It's Time to Turn Up the H.E.A.T.!

During the past 5 years, I have queried classroom teachers, building and district administrators, curriculum leaders, and parent groups about the concept of student engagement. Specifically, I have asked the following question, “Do students make a conscious decision to become engaged in the learning process daily?” To this question, I have received a plethora of responses ranging from “Absolutely; otherwise why would they be in class?” to “I don’t know.” This essential question is further compounded when one considers Herbert Kohl’s book, I Won't Learn From You and Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment and his assertion that students who become disengaged and disenfranchised intentionally “not learn” what they are allegedly learning in the classroom.

When students decide, "I won't learn from you," they go into "not-learning" mode. "Not-learning" describes any number of behaviors that a learner uses to keep new information from getting into the brain. Some students put their hands over their ears. Less blatant forms of resisting learning include running a silent monologue to concentrate on which competes with and blocks the voices outside or just becoming passively compliant in the classroom. According to Kohl, “Not learning tends to take place when someone has to deal with unavoidable challenges to his or her personal and family loyalties, integrity and identity. In such situations there are forced choices and no apparent middle ground.”

How big is the problem of “not learning” and/or “lack of student engagement” in our schools? Informal responses from hundreds of professional educators reveal a dismay picture. The average level of student disengagement (i.e., student behavior exemplifying non-attentiveness, silence, apathy, and/or boredom) as self-reported by random classroom teachers and building administrators nationally is highest at the high school level (upwards of 90% student disengagement) followed by the middle school environment (somewhere between 40% to 70% disengagement) . The lowest level of disengagement appears to be at the elementary level (typically 10% to 40% disengagement). Though these numbers may fluctuate from campus to campus and region to region, the point is the lack of student engagement does negatively impact student success in the classroom.

Elevating the level of student engagement should, therefore, be a top priority of all stakeholders vested in the teaching/learning field. At LoTi Digital-Age Schools, elevating the level of student engagement means turning up the H.E.A.T.

H.E.A.T. is an acronym representing Higher order thinking, Engaged learning, Authenticity, and Technology use.

Higher order thinking represents the higher level discrete thinking operations (Bloom) involving application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation and the broader, more all-encompassing complex thinking strategies that depend on a series of steps to reach a conclusion. These complex thinking strategies include problem-solving, creative problem-solving, decision-making, investigation, reflective thinking, experimental inquiry, and inductive/deductive reasoning. (A summary of these strategies appears in the Article Resources.) Classrooms that are generating higher order thinking are engaging students in the content, process, and/or product stages using one of more of these complex thinking strategies.

Engaged learning represents the level in which students are actively involved in the learning process. Are they merely reporting back distilled information to the teacher or are they involved in identifying a problem and finding a solution that possesses both personal and social importance. Engaging the learner extends beyond simple compliant behavior, but moves the learner toward active involvement in the classroom. Students generating their own essential questions relating to the content is one measuring stick used to determine the amount of engagement in a classroom.

Authenticity represents what people might actually do in the real world- real life issues, themes, problems. The degree of authenticity may fluctuate depending on the age and background of the learner; yet all authentic assessments possess the following attributes: Allow for multiple solutions Relate to student’s prior knowledge Have personal meaning Be challenging Employ complex thinking processes. One of the easiest ways to infuse greater authenticity into student learning experiences is by integrating one of more 21^st Century Themes into the learning experience. These themes include:

• Global Awareness,
  
• Economic Literacy,
  
• Health and Wellness Awareness, and
  
• Civic Awareness

Technology use measures whether or not the technology used in the learning experience bolsters the level of student cognition, increases student engagement, and/or paves the way for greater relevance or authenticity relating to the learning experience? If the answer is “Yes” to this question, then the use of various learning technologies ranging from podcasts to online graphing programs is appropriate and highly desired. If the answer is “No”, then the use of technology becomes nothing more than an add-on and is not needed for task completion.

Taken collectively, H.E.A.T provides a context to assess student learning experience at the operational curriculum level serving as a useful set of descriptors for classroom walkthroughs, peer coaching/mentoring interventions, and lesson plan evaluations. By turning up the H.E.A.T., students are given the chance to apply or transfer critical content to contextual situations that involve high levels of engagement, critical thinking, and increased relevance. The result is improved student academic achievement as well as improved classroom climate.

May the LoTi be with you Always!
Chris Moersch

Kohl, Herbert (1987). Leadership for change. Cambridge, MA: Ballinger Publishing Company.