Students Need Work that is Engaging and Meaningful

Who Would You Ask?

Last week, a well-prepared team of educational professionals from the Schlechty Center gave an engaging, informative and well-organized presentation about the need for change in schools. You may say, “So … what else is new?” After all, for those of us who have dedicated our lives and spirits to this vocation, we have accepted that everyone from researchers to parents to bureaucrats to politicians has a better idea about the way schools should operate.

As teachers, we inherently want our school and our classroom to be the very best around or, as a minimum, to be among the best. There is something about the overachieving nature of teachers that drives the need for excellence in us. It is that same need that inspires teachers to help the children with whom we are entrusted to also achieve the very best they can. But what is the true the measure of our success? Is it our knowledge? Is it our planning? Is it our performance? Is it how well we set up our classrooms?

Ultimately, there is only one measure of our success … the performance of our students. A sales manager in the business world is judged by the achievement of sales objectives by each sales rep. The coach of a sports team is judged by the performance and contributions of each player. Leaders are judged by the work of the people that they lead. If we accept that teachers are leaders of students and designers of the work that students do, then we can gain some perspective and guidance from the theories of Phillip Schlechty. Schlechty believes that the major need for change in schools surrounds the quality and type of work that is assigned to students (see Working on the Work by Schlechty). Schlechty asserts that:

1. A teacher’s primary task is to design work for students that students will find engaging and challenging, resulting in the achievement of learning..

2. Teachers also lead students by inspiring them to do their very best and to be successful.

3. Students are volunteers. Student attention is not owed to us … we must earn it.

4. The students of today are different from the students of yesterday. The differences in attention, interests, commitment, background, goals and effort affect the learning and performance of each student.

5. Student performance varies dramatically based on the quality of the work and assignments designed by the teacher.

6. Therefore, teachers impact student learning by designing work that has qualities which are highly engaging for their students.

Schlechty’s conclusions seem to mesh well with the Mission Statement of Socorro Consolidated Schools. Do you know what our vision is? It can be found on our home page … Preparing our students for a successful future is the essence of our purpose. Building leaders for the future is our mission. At the heart of our mission, from Schlechty’s perspective, lies the greatest need for change. We are all about our students and the quality of the work that they are assigned in class.

Given the need to engage students with high-quality, authentic, interesting work, who would you ask for guidance?

Some of us spend countless hours researching scores of lessons plans and web sites to find work that sounds interesting to us. We can talk about technology, media, field trips and the like until the cows come home … but why not ask the students what they like? Why not let them help you design the work? Why not differentiate the work and give students numerous choices for their assignments?

As one student mentioned to me the other day, there are teachers who give busy work and teachers who offer challenging, highly creative work. The most creative and engaging work usually has a high level of authentic, real-world application. Can you guess which teachers the students like the most? Can you guess which classes are the most engaging? Can you guess which classes have the highest degree of learning?

Activity-based lessons may not be something very new, but teachers face dramatic changes in a new paradigm that focuses on the quality of the work assigned to students. We must be willing to accept feedback from students and our leaders. We must be willing to “break the mold” and look for new ways to engage the students. We need to examine our assignments from the perspective of the student … is it “busy” work or is it genuinely engaging? We must accept that the design and quality of the work we assign to our students impacts student engagement and student learning.

Can technology help? Why not ask your students? How would they use technology to demonstrate what they are learning? How would they blend technology into their work?