The pondering for this blog began while I was on my daily walk, listening to a podcast from Dr. Laura Santos called the Happiness Lab (Laurie gets a Fun-tervention). Santos was joined by Catherine Price, author of The Power of Fun. Their discussion of fun connected with conversations I had been having with instructional leaders […]

I recently had the pleasure of learning from Matt Johnson, a high school English teacher and the author of Flash Feedback: Responding to Students Better and Faster: Without Burning Out and he recently joined me for a podcast, Supporting Teachers’ Use of Flash Feedback. Matt agreed to share his thinking here as a guest blogger. […]

Instructional coaches share that teachers often ask them to observe and coach with a focus on student engagement. What should a coach explore before agreeing to the teacher’s request? On this podcast, Steve provides coaching to a coach on how to explore student engagement with an individual teacher and her grade level cohort. Subscribe to […]

The title of this blog is one of the proposals shared by Nick Zepke and Linda Leach in a research article titled Improving Student Engagement: Ten Proposals for Action. They use these definitions for engagement: Students’ cognitive investment in, active participation in, and emotional commitment to their learning. Students’ involvement with activities and conditions likely […]

In an Education Week post, Here Are 3 Top SEL Strategies That Can Help Improve Student Engagement Right Now, guest bloggers Alex Kajitani, Tom Hierck, John Hannigan, and Jessica Djabrayan Hannigan identify three high impact elements to increase student engagement: Students are connected, safe, and welcomed. Students have choice, voice, and agency in their learning. […]

I recently facilitated, virtually, a high school leadership team that was exploring their goals at the start of a new year. Before the meeting, they had sent me information that their focus points for the year were: establishing relationships with students, creating meaningful and challenging lessons, and making connections with students. They stated that their […]