Session 4, Part 2: A Framework for Fostering Student Engagement

Create Your Ideal Curriculum, Session 4: Create Conditions for Learning

So why is engagement such as a fleeting experience in school? Some argue that it is because “’learning’ becomes an external imposition when schooling starts, the excitement of mastering new skills gradually wears out” (Csikszentmihalyi, pg. 47). So in some way, the cards are stacked against us in school: because education is compulsory, teachers are at an immediate disadvantage for fostering this ideal state for learning, especially as students become older and are more aware of these circumstances.

This challenge is the driving purpose for this resource. An ideal curriculum connects the interests and ideas that will engage students with what is deemed essential in education with regard to knowledge, skills, and dispositions. As I have shared before, these two agendas are not mutually exclusive; one can benefit the other and vice versa with some thoughtful planning as we are doing here.

Zmuda and Jackson (2015) describe what real engagement looks like, sounds like, and feels like in the…