Engage Me

All of my favorite teachers have one thing in common—they're engaging. I believe that without student / user engagement, education becomes tenfold more difficult. - Steuart

This last week, I was sitting in a room with a bunch of teachers at a PD, and they had started with all of the earnestness to be kind and respectful to the presenter. 

First, one had to go to the bathroom; another had a phone call, another had to look up something and was lost in email. Pretty soon, most of the room was off in their own worlds, not listening to the presenter or even each other. 

As a adults we say, “Wow, that presenter really lost the group, this topic was not for them or no one ever really wants to be at a PD anyway.”  

What do we think the students would say in our classrooms? Would it be that different?  

Probably not. 

The difference is they can’t just up and leave the room. 

We all know that we are most engaged when we think the material is meant for us. We have to treat our classrooms the same. 

We might say that we know better than our students, but I would argue that they have more curiosity than we do. We might not be tapping into it enough. 

Pique their interest. Draw them in. Hook them with something that they cannot keep their eyes off of and see what you can do. 

They want to learn. They all want to learn. We just have to be willing to actually involve them in the process. Plus, their version is a lot more fun than our lecture. 😂