Engaged Learning Quest

Developed by Colleen Hawkins and Jim Andris, November 5, 1999

Introduction

The Illinois Learning Standards have given the state a new direction and guidance. Lessons written today are frequently indexed to the detailed benchmarks provided for seven learning areas (English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science and Technology, Social Science, Physical Development & Health, Fine Arts, and Foreign Languages) and five levels of education (early elementary, late elementary, middle/junior high school, early high school and late high school). Cutting across these learning areas and levels are the five Applications of Learning (Solving Problems, Communicating, Using Technology, Working on Teams, and Making Connections).

Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, under the leadership of David Winnett and others at the University have been offering a series of Engaged Learning Institutes throughout the area. Teachers are taking these workshops in the hope that their teaching will come to more embody the Applications of Learning, and administrators are being trained to evaluate teachers' learning activites for signs of engaged learning.

If you are eventually employed in Illinois Schools, you may very well someday be evaluated on the engaged learning criteria that are the subject of this lesson.

Task

Teaching Partners and Administrative Parners will collaborate to complete this task, but will have distinct roles. TP's task is to create a lesson that you expect to be teaching, preferably as a part of an interdisciplinary unit. Your lesson must meet the criteria for engaged learning indicated as much as possible. The first stage is the development of your engaged learning lesson, and the second stage is the actual teaching of this lesson. The first stage of the AP's task is to work with the TP's as they develop their lesson, and the second stage is to critique the actual teaching of this lesson using the engaged learning rubrics provided.

Process

Part 1: Initial Planning

(10 minutes) Form working groups of 4 based on present team and grade level assignments. You will need one AP per group. Your AP will serve as a consultant. TP's should select a lesson that they actually expect to be teaching in the near future. Spend 5 five minutes sharing examples of engaged learning activities you have seen or used while reviewing the one page overview of Indicators of Engaged Learning.
(10 minutes) (TP's) Spend this time period on your own reflecting on engaged learning. Generate a brief description of an engaged learning lesson that you propose to teach. (AP's) Use this time to look over the four pages of rubrics for Indicators of Engaged Learning.
(10 minutes) In turn, each of the three TP's should share their description with their group. After each presentation, allow a few minutes of pure brainstorming, where the others in the group try to think of as many ways to improve the engaged learning in the lesson as possible. The creator will simply record these suggestions, and use them or not, as they see fit.
(5-10 minutes) There will be a large group sharing session where one person from each group shares one important thing that they learned about engaged learning.

Part 2: Teaching and Critiqueing

Continue to develop your lesson over the next few weeks, soliciting whatever feedback you desire.
Before you teach the lesson, arrange for an AP (who was not in your initial group, if possible) to be present to observe your teaching and, in the post-conference, to provide a critique of the lesson based on the rubrics for engaged learning provided. AP's should actually use the rubrics to provide a quantitative measure of engaged learning.
As a follow up activity, the four AP's at each site will select from these lessons, two good examples of engaged learning lessons and will report these on the listserv. Consult with Colleen if you have a question.

Resources

Illinois Learning Standards (http://www.isbe.state.il.us/ils/lstandards.html)
NCRTEC has developed a Learning With Technology Profile Tool. I have created an on-line rubric for evaluating engaged learning that is strictly based on NCRETEC's Profile, but is arranged in a more familar tabular rubric form and therefore may be more useful for evaluation from a print document. The document is in four parts, corresponding to the above four areas of engaged learning indices.

Indicators for Engaged Learning: Vision and Tasks
Indicators for Engaged Learning: Assessment and Instructional Models
Indicators for Engaged Learning: Learning Context and Grouping
Indicators for Engaged Learning: Teacher Roles and Student Roles

Here is a brief overview with definitions of engaged learning indicators.
NCREL also has defined a set of technology indicators and a model for the intersection of learning and technology, but we won't be focusing on this aspect of the NCREL model here today.
Here is a quest developed for St. Clair County Administrators to learn to evaluate engaged learning: Evaluating Instruction for Indicators of Engaged Learning