Reimagining Student Engagement: From Disrupting to Driving

"Engagement is not an either/or situation. In this book, Amy Berry describes a continuum of engagement that can be taught to students so that they can monitor and adjust the choices they make to engage. As students learn to drive their leaning, they become active agents in their education and develop strong self-regulation strategies. In doing so, they learn more and better and are able to reach the high expectations they, their families, and educators have for them."
"Reimagining Student Engagement by Amy Berry is a welcome additional to every teacher’s personal library. It provides a research-based and common-sense approach to understanding student engagement (and dis-engagement), and includes practical processes, ideas, and approaches for enhancing student engagement in learning. When I work with teachers in classrooms across the country, I often hear laments about how difficult it is to engage unmotivated students. This book will be a helpful guide for any teacher struggling to engage all students consistently.

Through her Continuum of Engagement, Berry provides a helpful way for educators to understand and describe the different types of student engagement they experience during teaching and learning, from students who strive to disrupt learning to students who seem to be able to drive the learning all on their own. When teachers have a better understanding of the different ways students engage in learning, it empowers them to develop strategies and approaches to strengthen meaningful and productive engagement during instruction that they design.

In addition, two aspects of Berry’s book particularly stand out and set it apart from other books on engagement. First is Berry’s willingness to provide thoughtful and effective ways for teachers to understand why students disengage from learning and what they can do to improve this. Second is Berry’s emphasis on the role of the teacher in collaborating and partnering with students in order to optimize engagement. In sum, and particularly because of both of these features, this book is a must read for all new teachers and should become a staple for pre-service teacher programs across the country."

"Amy Berry’s work on engagement has been nothing short of transformative for me. She has transformed our understanding by moving us forward from its psychological roots to its classroom expressions. The engagement continuum, and most importantly, the teaching that accompanies it, are changing students’ relationships with learning and with their teacher. This book is a gold mine for every caring educator who is looking for ways to redefine what schooling looks like. Let’s stop relying on low-level compliance as a measure. This is a road map for truly partnering with students."  

Introduction: Why Engagement?
Chapter 1: What Do We Mean By Engagement? The Illusion of Consensus
Chapter 2: Engagement as a Partnership
Chapter 3: Developing A Process for Engagement
Chapter 4: Let’s Get Engaged!
Chapter 5: Let’s Tackle Disengagement!
Chapter 6: Peers as Partners in Engagement
Chapter 7: Cultivating a Culture of Engagement

Dr. Amy Berry is a research fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research and an honorary fellow at the University of Melbourne. Amy began her career as a primary school teacher in Queensland before returning to university to complete a master of education (research). Having developed a passion for research, she went on to complete her PhD looking at teacher perspectives on student engagement and their approaches to engaging students in classroom learning. Amy has extensive experience working with preservice and practicing teachers to develop their skills in classroom-based assessment and evidence-based practice. She has designed numerous professional learning programs for teachers, including programs on formative assessment, student engagement, and learning through play. As well as working with teachers in Australia, Amy has worked with teachers, school leaders, and education officials from Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Ukraine.

Instead of disruptions, avoidance, and withdrawal, your learners could be participating, investing, and driving their learning experience. It’s time to reimagine student engagement!
Focused around three essential goals, Reimagining Student Engagement develops a new vocabulary for real classrooms, proposes an engagement model positioning students as active partners in the learning process, and embeds the concept of engagement into the teaching and learning process. Inside you’ll find:

• Reflection prompts that connect ideas to experiences
• Vignettes illustrating common conceptions of engagement as well as challenges
• Case studies showcasing real teachers using engagement strategies with learners
• Practical classroom strategies and tips for application