STEP 1: IDENTIFYING WHY STUDENTS ARE UNMOTIVATED
Before you can implement engagement strategies, you need to identify why your students are unmotivated. In Wounded by School: Recapturing the Joy in Learning and Standing up to Old School Culture, Dr. Kirsten Olson identifies seven wounds that school causes, specifically:
WOUNDS OF CREATIVITY
“students' unique, creative ways of solving problems and their outside-the-box answers to questions, which fail to match the teachers' answer sheets, are not understood and are graded as wrong by busy teachers” (Gray, 2011, para 8).
WOUNDS OF COMPLIANCE
“students must continuously follow rules and procedures that they have no role in creating and must complete assignments that make no sense in terms of their own learning needs” (Gray, 2011, para 9).
WOUNDS OF REBELLION
“Some students respond to the arbitrary rules and assignments by rebelling rather than complying. They may in some cases feel intense anger toward the system that has taken away their freedom and dignity, toward teachers who seem to be complicit with that system, and toward the goody-goody students who go along. They may manifest their scorn by sitting in the back of the classroom, making snide remarks, blatantly flouting rules, and rarely if ever completing assignments” (Gray, 2011, para 10).
WOUNDS OF NUMBNESS
“The constant grind of school, doing one tedious assignment after another according to the school's schedule, following the school's procedures, can lead to intellectual numbness...intellectual excitement is rarely rewarded in school, but doggedly grinding it out, doing what you are supposed to do, never missing a deadline, is rewarded” (Gray, 2011, para 11).
WOUNDS OF UNDERESTIMATION
“some described ways in which they were wounded by assumptions made about them because of their race, social class, gender, or performance on one or another test that was supposed to measure intelligence or aptitude. In some cases, it seemed easier to go along with the assumption than to fight it, so the assumption became a self-fulfilling prophecy” (Gray, 2011, para 12).
WOUNDS OF PERFECTIONISM
“students' unique, creative ways of solving problems and their outside-the-box answers to questions, which fail to match the teachers' answer sheets, are not understood and are graded as wrong by busy teachers” (Gray, 2011, para 13).
WOUNDS OF THE AVERAGE
“The middling student, who is neither sinking nor soaring in the eyes of the school officials, may suffer from invisibility. In Olson's interviews, these people described themselves as feeling insignificant, as people who don't really matter much” (Gray, 2011, para 14).
Each of these wounds intersects with the four primary categories of disengagement but may fit more specifically within one category over another. To identify the specific “wounds” can help identify the primary category of disengagement. This allows for a variety of techniques to be used, including:
Anonymous Structured Feedback: research has shown the value of students providing structured feedback to their teachers to inform their practice. This feedback should be anonymous to provide students the opportunity to be honest and specifically guided to target intervention strategies that help the most number of students.
Critical Friend: having fellow professionals, whom you have built trust with, observe, identify and provide specific and targeted feedback to your lessons will help you identify features of the classroom dynamic that you may miss to identify potential reasons for disengagement.
Parent-Teacher Meetings: communication between parents and teachers is essential to intervening on at-risk students and identify the lives and needs of students not otherwise gleaned in the classroom. Setting up conferences and meetings on a regular meeting, especially for at risk youth is very important and students should be included in all meetings.
Individualized Program Plans: utilizing educational documents that clearly articulate the instructional needs of students and any of their unique cognitive or behavioral needs should be identified. This will allow you to identify what they need in particular to engage effectively in class.
Student Work: looking at the quality and information expressed for student work provides insights into more than student knowledge, it provides insight on student emotions towards the content, themselves, their peers, and their world. Teachers should use assessment to look at more than curricular knowledge but student identity
One-on-one Interviews: similar to structured feedback, interviews between teachers and students are more informal and are focused on asking students directly for constructive feedback. Sometimes students need a chance to express themselves in the absence of others
Icebreaker Activities: getting to know your students through impersonal questionnaires and activities are great for getting to know what their needs are for engagement in a impersonal and fun way