MDE’s Promising Practice: Improving Early Literacy Achievement with Ignite Engagement

Our educational world is in a state of restoration and renewal, where the potential for renovation exists. What we decide to do with this opportunity will tremendously impact the lives of our students.

Students Need Authentic Engagement

In an article by Andy Hargreaves, titled “The Future of Learning Lies in Engagement,” he encourages educators to focus on engagement as the right path to rectify learning losses and prioritize well-being. Hargreaves notes, “The best paths forward will be those that increase students’ engagement with their learning, with each other, and with their lives.” (Hargreaves, 2021)

3 Signs That Your Students are NOT Engaged

Written by Diane Titche, Kent ISD Early Literacy Coach

As educators we are always striving to engage our students in their learning. But what exactly does it mean to have engaged students? When you step back to observe your students and see the work they have produced, how can you tell if they are truly engaged in their learning? 

Let’s consider some of the behaviors you might see in students who are NOT engaged. Then we can dig a little deeper into those behaviors, and consider how we can increase their levels of engagement.

Reignite the Joy in Teaching and Student Learning

Kent ISD is proud to welcome Ellin Oliver Keene and Dr. Gholdy Muhammad to our 2021-2022 Professional Development line up!

As this unprecedented school year comes to an end, you may be feeling a sense of relief that it’s over, a sense of pride for all you’ve accomplished under the incredibly difficult circumstances of teaching in a pandemic, and even a sense of nostalgia for the relationships you’ve built with your students in a year like no other.

You might also be feeling an increasing sense of fatigue from the emphasis on teaching isolated skills that students struggle to engage with and remember. Many teachers have said they feel the joy has been sucked out of teaching as a result of the push to march students through a checklist of isolated skills that leave no time for authentic, real-world, sometimes spontaneous, and always engaging learning. 

As we emerge from the pandemic and look with hope to next school year, it is the perfect time to rethink and reimagine how we teach. Kent ISD is pleased to be offering two professional development opportunities next school year to help you and your students reignite the joy in teaching and learning. 

Ellin Oliver Keene Returns Virtually to Ignite Engagement

Did you miss Ellin Oliver Keene’s presentation last fall? Well, now is your chance to learn how to ignite engagement in your classroom. Ellin Oliver Keene, the author of Engaging Children: Igniting a Drive for Deeper Learning, will be presenting a virtual course this October to support both face to face classrooms and remote learning!

Participants will be exploring the question: What can we do to help students develop internal motivation, or better yet, engagement? By differentiating between compliance, participation, motivation, and engagement, Ellin will show participants how to develop and recognize true student engagement in the classroom, and how to help students take more responsibility.

Results Show Student Engagement Increase

Written by Diane Titche, Early Literacy Coach at Kent ISD

How do we get our students to be truly and authentically engaged in classroom activities and learning? How can we know when they are engaged, and how do we sustain high levels of engagement once students have reached them?

These are the questions that a small group of educators set out to answer this school year. Together, this cohort of professionals and I embarked on a year-long journey of professional learning grounded in Ellin Oliver Keene’s research on student engagement, which she shares in her book Engaging Children: Igniting a Drive for Deeper Learning (K-8).

Moving beyond song and dance toward true student engagement!

Written by: Kelli Campbell Brockway, Director of T&L at Kent ISD

Teachers, have you ever felt like more of an entertainer than an instructor?  

If you struggle with how to get kids consistently excited and responsible for their own learning, I highly recommend the book Engaging Children:  Igniting a Drive for Deeper Learning K-8 by Ellin Oliver Keene.  The focus of this book is exploring how we can promote authentic, student-driven engagement.