Busy Does Not Mean Engaged, Students Need to be Intellectually Active to be Fully Engaged
According to Charlotte Danielson, "When students are engaged in learning, they are not merely "busy," nor are they only "on task." Rather, they are intellectually active in learning important and challenging content. The critical distinction between a classroom in which students are compliant and busy, and one in which they are engaged is that in the latter, students are developing their understanding through what they do. That is, they are engaged in discussion, debate, and answering "what if?" questions, discovering patterns, and the like."
My school district uses Danielson's Framework for Teaching (FfT) to evaluate teachers' instructional practice. To look at strategies for engaging students intellectually, let's discuss discussion strategies. Strategies like turn-and-talk (students face each other and discuss a given topic) and think-pair-share (after being given time to reflect, students work together to solve a problem or answer a question, then share their learning) can be used to engage students. Students need to know who to partner with, how to stay on topic, and how to report or share their findings. These strategies should be modeled and monitored to ensure correct usage.
Another strategy to engage students intellectually is to have them complete a quickwrite (write everything they know on a subject in a designated limited amount of time). Use quickwrites to launch whole-class discussions or a think-pair-share. The benefit of using a quickwrite is that students can refer to their writing during discussion. Use students' writing to evaluate their understanding of a topic. After instruction on the topic, students can revive their writing as their knowledge grows. Teachers can also use students' quickwrites to help students develop more detailed writing.
Using open-ended questions allows students to think deeply. Avoid using questions that only have yes or no answers. Ask questions with depth and teach students how to develop "meaty" questions using question stems. After students learn to write their questions, give them opportunities to participate in the discussions. Students can use their questions during book club, queries, or content discussions. Another way to use the questions students develop is to create an assessment out of students’ questions.
Vertical classroom strategies (students move around the class to complete tasks and discussions) provide great opportunities to get students' bodies and minds moving. The idea is that students are moving while engaging with materials. Four Corners requires students to move to label corners of the room (label corners: strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree) that best represent their stans on a topic. For example, students can take a stand on wearing uniforms to school by moving to the corner aligned with their thinking. Once in their corner, students discuss the topic with their group (students with the same stands). Groups of students (the strongly agree corner vs. the strongly disagrees corner) can also debate or discuss their stance.
Other strategies like where do you stand require physical and intellectual engagement as well. To use the strategy where do you stand, create a number line from 1 (I disagree entirely or know nothing about the topic ) to 10 (I am in complete agreement with the topic or I know everything about the subject). Students have to decide where they stand on knowing a topic, and then they must take a stand on the number line. Once the line forms, "fold the line" (move the students standing on one to face the students standing on ten and the students standing on fives face the students standing on six). Where do you stand sets students for peer tutoring. Students with more knowledge on a topic can answer questions for less knowledgeable peers. Where do you stand can also be used for self-evaluating and creating discussion.
Finally, provide opportunities for students to research and investigate topics of interest. The way students conduct research can be varied to fit their academic needs. For young students or students with limited access to the internet, provide books. When my second graders learned about insects, I went to the school and public libraries to get resources. I also printed some information from internet sites (limited computer accessibility) and developed questions that everyone would answer but made space for my students to develop questions. Older students and students with computer access should be taught strategies for using the internet safely so that they can research topics online. For investigations, hands-on learning is best, but videos with captions displayed can be the next best thing when that is not possible.
When students are engaged, teachers have fewer behavior challenges. Real engagement requires students to think, discuss, evaluate, and show their learning in meaningful ways. As Charlotte Danielson said, “The critical distinction between a classroom in which students are compliant and busy, and one in which they are engaged is that in the latter, students are developing their understanding through what they do.” Are your students doing the latter?
Danielson, Charlotte. The Framework for Teaching: Evaluation Instrument. Hawker Brownlow Education, 2015, www.danielsongroup.org.
