Office of School Improvement Differentiated Webinar Series Student Engagement, Part I of II: What is It? Dr. Jane J. Bas

1. Office of School Improvement Differentiated Webinar Series Student Engagement, Part I of II: What is It? Dr. Jane J. Baskerville & Steve DeGaetani November 29, 2011

2. The ultimate goal in school improvement is for the people attached to the school to drive its continuous improvement for the sake of their own children and students. - Dr. Sam Redding

3. Today’s Agenda Welcome: Jane and Steve Team reports : What are your expectations and ours? Research: What does it say about the power of teachers to influence “student engagement?” Activity/Discussion: An Examination of Teacher Practices: What does engagement look like to the learner? to the principal? Reflections/Assignment: Any “ah-hah!” moments and an assignment regarding teacher “modeling” in your building.

4. Purpose • Series: • To identify requisite teacher practices that influence student engagement and motivation, resulting from student relatedness, competence, and autonomy • Today’s Webinar: • To (a) define student engagement that is requisite to student performance and achievement and (b) examine teacher practices that influence engagement

5. Team Reporting/Expectations (10 minutes) • From the Technical Assistance Request forms submitted by your division liaisons, we have perceptions about what you want from this webinar experience. • Our expectations are that you will actively participate in these webinars and implement some of the strategies mentioned, as appropriate to your needs.

6. What Are YOUR Thoughts? • As a student (past and present) what are some factors that affect(ed)your engagement? Why is your favorite teacher your favorite? • In your experience, what factors determine a student’s level of motivation or engagement? • WHO are Pauline Graham and Father Patrick Donahue?

7. To the degree that his teacher addresses his individual psychological needs--relatedness, competence, and autonomy--a child can become engaged in learning (Connell & Wellborn, 1991; Klem & Connell, 2004; Redding, 2006). Quote of the Day

8. What the Research Says (20 minutes) Student Engagement • Is a Meta construct that incorporates psychological, social, and educational domains (Guthrie & Wigfield, 2000). Per Connell and Wellborn (1991); Klem and Connell (2005); and Redding (2006), Student Engagement (also referred to as Intrinsic Motivation) • Is a student outcome that results from a confluence of teacher practices that addresses needs of psychological, social, and educational contexts relevant to learning: teacher involvement that influences student relatedness; teacher structure that influences student competence;and teacher autonomy support that influences student autonomy/relevance/voice. • Results from all needs being met—not just relatedness or competence or autonomy separately. • Results from one-on-one teacher/student relationships. • Is requisite to Student Performance and Achievement. 8

9. What the Research Says A teacher can increase a student’s perception of self-efficacy (belief in his/her capabilities to be successful), thus elevating the student’s effort, persistence, and ultimate level of performance (Bandura, 1997; Schunk & Ertmer, 2000). Per Saphier, Haley-Speca, and Gower (2008, p.259), this can be done by… • Building relationships. • Communicating belief and building confidence in students. • Constructing classroom climates of community, psychological safety, and ownership.

10. What the Research Says Empirical evidence finds that the effects of classroom practices, when added to those of other teacher characteristics, are comparable in size to those of student background, suggesting that teachers can contribute as much to student learning as the students themselves (Wenglinsky, 2002).

11. What It Looks Like/Feels Like to the Student… Relatedness: “I belong in this classroom… my teacher lets me know it every day.” What Might It Look Like to the Principal? (Justify your response.) Exhibit A? Exhibit B? Exhibit C? (Adapted from Pianta, Hamre, Haynes, Mintz, & La Paro, 2006) Answer question(s) as a team, typing your responses in the chat box and notingyour school’s name and division:Teacher Practices Centering on InvolvementThat Influences Student Relatedness Activity: Discussion

12. What It Looks Like/Feels Like to the Student… Competence: “I know I can be successful…; furthermore, my teacher thinks that I can and shows me that I can….” What Might It Look Like to the Principal? (Justify your response.) Exhibit A? Exhibit B? Exhibit C? (Adapted from Pianta, Hamre, Haynes, Mintz, & La Paro, 2006) Answer question(s) as a team, typing your responses in the chat box and notingyour school’s name and division:Teacher Practices Centering on Structure (Implementing Best Practices)That Influences Student Competence Activity: Discussion

13. What It Looks Like/Feels Like to the Student… Autonomy: “I have choices and can have some control over/responsibility toward my success…; furthermore, what I’m doing centers on my reality….” What Might It Look Like to the Principal? (Justify your response.) Exhibit A? Exhibit B? Exhibit C? (Adapted from Pianta, Hamre, Haynes, Mintz, & La Paro, 2006) Answer question(s) as a team, typing your responses in the chat box and noting your school’s name and division:Teacher Practices Centering on AutonomyThat Influences Student Autonomy Activity: Discussion

14. Exhibit A Do these practices influence Learner Relatedness? Competence? Or Autonomy? The Teacher • Facilitates student responsibility and relevance by providing choices within parameters. • Provides opportunities for student choice and voice. • Encourages student responsibility and relevance through the use of rubrics, self assessments, and student management of their learning objectives.* *(Objectives come from the Student Learning Plan – an individual student’s prescribed work time activities from Learning Plan Grid activities--relevant to a unit of study.)

15. Exhibit B Do these practices influence Learner Relatedness? Competence? Or Autonomy? The Teacher • Influencespositive affect in the classroom. • Influencespositive peer & teacher interactions. • Demonstrates interest in and care about lives of individual students. • Effects a one on one relationship with the individual learner for learner to feel sense of “relatedness.”

16. Exhibit C Do these practices influence Learner Relatedness? Competence? Or Autonomy? The Teacher • Articulates and models clear expectations in the classroom. • Provides and explains student learning objectives – encouraging student discussion of objectives. • Links student background knowledge to new concepts; anchors new knowledge through guided practice and modeling of new steps. • Provides opportunities for students to gain competence through work time activities – after whole group instruction when students practice applying what they have just learned. • Demonstrates sensitivity to the needs of the students by providing differentiated instruction and assessment – all leading toward Target Level performance and beyond.

17. Exhibit C continued Do these practices influence Learner Relatedness? Competence? Or Autonomy? The Teacher • Models metacognitive processing (modeling how to think about thinking), e.g., the teacher says: “I would say to myself, remember what strategy you used to solve this kind of problem before.” • Provides ongoing assessment before, during, and after instruction. • Provides formative assessment and descriptive feedback for learning--not just acknowledging the “correct answer;” but using probing questions and hints, scaffolding cues when encouraging students to think about their answers, and letting students know what they have done correctly and what they need to do to be successful.

18. Sample Learning Plan Grid Standard/Benchmark Code: _5.5 b & c_* *These SOL have been taught separately first. Assessment Level Code: Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy/U for Understanding; original Bloom’s Taxonomy/C for Comprehension Target Objective Code: Red Enhanced Objective Code: Yellow Prerequisite Code: Green

19. What was one idea I learned during today’s webinar that I plan to share with teachers at my school?

20. Team Assignments for Part II in the Series on Student Engagement Please be ready to share your responses during our next webinar! When conducting classroom observations and/or walk-throughs during the next month, list specific teacher practices that appear to motivate and engage students. Then, categorize the practices under the three factors of studentrelatedness—influenced by teacher involvement; student competence—influenced by teacher structure/implementation of best practices; and student autonomy—influenced by teacher support of autonomy. * Discuss with your team: How often were students observed demonstrating autonomy or self-direction? What small steps could your teachers take to increase the frequency with which their students can be self-directed? * Also, see the document, Teacher Practices That Influence Engagement, in the Resources.

21. Questions? Next Webinar Sessions: January 24, 2012 at 1:00 PM

22. Additional Resources • Redding, S. (2006). The mega system: Deciding. Learning. Connecting. A handbook for continuous improvement within a community of the school. Lincoln, IL: Academic Development Institute. • Teacher Practices That Influence Learner Relatedness, Competence, & Autonomy (Adapted from Pianta, Hamre, Haynes, Mintz, and La Paro (2006) ) (to be sent prior to January 25, 2012) • Virginia Support for School Improvement: Effective Teaming & Instructional Planning (2008) • Wise Ways: Center on Innovation & Improvement, (2008); available at Indistar ™ site

23. Connell, J., & Wellborn, J. (1991). Competence, autonomy, and relatedness: A motivational analysis of self-system processes. In M. Gunnar & L.A. Stroufe (Eds.), Minnesota Symposium on Child Psychology (Vol. 23), Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Erwin, J. (2004). The classroom of choice: Giving students what they need and getting what you want. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Kryza, K., Duncan, A., and Stevens, S. (2009). Inspiring elementary learners, nurturing the whole child in a differentiated classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Nussbaum, P., and Daggett, W. (2008). What brain research teaches about rigor, relevance, and relationships. Rexford, NY: International Center for Leadership in Education. Pink, D. (2009). Drive, The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York, NY: Penguin Press. Sullo, J. (2007). Activating the desire to learn. Alexandria, VA: ASCD. Additional Resources 23