Engaging Qualities
Creating an environment where students are actively engaged in learning takes work, planning, and intentionality. This page and the resources here are meant to give teachers some guidance, examples and resources as they create meaningful and rigorous learning experiences for students.
"(We) broke down the idea of engagement into three major components-academic engagement, cognitive/intellectual engagement, and egocentric engagement. After working on the individual components, we introduced a Rubik's Cube as a metaphor to remind teachers that no single component can guarantee engagement for all... the trick in solving the Rubik's Cube is to be mindful of the relationships among the colors rather than concentrating on one color at a time. This metaphor served our group well as a reminder of our ultimate goal - "putting it all together'." - Antonetti
Antonetti's research concluded that if a teacher meaningfully includes just 3 of the 8 engaging qualities this would result in 87% more engagement. In the drop downs below you will find example lessons and activities where teachers blended online and offline activities while incorporating at least three of the eight engaging qualities. Each lessons has a description, a reflection, and a link to resources so you can try these activities yourself. If the teacher is comfortable being contacted directly, their email address is attached to the materials.
Providing Effective Feedback
Increasing Authenticity
Universal Design for Learning
Student Choice
Assessment
Grade: Teacher PD
Content: Book Review
App/Tool: Collaborative Slideshow
Summary: This slideshow was created by teachers after reading a chapter in a book study. Teachers were asked to select a picture that represented their learning in chapter 1. They were then asked to defend/argue/justify the image they chose.
Engaging Qualities: Personal Response, Learning with Others, Sense of Audience, Choice
Created by: Kelli Yager
Grade: Teacher PD
Content: "Rigor" Choice Board
App/Tool: Google Slides
Summary: This Choice Board was designed to dig into the concept of Rigor, as well as learn new tools including Padlet, Jamboard, Flipgrid, and Podcasts.
Engaging Qualities: Personal Response, Choice, Novelty and Variety
Created by: Monica McAtee and Stefan Troutman