Planning for Engagement

A key part of providing instructional leadership that actually results in implementation is to take complex issues of classroom practice and simplify them into actionable steps.  This process can be tricky and can require re-thinking and revision; which I found out as I tried to simplify Active Engagement into the Active Engagement Checklist.  

I updated the checklist today as I realized it really is an Active Engagement Planning Checklist rather than an Implementation Checklist.  It was developed from the great practices I see in your classrooms and will continue to be a living document, changing as I see more awesome examples throughout the school.  For example, when I saw the ways that movement created the foundation for engagement in Ms. Coleman's and Ms. Elmore's classes, I had to add it to the checklist! 

This addition to the checklist made me rethink what really is Step 1 in implementing active engagement.  Initially, when I saw the examples of movement I said to myself, "Well in order to actively engage your kiddos, you have to first have their attention!"  Well, that's true, but then I realized, that even THAT takes planning.  Getting your student's true cognitive attention is an essential first step in engaging them into the lesson, but doing that requires planning.  So, when you go back to the checklist and last week's post, you will see I updated both to reflect that incorporating movement is really part of the planning process. 

This points to how important planning really is, doesn't it?  Intentionality requires planning period.  Let's jump right to the meat of the lesson on planning checklist- how students PERFORM.  

When you plan what your students will do… are you:

• Planning experiences for students that will be “mini performances” related to the target throughout the lesson?
• Opportunities for students to verbally perform for each other and receive feedback from each other
• Opportunities for students to work in written form and receive feedback from you and their peers

How do you do that well, in a way that uses what we know about how students learn and retain what they learn?  KAGAN!!!!!

I can't wait to see some ROCKING Kagan going on this week in your classrooms!

Click here to go to our instructional resources page on our blog which houses our district collection of Kagan resources.