A Rant On Student Engagement

Engagement? What is engagement? Look the word engagement up and many different definitions come up– some not so visually appealing. To a teacher, engagement is the ever elusive pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. We are in constant pursuit for student engagement and by student engagement I don’t mean a student engaged, I mean having a class of 20 or more students engaged all at the same time. Then there is actively engaged. What  does that mean? How is it different from being just engaged? Is there some sort of physical notifier that lets a teacher know when a student has gone from being engaged to actively engaged? And then there is the levels of engagement. Some would say that just attending shows engagement, others would say that not being disruptive shows engagement, and then there is that student who is too engaged– you know the one I am talking about–the one who will not keep their hand down even though you have asked numerous times and expressed in the kindest way so not to hurt feelings, that it is time to give another student a turn, or at least some time to process what they might possibly say…if they were engaged! What happened to the days when the only engagement people were worried about was their own promise to marry? I guess what I am trying to say is, we can read every handbook there is on engagement or go to every PD available on the topic, but in the end, do we really know what engagement looks like, and does it look the same for everyone?