they learned
-Do not retain their learning
-Usually cannot transfer their learning
Schelchty on Student Engagement
Ritual Compliance:
Students who are ritually
compliant:
-The works has no meaning for the
student, but the student avoids
-Learn only at low levels
confrontation
-Do not retain what they learn
-The emphasis is on minimum
-Seldom can transfer their learning
requirements--what do I have to do to
get this over with and get out of here?
Retreatism:
Students who are in retreat:
-The student disengages and
-Do not participate, and therefore
withdraws
learn little or nothing from the
-The students sees little to no
task/assigned activity
relevance to the work, and at times
doesn’t even understand what they’re
being asked to do
Schelchty on Student Engagement
Rebellion:
-The student is disengaged from
classroom activities/assignments
-The student is actively engaged in
another agenda
-The student creates her own means
and goals
-The student’s rebellion is often seen
as acting out--and often encouraging
others to rebel
Students who are in rebellion:
-Learn little or nothing from the
task/activity assigned
-Sometimes learn a great deal from
what they elect to do, though rarely
that which is expected
-Develop poor work habits and
negative attitudes toward intellectual
tasks and formal education
Daniel Pink’s M.A.P.
Mastery
Autonomy
Purpose
Cognitive Science &
Student Engagement
Team Task
1. Listen to these two stories.
2. What learning/teaching tactics
could educators transfer
from these two stories to their settings?
3. Have fun.
Daniel Coyle’s The Talent Code
Story #1
Clarissa & Her Clarinet:
The Thirteen-Year-Old Girl
Who Did a Month’s Practice
in 6 Minutes
What learning/teaching tactics
could educators transfer
from this story to their settings?
Story #2
Clifford’s Quest:
Discovering the Secret to
Brazil’s Soccer Success
Combine and prioritize your lists.
Prepare to share.
Clarity
dissolves
resistance.
-Heath & Heath
Dr. Chris Jernstedt
Opinion-Based Pedagogy
vs.
Research-Based Pedagogy
Dr. Jernstedt & the
Farmer
Three Key Findings from
How People Learn
1.
Students come to the classroom with preconceptions
about how the world works. If their initial understanding is
not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and
information that are taught, or they may learn them for
purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions
outside of the classroom.
Prompt:
So how do we elicit students’ pre and emerging
conceptions throughout their learning?
Fish is Fish
Leo Lionni
Three Key Findings from
How People Learn
2.
To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must:
(a) have a deep foundation of factual knowledge, (b)
understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual
framework, and (c) organize knowledge in ways that facilitate
retrieval and application.
Prompt:
What do we want students to know and understand?
What should we ask students to do (retrieve and apply) with
their new skills and knowledge?
Three Key Findings from
How People Learn
3.
A “metacognitive” approach to instruction can help
students learn to take control of their own learning by
defining learning goals and monitoring their progress in
achieving them.
Prompt:
How can we get students to monitor their progress in
meeting essential outcomes?
Four Key Concepts
1. Mental Models
(Absorb the whole thing.)
2. Targeted Practice
(Compress the field.)
3. Rapid Feedback
(Tighten the loop.)
4. Emotional Trigger
(Find the feeling.)
If you want to build a ship,
don’t drum up people to
collect wood and assign tasks,
but rather
teach them to long for the sea.
Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Mindset
by Carol Dweck
Fixed Mindset Growth Mindset
-Believes that
intelligence is fixed;
-Desires to look good so
avoids mistakes;
-Resists complex
challenges.
-Believes that
intelligence is malleable;
-Desires to grow so
expects mistakes;
-Embraces complex
challenges.
Time and Learning
In most public schools,
time is the constant,
learning is the variable.
In the best schools,
learning is the constant,
time is the variable.
Grading and Assessing:
Flawed Practices
vs.
Proven Principles
Which grading scale (0-100 or
0-4) is more reasonable and
fair?
A
93 - 100
3.6 - 4.0
B
85 - 92
2.7 - 3.5
C
77 - 84
1.7. - 2.6
D
69 - 76
0.7 - 1.6
F
0 - 68
0 - 0.6
What grade would
these two students earn?
Teacher 1
0
80
80
85
90
335
Teacher 2
0
2
2
3
3
10
Grading Pilot in
THEE
Grading and averaging all the work students do causes
students to focus on gaming the system rather than
seeking and using teacher feedback that will improve their
performance.
Current grading practices in most secondary schools do
not prepare students for the kind of grading practices that
happen in most colleges/universities, where the majority of
a student’s grade depends on the student’s performance
on high stakes, end-of-semester assessments.
We will:
Show students examples of competent and mastery
performances so students can close the gap between where
they are and where they need to be.
Provide targeted and ongoing feedback that helps students
improve their performance and begin to take charge of their
learning.
Determine a student’s grade a) primarily by assessing and
reporting students’ current skills level in relation to explicit
standards of performance; b) secondarily by assessing and
reporting student’s learning habits and growth over time.
We will:
Show students examples of competent and mastery
performances so students can close the gap between where
they are and where they need to be.
Provide targeted and ongoing feedback that helps students
improve their performance and begin to take charge of their
learning.
Determine a student’s grade a) primarily by assessing and
reporting students’ current skills level in relation to explicit
standards of performance; b) secondarily by assessing
and reporting student’s learning habits and growth over
time.
Grading Policy
Summative Assessment (Big Game) =
60%
Learning Habits = 20%
Growth = 20%
Learning Habits
Rubric
Persisting
Applying Feedback
Organizing
Listening
Contributing
Evaluation Results
Principle 1: People learn best when they are provided regular
feedback that they use to improve their performance.
Totally Agree/Somewhat Agree:
59
Somewhat Disagree/Totally Disagree:
5
Principle 2: People learn best when they practice over time to
prepare for a performance; mistakes made during practice
should not be cause for a significant penalty; and the success
of students should largely depend on their final performance
(Big Game).
Totally Agree/Somewhat Agree:
56
Somewhat Disagree/Totally Disagree:
8
Principle 3: People learn best when they collect
snapshots of their growth over time and consider how to
become a more skilled learner.
Totally Agree/Somewhat Agree:
49
Somewhat Disagree/Totally Disagree:
15
Principle 4: People learn best when provided models,
check lists, and rubrics that make performance
expectations clear.
Totally Agree/Somewhat Agree:
59
Somewhat Disagree/Totally Disagree:
5
Should these new grading practices be continued
and maybe even spread beyond THEE, or do you
think we should reject these new grading
practices?
Continue in THEE:
40
Spread beyond THEE: 9
Reject and Return to
Traditional Grading: 11
Don’t Know:
1
Principle 1: People learn best when they are
provided regular feedback that they use to improve
their performance.
“This is the only class that allows me to focus
on my growth of my work and the day-to-day
stress a of grades isn’t there. In my other
classes I finish my work just to get an A, but in
THEE I don’t worry about that and I try to fix
my work to the best of my ability.”
Principle 1: People learn best when they are
provided regular feedback that they use to improve
their performance.
“In my opinion getting feedback on my work
has greatly improved the quality of the piece
of work I got feedback on as well as the quality
of future pieces of work. I like getting a lot of
feedback because it lets me know where I
specifically need to improve. A grade doesn’t
say too much.”
Principle 1: People learn best when they are
provided regular feedback that they use to improve
their performance.
“The best part of this system is how the
teachers give you feedback on what you need
to improve rather than what another student
needs to improve.”
Principle 1: People learn best when they are
provided regular feedback that they use to improve
their performance.
“This years grading system sucked ass! Quit
trying to be special and grade this crap like a
normal class. This bs grading system might
have been the most frustrating thing I have
ever had to deal with, and I know everyone
agrees with me!”
over time to prepare for a performance; mistakes
made during practice should not be cause for a
significant penalty; and the success of students
should largely depend on their final performance
(Big Game).
“I loved how during this year we would
practice so hard by writing a lot of papers. This
process made it so when it came to quiz and
test time, it was basically routine.”
Principle 3: People learn best when they collect
snapshots of their growth over time and consider
how to become a more skilled learner.
“People need to see how they have done over
a course. They need to see their mistakes,
and learn from them. Cause if you don’t show
people what they have done over time and
they keep making the same mistakes, then
how would they know to fix them?”
Principle 3: People learn best when they collect
snapshots of their growth over time and consider
how to become a more skilled learner.
“I do fine in all of my other classes without
keeping a record of all my work and referring
to it at the end of every quarter. If anything I
found this annoying.”
Should these new grading practices be continued
and maybe even spread beyond THEE, or do you
think we should reject these new grading
practices?
“I think it definitely should because this
approach helped me focus on my growth
rather than my grades, and that was what
really helped me become a better student.”
Should these new grading practices be continued
and maybe even spread beyond THEE, or do you
think we should reject these new grading
practices?
“No. I feel we should stop changing things and
just keep it the same. I did way better in my
last English class. I feel its too unorganized
and it didn’t help me one bit. It may have
helped some but I really don’t like this
change.”
Should these new grading practices be continued
and maybe even spread beyond THEE, or do you
think we should reject these new grading
practices?
“I think it definitely should because this
approach helped me focus on my growth
rather than my grades, and that was what
really helped me become a better student.”
Should these new grading practices be continued
and maybe even spread beyond THEE, or do you
think we should reject these new grading
practices?
“I really like it and it should continue. I have
had the most improvement in this class than
any other class. This grading system is great
and has helped me become a better writer
and learner.”
Should these new grading practices be continued
and maybe even spread beyond THEE, or do you
think we should reject these new grading
practices?
“I think they should be kept and spread into
more areas. At first I hated it but now I look
back and see that it was really helpful and I
learned a lot this year. These methods are
great. Keep them!”
NECAP Writing
Results
4
3
2
1
CMS 06
4%
24%
42%
30%
CHS 09
11%
46%
38%
6%
“They were aroused to their
highest energies by the
difficulties they were
compelled to encounter.”
--Vermont Historian Zadock Thompson 1842
Reciprocal Accountability
“Accountability must be a reciprocal process.
For every expectation I have of you to perform,
I have an equal responsibility to provide you
with the capacity to meet that expectation.”
-Richard Elmore
engagementcc@pbworks.com
How People Learn
VT
Engagement is like...
“The main problem with educational
systems and corresponding innovation
and policy making is that they are
intrinsically,
endemically,
inevitably
overloaded and fragmented.
Therefore, the main solutions have to be
ones that contribute to
coherence making and connectedness.”
--Michael Fullan
educere
“to lead forth or draw out”
midwife term meaning
“to be present at the birth of”
Wisdom from Lao
Tzu
“Confront the difficult
while it is easy;
accomplish the great
task
by a series of small acts.”
Exit Note: Dear Bill
1. What are 2-3 raised today are most important to you?
2. What are 2-3 important questions you are leaving with?
3. Do you have any suggestions/contributions for resources
Bill can put on our wiki? If so, please describe and write
down your email so Bill can be in touch (if you forget to
send it to him).
4. Is there anything else you’d like to ask of/convey to Bill?
william_rich@ymail.com