A Lesson In Engagement

This week I had one of the most heartbreaking conversations I've had in 39 years of life. My oldest child, a HS Junior, shared with us that she is unmotivated and bored with school. During the last few days I've ran the gamut of emotions. Failure: I failed as a father to recognize how my child was feeling. Anger: Why didn’t teachers or the school not communicate with us about what was happening? Disappointment: I should have known better as an educator and should have been more involved and done more. Ultimately, what I asked of myself is this. WHAT CAN I DO TO CHANGE THIS? With the role that I have, with the voice that I have, how can I change what so desperately needs to change RIGHT NOW?

Traveling through the emotional pendulum here is where I arrived. No student EVER should become a statistic within our schools. No student EVER should leave our schools unmotivated, bored, disengaged, and disempowered. You see, my child is a part of the 32% of HS Juniors who identity themselves as engaged in school (annual Gallup Poll). 

1 of 3 HS Juniors in our country feels engaged in school. Only half of students surveyed (which is nearly 1 million students) report feeling engaged in school whereas one-fifth of students were actively disengaged. The longer students in our education system, the less they feel vested and interested in what they learn, the less they feel they are experiencing joy and having fun, and the less they feel they get to study and utilize the skills and interests they have. In this same study, the statement "the adults in my school care about me" was asked. This statistic is truly alarming and should instantly lend itself to action. As 5th graders, 67% of students believed the adults in their school care about them. Compare that now to the HS Junior where 23% of students surveyed believed that the adults in the school care about them. I think of my 11th grader’s school experience  and ask "is she known?" and "is she cared for?

Countless hours are spent talking about irrelevant test scores. Rightfully so, we are currently engaged in dialogue about keeping our schools safe. We also need to have discussions about the learning environment our students come to day after day. These survey results which are direct feedback from our children, our students is unacceptable. We all own this and must address it and change it. We must transform the learning experience for all our students, K-12.  

We can no longer operate within the status quo. Year after year after year our students are told what to do and what to learn nearly every minute of their school day.. Think about it. Do you have your own children ask permission to use the restroom at home? At school, even the most basic necessity such as using a restroom requires permission. What are we doing? 

I asked a question yesterday on Twitter which brought some interesting responses. I asked, "What's more important: Teaching the content or teaching the students?" Teaching the content thankfully wasn't selected by anyone as most important. Teaching the students was the overwhelming choice. However, some people felt teaching both the content and the students were important. I appreciate everyone who responded to the question. These are questions we need to ask and answer. 

Hope and Wade King in "The Wild Card" write "You have to teach standards; that's a given. But the standards don't determine how you deliver the content - and it's your delivery method that drives engagement." There is far too much content dependency in Education. Your reading, writing, and mathematics curriculum is a resource not scripture.  If your instruction doesn't look much different from a Sunday sermon you have a problem. You want the inspiration of the sermon minus the one person stand and deliver often seen on Sunday's. We need to teach the individuals in the room, not solely the room or the scripted curriculum. Every student in every classroom has their own strengths, their own personality, their own passions and interests. Our classrooms, schools, and districts need to make shifts to recognize these facts. That starts at the classroom level with not just creating lessons, but creating learning experiences that breed engagement and empowerment. Our students are changing. The world which we live now is changing rapidly. We need to start reflecting on what we are doing and not doing in our classrooms, our schools, our districts and ask WHY we are doing what we are doing. More importantly, we need to ask HOW we are going to prepare all of our students for THEIR future as opposed to our past. 

Worksheets are not the answer. Honestly, have you ever in your career had a student celebrate the completion of a worksheet? Have you ever had a student thank you for that awesome worksheet you gave them to complete? Hand any kid a worksheet day after day and practically ignore them for 20-30 minutes plus at a time and they will not like your class, you, their school or learning. 

Worksheets don't change lives, teachers do! 

We are at an important time in education. We are at a crossroad so to speak. We can continue to do what we've always done and produce results that have led to widespread disengagement, disempowerment and a lack of connection to our schools and what should be their primary focus, LEARNING. Or, we can choose the path that truly respects, honors, and values every student we are privileged to serve and prepares them not just for their future, but for anything. 

We can no longer accept any child feeling unmotivated, disenfranchised, unconnected, and disengaged from our schools. The change starts with us, the adults. What are you going to do today that changes tomorrow? What you want to be tomorrow you got to do today. Let's be the change we want to see in the world.

All Kids Deserve It. 

CJ