Engagement is BIG and BROAD and you have probably noticed that writers are all over the place when they are talking about student engagement.  What if a teacher wants to address and improve the engagement of their students?  How does that teacher begin?  Isn't it like some sort of complete overhaul?

I believe at times educators and educational writers and researchers can fall into a pattern of using a single word to mean too many things without specifying what is really meant. What I would like us to explore this week are individual elements that go into this BIG thing called "engagement."  I will list here the elements I intend to promote as pieces in the "engagement" puzzle, but welcome you to add to my list:

• interest
• curiosity
• intrinsic motivation
• extrinsic motivation
• attention
• participation
• pondering/working through
• creating
• eye contact
• enthusiasm
• persistence
• time on task
• effort
• in the zone of proximal development
• flow
• rapport

Which of these words, or sets of words, go together as one? Do any?  

Which of these words means exactly the same thing as engagement (if any)?

Do you wonder about the meaning of any of these words? or how they relate to the idea of engagement? (Share so we may discuss...)

Are all of these smaller parts of the big idea of engagement?  Or are some related in other ways?