Engaging Children: Igniting a Drive for Deeper Learning

by Ellin Oliver Keene

What motivates us to learn? We all want our students to be engaged learners, but we often struggle with getting them excited about and responsible for their own learning. In Engaging Children , Ellin Oliver Keene explores the What can we do to help students develop internal motivation or, better yet, engagement? Differentiating between compliance, participation, motivation, and engagement, she shows how to develop and recognize true student engagement in your classroom and help students take more responsibility for their learning. Explore the conditions where student-driven engagement flourishes. As a teacher, instructional coach, or principal you will learn to cultivate an environment for increasing student engagement. You will also explore four pillars of engagement that provide a framework for considering what it means to be Truly engaged children are more likely to remember and reapply what they learn. Engagement provides authentic motivation for students and helps them become citizens who act on their learning for the betterment of the world. With Ellin's guidance, you'll discover how to help all children uncover their drive for deeper learning. Join the Engaging Children Facebook

Genres: Education, Teaching

224 pages, Paperback

Published May 18, 2018

Reviews

[Kris Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to tread lightly here because Ellin Oliver Keene is kind of like Mama Heinemann...

In 2017 82% of Indiana schools were either 1:1 with technology devices at some grade level or planning to launch 1:1 in 2018. Another 10% of Indiana schools were studying the possibility of a 1:1 launch in the future. I'm not suggesting that technology is the answer to engagement, quite the opposite. I'm a huge fan of Liz Kolb, creator of The Triple E Framework. She is critical of when we praise the illusion of engagement, or what she calls fake engagement, with technology in the classroom. I don't understand how in 2018 we can have a professional text focused on student engagement without mention of technology. Though I enjoyed Engaging Children because EOK is delightful storyteller, I would hesitate handing it to a classroom teacher as an instructional coach. Not enough try-it tomorrow action items to warrant a heartfelt recommendation. I would recommend Being the Change by Sara K. Ahmed, Learning to Choose, Choosing to Learn by Mike Anderson, or Learning First, Technology Second by Liz Kolb before Engaging Children.

[Phil J]

I read a couple chapters of this.

Ellin Oliver Keene's writing style represents the worst elements of the Heinemann/TC school of professional literature. It is meandering and inspirational where it should be pointed and useful. Keene spends quite some time attempting to define "engagement" before basically saying that it is an emotional state only describable through figurative language.

The part that made me abandon the book was where she illustrated a point by telling a four page anecdote about an airplane ride.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engaging Children: Igniting a Drive for Deeper Learning K-8 is classic Ellin Oliver Keene, in that she has taken an amorphous, but critical concept— in this case, engagement—and put it under the microscope. As she has done in the past with comprehension and understanding, Ellin moves us ever forward in learning how to learn.

Engagement is a term teachers use everyday. Ellin Keene asks, what does it really mean? If this is something we know is critical to learning, we must take the time to explore it ourselves. What are the conditions necessary for engagement? What are the pillars that support engagement? And most importantly, how do we move students toward the understanding that engagement is not only a worthy pursuit, but completely under their own control?

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read some incredible PD books this school year, and this one right at the top of the list. Ellin Oliver Keene articulates the importance of engagement: a word I now realize I've been using loosely over the years. It's more than participation and motivation; it's the pinnacle of learning. This book gives us the language needed to talk about how to create an environment conducive to engagement.

[Brenda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Certainly worth reading and discussing. It would be exciting to explore this in study group to support each other in deepening our classroom experiences for students and ourselves.
What questions will guide your year of teaching? How will you become more thoroughly engaged in learning by exploring your practice as a teacher-researcher?
I'm off to find out this year.

[Marcie]

Not finished, but can't figure out how to save comments in currently reading. Loved Chapters one and two. By three, although I'm still on her bandwagon (I'm noticing how many of the buzz words (although I'm sure many of them come from her work) I can find. "Teachers understand the importance of a growth mind-set in building independence and agency in children." In a good way I'm so impressed how choice pervades everything she says. I love this passage "Children have a sense of awe about the "mysterious working of the human mind, but also a sense of clarity that "smart" is not something you are; it's something you get."(p. 38) Guess I should not complain at all about the language used by Ellin Oliver Keene!

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those books that should be a must read for all teachers! Grounded in hours of observational and interview data from across the country, Ellin Oliver Keene puts forth a theory of engagement that is supported by curious joyful learning! Who doesn't want to be in a curious joyful classroom where purposeful relevant learning is taking place on a daily basis?! She first identifies the path to engagement from compliance to participation to motivation to engagement (noting that this path is not a linear progression, but that we can weave in and out of this path on our journey to engagement). Her theory of engagement is supported by four pillars: intellectual urgency, emotional resonance, perspective bending, and aesthetic world. For me, the pillars represent my teacher beliefs and I instinctively try to weave them into my daily instruction. But, having the pillars identified and described in detail give me much food for thought on how I can include the pillars in my classroom more intentionally, so they have a greater impact on student engagement, learning, and retention. LOVED this book!!!

[Czechgirl · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. This is not a book of ideas on how to present lessons in a way that will ensure kids will be engaged with their lessons. Rather, the book provides you with four reasons people become engaged when learning, studying, doing something, etc. Then Keene takes those four reasons people become engaged and explains how a teacher can use this information to teach students or get students to notice when they are engaged. She feels when students realize they are truly engaged and what causes one to become engaged, a student will more likely be engaged or strive to be engaged. Lots to ponder on and can't wait to introduce these ideas to my classes this next year.

[Jenn Swiderski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like educational books that marry a healthy dose of theory, research, and classroom applicability. This book gave a framework of 4 pillars to promote real engagement in students. It delineates the difference between students who are merely compliant, participating, and motivated. What are the behaviors and actions of students who are truly engaged? How can we promote this engagement in our students so that it is a choice THEY make, rather something that teachers plan and activate? This book got my gears rolling and made me question some of the instructional planning I have done, especially with the resources I use with my 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.

[Carla Whitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book for all educators! Ellin offers so many suggestions that can be used to fit any classroom. Even though I teach special education, I can use many of these strategies in my classroom to increase engagement every day. I am excited to use the resources offered in the appendices for future use, and refer back to her 4 pillars of engagement when I'm feeling the students are lacking in this area, and change my teaching to fit the needs of my students. I highly recommend this book, and it is a very quick read.

[Bkrieth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am currently engaged in a research cohort, making plans to use Keene's latest education book in deep study to impact student learning in the 2019-2020 school year, and I could not be more excited to get going! Keene's work, in service to the whole child, proposes we not only identify and support conditions for student engagment, but that we explicity teach students to do so for themselves. I believe strongly in empowering students' agency over their own learning, and this book takes that power to the next meta level. Highly recommended!!!

[Chris Heim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed a lot of the ideas in this book, but despite the author's insistence that they are largely applicable to a wide range of ages, I struggled to imagine applying them with many of my Grade 2 students. And as much as the author claims this isn't a new "curriculum" or "just another thing to do", the amount of time needed to figure out how to integrate these ideas (or what to let go of in applying them) is very significant. Lots of internal professional development would be required to do this work well, in my opinion.

[Peter Carpenter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 33 of 60 of 2018: true to form, Ellin Keene develops great ideas and language around a complex topic around engagement. Her relentless pursuit of helping us become the best educators possible is refreshing, helpful and engaging. A great read!

[Ivy Sitkoski · Rating 5 out of 5]

A dream of a book! I hope many are inspired by it.

[Ginger Barnhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for educators. Beautiful.

[Monica Edinger]

Much to consider.