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? Is there a science to it?  Or is it more likely that teachers either have the "engagement" gene or do not?

As we noticed in week one, defining the word engagement is not always easy or concise.  We do not always agree entirely on the meaning.  Let's take another path to definition.  Let us break engagement down.

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 by using the edit feature on this study page:

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

Pick one or more of the numbers below and respond to it in the comments section.  Be sure to include/explain your thinking in your response.  Respond to other folks in order to add to, discuss, or debate their ideas. (Remember we agreed upon polite debate).

1. Which of the words above, or sets of words above, go together as a subset? Do any? 

2. Which of these words are synonymous with engagement (if any)?

3. 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...)

4. Are all of these words smaller steps in the path toward the big idea of engagement?  Or are some related in other ways?

5. If you had to prioritize these ideas in an effort to quantify what is most important to engagement, which do you think would be the top three and why?

6.  Should any words be removed from a list defining engagement? Which ones and why?

7.  Did you add any words?  Which one (s) and why?