“Engagement” is one of those things that’s a nice by-product but not a great goal. Any lesson that is well-designed will naturally be “engaging.” But when we seek “engagement” as our actual goal, we end up with the educational equivalent of candy.
Engagement on its own is a substance-free snack.
An “Engaging” Task
If I roll a dice to assign a random task, that’ll be more “engaging” than just picking the task myself.
But I could also wear a clown wig. I could speak in a funny voice. I could roll a HUGE, fuzzy pink dice. All of that would be even more engaging, right!? I could stand on my desk and sing the directions. Engaging? You bet!
Engaging is quite easy. Anyone can do it – just like anyone can make a meal sweeter by adding more and more sugar.
But “sweet” isn’t the goal of a meal. And “engaging” isn’t the goal of a lesson. At least, it isn’t my goal!
I want to get students thinking in interesting ways.
You Get Engagement For Free!
And the beauty is, when students think deeply, we get “engagement” for free.
Humans like to think in interesting ways. We LOVE to figure things out that are just out of reach. It releases waves of dopamine. Look at Sudoku, crossword puzzles, Wordle, or whatever the hot puzzle of the year is. A task with high-level thinking is naturally engaging – even if the task is a black-and-white, pencil-and-paper vocab puzzle.
So, don’t try to make boring lessons “engaging.”
Instead, build well-scaffolded lessons that take students to high levels of thinking. You’ll never have to worry about being engaging. It’ll just happen!