Professional Inquiry Project Report

Classroom Engagement
Sarah Pittman
PSIII, Spring 2015
Overview
This Professional Inquiry Project (PIP) was conducted at Magrath Elementary
School during my third professional practicum, January-April 2015. My driving research
question was How can I effectively engage my class? I used several strategies during
the course of this project. I did a significant amount of research, which was collected in
an annotated bibliography. The finding of this research is found below. I asked my
teacher mentors to observe my classes occasionally, to observe the engagement levels
that the students had. I also did my own observations, in the form of iPad filming and
regular observation, and regularly reflecting on my teaching.
Introduction
I believe student engagement is one of the most important parts of education
and yet, the concept itself is difficult to define. In the literature I used for this project,
there is a different definition for engagement in nearly every piece. The definition I use
here is not quoted from any of the research I did, but is quoted from a colleague. In a
recent staff meeting, he said that engagement is students having a purpose in their
learning. Engagement is not merely passive involvement; it is genuine learning and
active participation. The goal of this project was to create purpose in my students, to
facilitate a way for students to find passion in what they learned.

Research
In 2009, the Canadian Education Association (CEA) did a large-scale study on
student engagement across Canada, from Grades 5-12. They broke engagement into three
categories: social engagement, which is a sense of belonging and participation in school
life, academic engagement, which is participation in the formal requirements of
schooling, and intellectual engagement, which is a serious emotional and cognitive
investment in learning, using higher-order thinking skills (such as analysis and
evaluation) to increase understanding, solve complex problems, or construct new
knowledge. They found that intellectual engagement was significantly lower than the
other two. This study also found that individual teachers were more of an impact on
student engagement than the school that students attended. Those with the least
engagement were those who had high skills doing low-challenge work, and vice versa.1
I used this study as the step-off for the rest of my research. Much of my research
was concentrated intellectual engagement, and students with the lowest levels of
engagement (the highest and lowest level students). I came across a number of strategies,
which I have put into several categories: real-world connections, teacher relationship,
Genius Hour, safe environment, and structure of lessons.
Real-World Connections
This strategy is one of the most commonly mentioned strategies throughout all
literature reviewed. Students who can clearly see the importance of their work and why it
is relevant to their lifenot as in achieving a high grade, but the content itself is actually
important to how they and others liveis essential. This reaches both low and high
1 Douglas J. Willms, Sharon Friesen, and Penny Milton, What Did You Do in School
Today? Canadian Education Association 1 (May 2009): 1-44.
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students as well, who chronically are disengaged with the work they do at school. There
are several ways mentioned throughout the research for creating a real-world connection.
They include: student-driven projects, clear explanations of why students are learning
what they are learning, and connection of their work to their life and community.
Teacher Relationship
A positive relationship between student and teacher is also very important for
real-world connections, particularly in younger students. Archambault, Pagani, and
Fitzpatrick (2013) found that the single most important element of engagement for
students in Grades 1-4 is a positive relationship with their teacher. It is also found to be
an important element in upper elementary, middle school, and beyond. This is connected
to having a safe classroom environment and building a relationship to where students feel
comfortable communicating with their teacher.
Genius Hour
The notion of a Genius Hour has come up in the last few years, and early
research has shown that it is highly beneficial for classroom engagement. Genius Hours,
also known as 20% time, is the idea that students have one hour a day to work on a
project of their creation. The teachers responsibility is to provide a long list of outcomes
that students may work on, and to initially explain how to create an assignment based off
of outcomes. Bernstein (2015) gives strategies on how to keep this process an inspiring
and engaging one, rather than stressful. Juliani (2015) argues that Genius Hour is an
essential way to ignite passion and a desire for deeper learning in students.

Safe Environment

It is vital that students feel safe in their environment. Without safety, no learning
will take place at all, never mind deeply engaged learning. Jensen (2013) argues the
different ways that poverty influences engagement levels, and ways to overcome this to
create a safe learning environment for impoverished students. Even though it seems that a
students individual teacher is more important than the school they attend, the schools
atmosphere does still have a significant impact on students. As Marks (2000) argues,
when students feel as if they dont belong, or are isolated within their schools, their
engagement seems to almost disappear entirely.
Structure of Lessons
There are some important elements to regular classroom lessons that need to be
kept in mind for high levels of student engagement, particularly with lower level
students. This includes, but is not limited to: appropriate wait times, differentiated
instruction, and availability of educator for help. The choice of activities for students can
also greatly impact student engagement. Smith et al (2005) argue that inquiry and project
based learning, team projects, and other ways to actively learn are important methods of
creating high student engagement.
Classroom Applications
I put several of these strategies in place in attempts to answer my inquiry
question: "How can I effectively engage my class?" I was able to try out the vast-majority
of strategies listed above (the only ones I was not able to try were the strategies that are
school-based, such as Genius Hour).
One strategy that I found to be mostly effective in terms of student engagement was
project-based or inquiry projects. I did a number of these throughout my practicum, to

varying degrees of success. I found there are several factors that need to be considered
when trying to create highly engaging projects. First, these activities need to be related as
much as possible to real-world learning. The projects that accomplished this were by far
the most effective and engaging projects. It was helpful that projects had an element of
fun to them, but it was a tricky balance for me to determine the level of fun required
for genuine engagement. One project in particular I believed students enjoyed because it
was funnot because it was engaging. Had I the opportunity to do that project over
again, I would try to design it so it was piquing students interests, rather than just being
fun. It is also important that classroom dynamics are considered when trying to create
engaging projects. Depending on the class/outcomes being studied, projects may not be
the best way to engage students.
The best strategy by far, as mentioned above, was connecting students work to
their real life. One project in particular I did with Grade 5 Social Studies, where they
researched their own families, achieved a high level of engagement and enthusiasm. As
primarily a Social Studies teacher, I sometimes struggled connecting students real lives
to historical events. As an adult, I am interested in history because of the implications
history has for the present; however, communicating this idea to students was
extraordinarily difficult. The best way for me to get students engaged in history is for
students to learn about their own history as much as possible, or by trying to create an
atmosphere of inquiry when learning units that are quite unrelated to students history
(such as Ancient Athens and the Iroquois Confederacy in Grade 6). The lessons where I
could facilitate a genuine connection to students real lives were by far my best lessons
this practicum.

Creating a relationship with my students became an important component of

establishing engagement. When I compare my reflections from early in the semester to
more recent reflections, I can see a clear difference. In recent weeks, I have talked to
students about a wide range of things they are excited to learn aboutmany of which are
not topics I am teaching them about, but something they learned about on their own.
When I can see how excited they are about whatever they have discovered, I do my best
to encourage them to keep learning about it, and to tell me more when they do. I believe
that engagement in one area of learning may (hopefully) lead to more engagement for
that student across the board. I also believe that it is important that students get an
opportunity to learn about whatever they are passionate about, which is why I find the
idea of a Genius Hour so intriguing.
Establishing a safe environment is so important for a number of reasons,
including student engagement. As weeks have passed during this practicum, I have
noticed students becoming more comfortable in my classroom. I believe this has led to
more comfort to make mistakes and try their best. I find that this is particularly important,
especially with students who are struggling with the concepts they are learning about. As
they have become comfortable, they are willing to make mistakes and try again.
The ways lessons are structured are important to engagement as well. I found
some elements of this challenging, which became apparent when I reflected on the iPad
filming. Things as simple as transitions and direct instructions seem to be easy areas to
lose students and have them disengage. I found in my observations that students could go
from engaged to disengaged quickly when a transition didnt go well, or times when
direct instruction stretched on for too long. My hope is to continue to work on these

strategies, as I know when I have a well-structured lesson, the chances of student

engagement are much higher.
Conclusion
I learned a great deal about appropriate ways to engage students. I certainly came
to a much more precise understanding of what true engagement is, and why it is
important. The most important strategies, in my opinion, to create classroom engagement
is creating real-world connections and giving students a level of independence in their
learning. The annotated bibliography containing all the research done for this project is
attached.

Annotated Bibliography
Archambault, I., Pagani, L. S., and Fitzpatrick, C. Transactional associations between
classroom engagement and relations with teachers from first through fourth

grade. Learning and Instruction 23 (2013): 1-9.

The main finding of this paper is that, for students in Grades 1-4, having a close
relationship with their teacher was the most important factor in student
engagement.
Berstein, Jennifer. Turn Genius Hour into Genius Year. Edutopia. Retrieved March 23,
2015. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/genius-hour-into-genius-year-jenniferberstein
This article discusses the benefits of Genius hour (for more in-depth information,
see A.J. Julianis article on the 20%), and goes into ways to support kids making
their own projects to keep it an inspiring endeavor rather than a stressful one.
Carini, Robert M., George D. Kuh, and Stephen P. Klein. Student Engagement and
Student Learning: Testing the Linkages. Research in Higher Education (April
2004): 1-42.
This paper indicates that students who benefit the most from engagement are
typically the lowest students in your class; students at different ages require
different engagement strategies.
de Frondeville, Tristan. Ten Steps to Better Student Engagement. Accessed March 19,
2015. http://www.edutopia.org/project-learning-teaching-strategies
This blog entry is about ten ways to create more student engagement in your
classroom. This blog focuses on the need for safety, both emotionally and
intellectually, as well as the importance of the importance of communicating the
higher purpose of their learning and teaching self-awareness.
Edutopia. Incentivizing Your Class: The Engagement-Bases Classroom Management
Model. Last modified February 2, 2015. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/
incentivizing-engagement-based-management-model-lori-desautels
This blog post introduces a tiered system of assessing your classs level of
engagement and links methods of engagement to better classroom management. It
involves creating clear and reachable goals for struggling students, switching
tasks, revisiting choices previously made, etc.

Finley, Todd. New Study: Engage Kids with the 7x Effect. Edutopia, retrieved March
23, 2015. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/engage-with-7x-the-effect-todd-finley

This article offers three main strategies for prompting student engagement: lively
teaching (engaging assignments), academically challenging work, and connective
instruction (teacher connecting to students). According to the study that this
article sites, connective instruction leads to seven times more engaged students.
Hurst, Stacy. Seven Ways to Increase Student Engagement in the Classroom.
Reading Horizons. Accessed March 11, 2015. Last modified September 18, 2013.
http://www.readinghorizons.com/blog/seven-ways-to-increase-studentengagement-in-the-classroom
This site defines five different levels of classroom engagement. They are:
authentic engagement, ritual compliance, passive compliance, retreatism, and
rebellion. It also includes seven strategies to increase student engagement. They
include: appropriate think time, incorporating movement into lessons, regular
feedback, and more.
Jensen, Eric. How Poverty Affects Classroom Engagement. Faces of Poverty 70, no. 8
(May 2013): 24-30.
This article outlines seven ways that poverty affects student engagement, and
several strategies to help overcome each obstacle. This obstacles include: health
and nutrition, lower vocabulary, low effort (as a result of low
optimism/confidence), low levels of hope in regards to learning, cognitive
problems, poor relationships/high levels of reprimands, and higher levels of
distress.
Juliani, A. J. Why 20% Time is Good for Schools. Edutopia, retrieved March 23,
2015, http://www.edutopia.org/blog/20-percent-time-a-j-juliani.
This article argues that it is important to have a significant portion of your day as
flex time, where the sole purpose of that time is for students to work on learning
project that they picked themselves, based on outcomes that they picked
themselves. The author argues that this time ignites passion and deeper learning in
students.

Marks, Helen M. Student Engagement in Instructional Activity: Patterns in the

Elementary, Middle, and High School Years. American Educational Research
Journal 1 (Spring 2000): 153-184.

Two outside factors affect classroom engagement: gender and socioeconomic

status. However, schools can significantly influence student engagement, these
factors notwithstanding. Because the need for competency is generally inherent,
most students begin their school careers motivated to learn. For many students,
however, their experience of school dulls that motivation or even suppresses it
entirely. For these students to become academically engaged would require a
reversal of the alienating experiences, a sense of membership in school to replace
impersonality and isolation and authentic academic work to replace low-level
work. (158)
Reyes, Maria R. et al. Classroom Emotional Climate, Student Engagement, and
Academic Achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology 104 no. 3 (2012):
700712.
This paper makes the case that the creation of a positive classroom emotional
climate is a significant factor in student engagement. A positive classroom
emotional climate is created by positive relationships between and among
students and teachers.
Smith, Karl A., Sheri D. Sheppard, David W. Johnson, and Roger T. Johnson.
Pedagogies of Engagement: Classroom-Based Practices. Journal of
Engineering Education (January 2005): 1-15.
This article, while focusing some elements on post-secondary education, provides
an overview of strategies used to increase classroom engagement. These strategies
include ways to promote active learning, inquiry and problem-based learning,
team projects, and more. The thesis of this book, and this paper, is that engaging
students in learning is principally the responsibility of the teacher, who becomes
less an imparter of knowledge and more a designer and facilitator of learning
experiences and opportunities. In other words, the real challenge in ... teaching is
not covering the material for the students; its uncovering the material with the
students. (2)

Strong, Richard, Harvey F. Silver, and Amy Robinson. Strengthening Student

Engagement: What Do Students Want? Educational Leadership 53, no. 1
(September 1995).

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This article defines student engagement as students who exhibit these three
characteristics: (1) they are attracted to their work, (2) they persist in their work
despite challenges and obstacles, and (3) they take visible delight in
accomplishing their work. The article goes on to describe how to foster curiosity,
originality, relationships between students, and the students ability to believe in
themselves. One of the best strategies in achieving this is by creating work that is
as connected to the real world as possible, and allowing students to express
themselves through their work.
The Center for Comprehensive School Reform and Improvement. Using Positive
Student Engagement to Increase Student Achievement. Updated April 30, 2014.
http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Using_Positive/
This article introduces several strategies to increasing student engagement and
therefore, student achievement. This includes cultivating a culture of
achievement, which is a safe yet intellectually challenging environment. Active
learning and a relevant curriculum are important strategies as well. This article
highlights the importance of parent and community involvement, and the
importance of extracurricular activities as methods of increasing student
involvement in school.
Willms, J. Douglas, Friesen, Sharon, and Penny Milton. What Did You Do in School
Today? Canadian Education Association 1 (May 2009): 1-44.
This is a report created by the CEA on student engagement; they collected data
from ninety-three schools across Canada for a full school year in 2007-2008 from
Grades 5-12. They broke student engagement into three components: social
engagement, which is a sense of belonging and participation in school life,
academic engagement, which is participation in the formal requirements of
schooling, and intellectual engagement, which is a serious emotion and
cognitive investment in learning, using higher-order thinking skills (such as
analysis and evaluation) to increase understanding, solve complex problems, or
construct new knowledge. Overall, the report finds that while students often feel
as if they belong at school (social engagement, 67% of students) and regularly
attend school (academic engagement, 69% of students), a relatively low amount
of students were actually engaged with the material they were learning (37%,
intellectual engagement). Individual teachers have more of an impact on their
students engagement than what school they attend (i.e., student engagement
varies more within a school than across schools). The students that feel least
engaged are those with high skills doing low challenge work, and those with low
skills doing high challenge work.
Wolpert-Gawson, Heather. Kids Speak Out on Student Engagement. Edutopia.

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Accessed March 23, 2015. http://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-engagementstories-heather-wolpert-gawron

This article is the result of a mass survey of middle school students, asking them
the best way to achieve student engagement. Students gave back ten different
themes of answers. They include: working with peers, working with technology,
connecting real world to the work that you do in school, teacher passion about the
subject, moving around while learning, using visuals, student choice in
assignments, understanding your students, varying learning strategies, and being
human.

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