After reading to learn WHAT rigor is, Ms. Blackburn realized that there was importance to this concept. She started to think back to her own classroom experiences and what her mentor had taught her. As she walked down memory lane thinking about the learning in the classroom, she realized the lessons she remembered were the interesting, fun activities. "Aha!" , she thought, "for learning to stick, learners must be involved and engaged. That means that worksheets won't do it!" With that in mind, Ms. Blackburn decided to comb the library for the "keys" to student engagement and personalized learning.

Student Engagement: Key to Personalized Learning

Larry Ferlazzo

These four elements can spark intrinsic motivation—for English language learners and others.

Bertrand Russell (1975) once wrote, "To understand the actual world as it is, not as we should wish it to be, is the beginning of wisdom." His words are often quoted in the community-organizing world (where I worked for 19 years before becoming a teacher), and they're worth remembering when we plan and evaluate our instructional practices, including personalized learning.

"Understanding the world as it is" means being realistic. And if we're realistic, we'll know that even when a particular instructional method has been studied under controlled conditions, found to be effective, and labeled "best practice," none of that matters if students won't do the work. Teachers in the real world recognize that although personalization has the potential to improve learning, our first job in applying any approach is to engage students in the learning process. And engagement is not about baiting a hook. It's about helping students find their spark and make their own fire.

Researchers have identified four key elements that help develop this kind of student engagement (Ryan & Deci, 2000):