Student Effort (Engagement)

BENEFITS

• Academic outcomes – Engaged students typically earn higher grades, score better on standardized tests, and show deeper understanding of material.

• Cognitive and thinking skills –Engagement is associated with stronger critical thinking, problem solving, and the ability to apply knowledge in new situations.

• Motivation and persistence – Higher engagement increases intrinsic motivation, curiosity, and the joy of learning, making students more willing to tackle challenging tasks.

• Social‑emotional development – Engagement supports the development of social and emotional competencies, including collaboration, communication, and relationship skills. link

• Perseverance helps students stick with multi-step problems, complex texts, and long-term projects.

• Working hard through difficulty teaches students that their abilities can grow, which supports a growth mindset and greater intrinsic motivation.

• Perseverance and sustained effort help students develop resilience, problem-solving, and self-regulation, which are critical for success in work and adult life. link

HOW TO

• Create classroom culture celebrating failure and “not yet.”

• Goals are clear (they know what they need to accomplish right now)

• Feedback is immediate (they can tell how they are doing and adjust quickly).

• They teach the teacher – what and how they are doing something.

• Teach students how to ask for help.

• Identifying and helping them understand the journey to success and the steps to achieve success.

• Use of success criteria for lessons – create with students.

• Teach students how to give and receive feedback.

• Creating student responsibilities: school jobs, tutoring, student-led conferences etc.

• Challenges seen as opportunities – “I just haven’t figured it out yet.”

• Use KWL when lesson planning.

• Teach students how to engage in error detection.

• Daily problem solving tasks.

• Differentiated instruction.

• Small group instruction

• Use of graphic organizers and visual cues

• Games

• Tournaments

• Jigsaw method link

• Reciprocal teaching link

• STEM activities and lab experiences

• Understand Golem effect; Matthew effect; Pygmalion effect

• Growth mindset student inventory assessment usage.

• The solution, according to Palo Freire (2018) is for “teachers to be partners in learning with students…the teachers cannot think for the students; they must pose questions and problems with the student becoming the teacher and teacher the student” Dweck (2019)

TYPES OF ENGAGEMENT

• Behavioral – participating in activities, attentive

• Emotional – affective attitudes, sense of belonging

• Cognitive – intellectually stimulating Fredricks (2016)

TEACHER QUESTIONS

• “If it was easy you would not be learning anything new.”

• “Let’s break it down into smaller chunks.”

• “Describe the progress you have made?”

• “What part is hard for you? How can you get better at that?”

• “Tell me how I can help?”

• “Teach me what you have learned and can do now.” Bandura (1993)

CHALLENGES

• Many students arrive with low academic confidence, learned helplessness, or a belief that effort does not pay off, so pushing “try harder” can feel hollow or even shaming if they do not yet see success.

• Emotional, mental health, and wellness issues: Stress, anxiety, physical fatigue, and other wellness challenges reduce capacity to participate.

• Passive, teacher-centered methods: Heavy reliance on lecture and “sit and get” instruction is consistently cited as a major barrier.

• Low cognitive demand or lack of challenge: When work feels too easy or repetitive.

• Limited relevance and authenticity: Students are less engaged when they cannot see how learning connects to real problems.

• Class size, time, and space constraints: Large classes, fixed seating, and short periods make it harder to use active, collaborative, or discussion-based methods.

• Resistance to change: Both students and educators may resist new, more interactive approaches.  link

• They are unlikely to persist if they fear ridicule for mistakes or do not trust that the classroom is worth investing in.

• Perseverance is hard to foster when work is chronically too easy, too hard, or perceived as meaningless.

• A heavy emphasis on grit can shift attention away from structural barriers (poverty, bias, language access, disability supports) and imply students would succeed “if they just tried harder.” link

WHAT NOT TO DO

• Too much teacher talk – lecture destroys interest and involvement. Most students have a very limited attention span, and teacher-talk leads to boredom and acting out.

• Lack of student centered and hands-on activities – When students are busy with hands-on activities, they are too engaged to misbehave or get bored.  They need to make choices, do things, and participate with all their senses.

• Failure to understand development  – teachers need to understand the developmental differences between how they think, and how students think.

•  Teachers who possess no joy or belief in the importance of teaching.

•  Students who possess a belief they are not learners or can’t learn something. When the language of the classroom needs to change from do your work, to focus on learning.  Learn and learning are the purpose of school – not work. use learn and learning when discussing tasks (not work).

• Students who participate in “busy-work” that has limited relevance (cutting and pasting is not learning). Christensen (2012)

• Avoid praising “grit” in the abstract – Don’t just say “good job being so gritty” without linking it to specific, observable actions or strategies.

• Don’t celebrate effort when a student has been working ineffectively; distinguish effort that’s productive from effort that’s misdirected.

• Avoid pushing students to “stick with” tasks that are misaligned with ability, interest, or purpose.

• Don’t tell students “you just need more grit” when barriers are structural (under‑resourced supports, chronic overload, poverty‑linked instability).

• Avoid jumping in to solve the first sign of frustration; students need productive struggle to build real perseverance.

• Don’t reduce tasks until they’re always easy; low‑threshold, low‑challenge work undercuts the “stretch” needed for resilience.

• Don’t equate quitting with character failure; sometimes disengaging from an unproductive task is a rational and growth‑aligned decision.

• Avoid phrases like “quitters never win” that pathologize helping kids walk away from activities that don’t fit their strengths or values.

• Don’t praise only “you’ve been working so hard” without naming concrete strategies (“you broke this into smaller steps,” “you asked for help early”).  link