Saturday, June 13, 2015

Saturday Sayings: Engaged or On-Task?



I have a friend who works in a position where she has random opportunities to make very brief entries into classrooms. She gets at-a-glance chances to see various teachers and students at work. Recently she was telling me about a teacher whose students always seem to be busy working, never helter-skelter when she drops in. She used the word "engaged." I brought up the question, "Are they engaged or are they on-task?" There is a big difference.

Of course, I can't ask that question about another teacher without also asking myself the same thing. Simply because my students are occupied and rarely wasting a minute does not mean they are engaged in what they're doing. They could just be going through the motions, and if that's the case, I'm wasting their time.

I believe engagement happens when students find purpose and meaning in tasks. If the work is authentic and founded on the interests of their own world, they are more likely to put their hearts into it. Engagement is also more likely to occur when tasks are not too easy or too hard. Both extremes are off-putting and difficult to embrace. 

At a glance, I might easily assume that my students are engaged, when it's possible, if I look more deeply at what they're doing, they might just be on-task. Day after day and lesson after lesson, I want to consistently challenge myself to dissect what I'm asking of my students. Will this engage them or will it keep them on-task?  The latter just isn't good enough.


10 comments:

  1. I also know my students are engaged when we get to the end of our lesson and they say, "But we just started."

    ~Michael
    The Color of Sound

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    1. Michael, that's a great indicator as well. Thank you for adding to the conversation.

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  2. What a great question? I think there is a difference however to a bystander that difference might be hard to see. I had an assessor once who said every student should be engaged 100% of the day if you are doing your job right. That is a very hard goal to reach! I look around in meetings and see many teachers who are both unengaged and off-task! :)

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    1. Miss Trayers, 100% is a tough goal for sure. I know what you mean about teachers in meetings. My nephew is studying to be a teacher, and he's commented about how off-task teachers are too. :)

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  3. Thank you for always challenging my practices. I never really thought about the difference between being in task and being engaged. I like how Michael can tell if his students are engaged...it's when they have to be disengaged that we can see the difference!
    Jenny

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    1. Jenny, Regie is a master at challenging my practice. She makes me think!

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  4. What a great question to ask ourselves about whether students are engaged or simply on task. On task, they are completing the work and learning could be occurring. But if they are engaged, deeper learning and enjoyment occurs. Thank you for the reminder!
    Lori
    Conversations in Literacy

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    1. Lori, great points, and I also think if they're enjoying it, they'll willingly come back for more over and over again. Being on-task gets old after a while.

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  5. I was going to say that full engagement is much harder to accomplish than on-task. But then I thought, wait a minute! If the kids aren't engaged then keeping them on-task can be a nightmare. Happily, if you have engagement then on-task isn't even an issue anymore :)

    I feel like I'm going in circles here ... haha .... but like other commenters said, it's something good to think about!

    Thanks for the great post.

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    1. Barb, maybe it depends on the kids. If they don't know any better and they have a certain kind of disposition, they might agreeably stay on-task without being engaged, at least for a while. I don't think it will last forever though. They'll lose steam soon enough. :)

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