Student Engagement with Jacob Clifford
Summary
TLDRThe speaker emphasizes the importance of student engagement in the classroom by discussing factors that lead to disengagement, such as external issues, fear of mistakes, perceived difficulty, unfairness, apathy, and lack of community. Strategies to combat these include getting to know students, reducing fear through experiential learning, connecting lessons to real-life skills, and selling the value of education. The talk encourages educators to be salespeople for their subjects, focusing on the first day's lesson to excite students and keep them engaged throughout the year.
Takeaways
- 🧩 Engaging students starts by understanding when they disengage, such as facing personal issues, fear of mistakes, or feeling the subject is too hard.
- 👨👧👦 Knowing students on a personal level helps teachers identify and address the issues that lead to disengagement outside of school.
- 🤸♂️ Reducing the fear of making mistakes is crucial; teachers should create a supportive environment that encourages learning from errors.
- 🤲 The concept of 'experiential learning' is introduced as a strategy to help students understand that learning is a process that involves overcoming difficulties.
- 🏋️♀️ Practice is emphasized as a key component of learning, with the idea that students should not expect immediate mastery but rather persistent effort.
- 🏆 The importance of connecting learning to real-life applications and long-term benefits is highlighted to motivate students to see the value in their education.
- 🎯 Teachers are encouraged to develop a 'sales pitch' for their subject to explain its relevance and importance to students' futures.
- 🗣️ Translating students' negative statements about subjects into positive skills they are actually learning helps reframe their perspective on education.
- 📚 The script suggests that the first day of school should not be focused on syllabus and rules but on an engaging lesson that excites students about learning.
- 🌟 A memorable anecdote about 'Diamond Shreddies' is used to illustrate the power of making a subject appealing and engaging to students.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the speaker's discussion?
-The main focus of the speaker's discussion is on strategies to engage students in the classroom and prevent disengagement by addressing various reasons why students might give up or lose interest in school.
What are the key reasons students disengage according to the speaker?
-The key reasons students disengage include facing other issues, fear of making mistakes, perceiving school as too hard, not seeing the benefits of school, teacher being unfair, being apathetic, and not having a sense of community.
What strategy does the speaker suggest for when students are facing other issues outside of school?
-The strategy suggested is to 'Know Thy Students', which involves learning their names quickly, connecting with them, and understanding what's going on in their lives to recognize when something outside of school is affecting them.
How does the speaker address the fear of making mistakes in students?
-The speaker suggests reducing the fear of making mistakes by reassuring students that difficulty and challenges are part of the learning process, and by using experiential learning activities to demonstrate that practice and persistence lead to mastery.
What example does the speaker use to illustrate the concept of practice and persistence?
-The speaker uses the example of Jerry Rice, the all-time leader in NFL receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns, to show that greatness comes from getting up and starting over after making mistakes.
Why does the speaker emphasize the importance of connecting lessons to real-life skills?
-The speaker emphasizes connecting lessons to real-life skills because students often don't see the immediate relevance of what they're learning in school, and this connection helps them understand the value of education in their future.
What is the 'sales pitch' strategy mentioned by the speaker?
-The 'sales pitch' strategy involves teachers having a concise explanation of why their subject matter is important and relevant to students' lives, which they should communicate to motivate and engage students in the learning process.
How does the speaker suggest teachers should start the school year?
-The speaker suggests that teachers should start the school year by teaching their best, most engaging lesson first to excite and interest students, rather than focusing on classroom management or the syllabus on the first day.
What is the significance of the 'Shreddies' cereal example in the script?
-The 'Shreddies' cereal example is used to illustrate the importance of marketing and 'selling' the value of education to students, just as a product is marketed to consumers.
What activity does the speaker use to demonstrate the concept of experiential learning?
-The speaker uses an activity where participants are asked to extend their thumbs and pinky fingers in a specific pattern, first with one hand and then with both, to demonstrate the process of learning through doing and the importance of practice.
Outlines
🎓 Strategies to Engage Students
The speaker begins by inquiring about strategies to engage students and reverses the question to understand when students disengage. Through student feedback, they identify key reasons for disengagement: external issues, fear of mistakes, perceived difficulty, lack of perceived benefits, teacher unfairness, apathy, and lack of community. The speaker then proposes strategies to address each issue, starting with 'Know Thy Students' to connect with them on a personal level and understand their lives outside of school.
🤸♂️ Overcoming Fear of Failure in Learning
The speaker shares a personal anecdote about their sons at a skate park to illustrate the fear of looking stupid, which can lead to disengagement. They suggest reducing fear as a strategy, emphasizing that while fear might motivate in the short term, it doesn't foster long-term motivation. The speaker introduces experiential learning activities to demonstrate to students that difficulty is a natural part of the learning process. They use the example of practicing an easy hand exercise and then increasing its difficulty to show that learning is a journey from struggle to mastery.
🏫 The Importance of Seeing the Value in Education
The speaker discusses the third reason students disengage: not seeing the benefits of school. They argue that strong teachers don't just teach content but connect learning to inspire students. The speaker challenges the audience to create a compelling sales pitch for their subject, emphasizing the importance of connecting every lesson to a broader, meaningful goal that students can understand and relate to. They also provide a translation for common student complaints about hating school subjects, reframing these complaints as issues with problem-solving, communication, or other skills that education aims to develop.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Engagement
💡Disengagement
💡Fear of Making Mistakes
💡Perceiving Difficulty
💡Benefits of School
💡Teacher Unfairness
💡Apathy
💡Sense of Community
💡Experiential Learning
💡Sales Pitch
💡Content vs. Skills
Highlights
The speaker aims to engage students by understanding how to prevent disengagement.
Students disengage when facing external issues like poverty or divorce.
Fear of making mistakes is a common reason for student disengagement.
Perception of difficulty can lead students to disengage from school.
Unfair treatment by teachers can cause students to lose interest in school.
Apathy is identified as a significant factor in student disengagement.
Lack of a sense of community or connection to school can lead to disengagement.
The importance of knowing students on a personal level to address their issues.
Learning names quickly is crucial for connecting with students.
The strategy to reduce fear of failure includes reassurance and emphasizing the learning process.
Experiential learning activities can help students understand the value of practice and persistence.
The analogy of Jerry Rice's sportsmanship to emphasize the importance of getting back up after failure.
Students need to understand the relevance and benefits of what they learn in school.
Teachers should have a concise sales pitch explaining the value of their subject to students.
Connecting lessons to real-life skills and applications is essential for student engagement.
The speaker encourages teachers to sell the importance of their subject matter effectively.
The first day of school should start with an engaging lesson rather than focusing on the syllabus.
The story of 'diamond shreddy' cereal illustrates the power of marketing and selling ideas.
Transcripts
what are we doing today we're going to
figure out how do we get students
engaged and the way we're going to
figure that out is by reversing that and
asking how do you prevent students from
becoming disengaged so what I did is I
went to my students and I asked the
second question when do students give up
in school and I was trying to get at is
when do you become disengaged like when
do you just go ah I've had it the first
one they said when they're facing other
issues another one is when they're
afraid of making mistakes they disengage
because it's it's just too hard or
there's a perceiving like it's too hard
and they don't want to like jump into it
no one they don't sit benefits of school
like they don't they why do I need to be
in biology what's the point of third
grade for when they think the teacher
being unfair I didn't think of that one
that's what they gave me they like well
my teacher is being unfair that's when
I'm like all right I'm not going to
listen to you number five when they're
apathetic which is a huge idea and then
last one when they don't have a sense of
community when they're not connected to
school they don't have friends um they
don't they don't they just don't feel
like anyone's there for them this
morning I'm going to go through each one
of these you know systematically I'm
going to give you strategies for each
one of them strategies you can use in
the class room that you can apply next
week when they're facing other issues we
have no control over those issues
poverty divorce there's all sorts of
things happening in students lives and
we have no control so the strategy is
simple right the only strategy we can
use is the great commandment which is
Know Thy students so and obviously
there's some things that go with that
you know the first day learn names as
fast as possible if you teach High
School you have 200 students you learn
those names as quick as possible and you
purposely think okay the students that
are hiding from me are are the ones I
need to go seek connecting to students
is what matters here then you know
what's going on like in their life and
then when something happens you're more
likely to recognize it and realize hey
that kid has nothing to do with class in
school it has everything to do with
something else at home all right let's
move on to the next one when they're
afraid of making
mistakes take a look at this my sons uh
David and James they're uh seven and
nine and one time this is last year we
went to the local skate park and they're
like Daddy we they drive the scooters
you know Razor scooters
and they're like let's go do the
skatepark I'm like okay sure and I I
used to skateboard when I was you know
in the ' 80s I was pretty good on the
street and I was like I'm going to go
skate with you guys awesome I grab my
skateboard and I get there and there's
all these kids little kids doing jumps
and jumping over stuff and they're all
doing this awesome things there's guys
on bites going around and I really
wanted to I really wanted to get in
there at least try at least drop in
right and I wasn't necessarily afraid of
getting hurt I was afraid of looking
stupid and I I actually I mean I
completely disengaged myself I said the
kids like oh come on dad jump in try it
try it I'm like no no I I don't really
want to and I held back not because I
didn't want to because I was too afraid
so here's your strategy that goes along
with it reduce the fear fear doesn't
motivate students it motivate the short
run but it doesn't motivate them in the
long run so we have to tell listen I'm
here for you this is going to be hard
you're going to get pushed this is going
to be difficult but that's okay that's
part of the process so it'll make more
sense maybe with an example so let me
give you an example take your right hand
if you could right hand then do this
don't don't look up here just look look
at me hey like this thumb out put it
away pinky out thumb out pinky out thumb
out pinky out thumb out pinky out
perfect awesome now two hands same thing
over again thumbs out pinkies out thumbs
out pinkies
out beep you you show your partner look
what I can do great awesome now here's
what I want you to do just watch me
thumb out pinky out thumb out pinky out
looks like this from out pinky out from
out pinky looks like this
[Music]
you okay okay this is called
experimential learning I love doing
these activities in the classroom um
let's let's debrief this let's talk
about how this is like classroom because
it's exactly the same as school when I
first had you do one-handed a lot of you
guys like this is so easy like I can do
this all day long right and I had two
hands you're like duh I can do this H
what happened in the third
round hold on a second you know what I'm
saying now what was your attit when you
couldn't do
it did you give
up stupid I should never have become a
teacher and like ran off school is
exactly the same way now who in this
room is really good at
it who fingers or school
this who's really good at this you I am
and who am I I'm the teacher I am so
good at economics I am so good I can do
all the calculations and all the Gras
and I require no thought and no energy
whatsoever it is so easy for me but not
because I'm brilliant it's not because
I'm a genius why is it PR cuz I
practiced it I practiced economics and
there's been times in my life it was
really hard and it took time for me to
learn and now it's so easy so your
students walk in the room they see you
doing things but the kids go ah I can't
do it I don't know how to do this that's
okay it takes time I'm there for you it
it doesn't motivate you and make you do
this any better by me yelling at you or
screaming at you or being like well it's
your great if you don't do this right or
there's going be huge test on Friday
it's all about listen you got to
practice and if you're not getting it
you got to practice now here's the
really here's the biggest problem in
education students feel like they need
to get it there's nothing to get there's
no place to be you will always be at The
Fringe of your capabilities I'll say it
again you'll always be at The Fringe of
your capabilities you might have
mastered one thing but the next thing
comes up so next time once you get this
down how about now rotate your wrists do
the same thing hopping on one foot
because that's all education is it's the
process of learning and figuring okay I
can't do this okay but now I get it and
now I can move on now what's great about
this activity is you use this to explain
to students that mastering skills
requires practice and you don't give up
right it's going to be hard reduce the
fear tell them I'm there for you I'm
going to help you practice but
eventually you're going to get it but
you got to practice if you say this
sentence to students it won't sink in if
you say hey guys make sure you practice
it doesn't sink in when you do
activities like this experiential
learning activities students go oh yeah
so in my class I'll do this the
beginning of the year and when we get to
things in my class like you know you
know two months into school I'll be like
all right guys today's one of those days
you know what I'm saying it's going to
start off easy we're going to start off
with consumer surplus then we'll talk
about producer Surplus and we'll put it
all together and talk about total
Surplus and that's when it gets hard so
stay with me the whole time does make
sense and I guarantee there's areas in
your curriculum where students like oh
this is so easy I can do this all the
time and all a sudden when they get when
it gets hard they go ah I can't do it
and they become disengaged they ask to
go the bathroom every two minutes and
they try to get out of it right as
opposed to realize it is always going to
be hard education is always hard right
the process of learning takes time let
me give you an example from Sports I bet
there's some sports nuts out there so
let's talk about Jerry
Rice young second down and N plenty of
time goes for Rice who drops the ball
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
I don't know if you know much about
Jerry Rice alltime leader in receptions
receiving yards and receiving touchdowns
voted greatest NFL football player of
all time not like a good one the
greatest one by NFL films what can you
say about the video though
though mistakes he made mistakes great
people aren't great cuz they don't make
mistakes they are great cuz they get up
and start over again right it's so hard
to learn that though I mean it's so hard
it's hard for me to learn that when I'm
trying to skateboard at a skate park
right but we got to teach our students
I'm here for you it's going to be hard
it's going to take time you got to
reduce that fear reason number three is
when students don't see the benefits of
school right they just they go I don't
know why I'm here this is a waste of my
time right it's hard for them to stay
engaged they don't know why they're
there so I found this quote on Twitter
this is great strong teachers don't
teach content Google has content strong
teaching connects learning in ways that
Inspire kids to learn more and strive
for greatness so most you and I'd say
all of you were like me when it came to
school right when you had a book report
on Peru what' you
do and when you were in school
education's changed but when you were a
kid what
happened you went to the library and you
open up an encyclopedia and and that
like 10 pages on Peru if there wasn't
information in there about Peru
information didn't exist there was no
more information about Peru except it
was in the encyclopedia right but our
kids our students have grown up in a
completely different world all the Rope
memorization stuff is right there and
they're thinking like why do I need to
learn any of this from you if it's right
here why are you testing me on things
that is really just a Google search from
my phone away right and the answer is
you're not it's all about the skills if
very few of our students will use the
content we teach every day I'm talking
about the Rope memorization content
stuff like the the things l times that
you just do a quick quiz on then what do
we really want them to walk away with
remember when you in high school though
you had a math teacher that told you
you'll be using this for the rest of
your life you remember that right when
was the last time you used the quadratic
formula um High School probably high
school now who used it just on
Friday so who used it probably all last
week and we'll use it all next week that
math teacher they weren't lying they use
it every single day but I don't now I'm
not making fun of math I use the idea
and the skills of math every day every
single day I'm using math but it's not
the quadratic formula so here's the
question right what do we want them to
walk away when it comes to math or
social science or English or P or
foreign language or art or whatever you
teach or just third grade like you teach
third grade what do we want them really
to walk away with so here's my point and
here's the big strategy you got to get a
sales pitch right you got to get a sales
pitch no more than two sentences so
we're going to do it right now what I
want you to do is you're going to go
back to that partner from before I want
you to tell them really quickly what
what do you teach you high school
teacher or you Elementary School Middle
School teacher and then give them no
more than two sent sales pitch on why in
Earth kids should be in your
class ask yourself and be honest when
was the last time you said that sentence
to students it should have been Friday
it should have been all it should some
point last week the reality is and I'm
the same way I forget I'm so focused on
the content we're doing today and this
week and you're not getting the content
we're doing this week that I'm not
thinking there's something bigger here
and I got to focus on that so the
strategy here is you got to connect
every single lesson to what students
really need to understand right I mean
obviously there's the content there's
the minutia you got to get done but
every single day it's should be like hey
here's why you're here again this is
going to help you achieve that goal
students all the time say I hate math or
I hate English or I hate PE and what
I've done is I've done a translation for
those students by the way you're going
to get this PowerPoint so some people
are writing things down you're going to
be fine you're going to get this so a
kid who says I hate math is really
trying to say I hate problem solving and
learning from my mistakes I'm never
going to use that in life a kid goes I
hate math but I love working on cars
it's the same thing where did you make a
mistake where did you mess up what's the
algorithm all right we're not getting
spark we're not getting uh gas we're and
that's the same process that you're
using kid says I hate English any
English teachers we're all English
teachers by the way right so I hate
English I hate reading and effectively
communicating with other people I'm not
going to do that when am I ever going to
communicate with other people I hate
science I hate thinking objectively and
figuring out how things work right
that's that's a waste of my time K says
I hate history a lot of kids say that
right I hate history basically saying I
hate knowing who I am and how I got here
right kid who says I hate foreign
language I hate other cultures and
developing a skill that'll get me a
better job job someday right because
that's it'll do that right I hate PE I
think this is interesting kids go maybe
not in Elementary Middle School my kids
love PE in elementary school they love
gym but in high school a lot of kids go
I hate PE because they're trying to say
I hate being healthy right I really hate
it I hate being healthy I hate schools
trying to say I hate staying focused
working hard multitasking and applying
skills that'll decrease the likelihood
that my life will suck
right so I want you to ask yourself when
you hear kids say I hate school right
picture that kid in your mind which kids
are the ones who usually say I hate
school it's ones who need School the
ones who need School the most to get out
of poverty to get out of situations that
are beyond their control and their life
is going to be really difficult then
they're the ones oh they want to be
disengaged they want to step back I hate
school man do you need to be engaged
right and so when a kid says I hate
school we that's us that's not them it's
us we're not selling it properly we're
not explaining what the point is of
biology or third grade right and if we
do that obviously you're still have some
kids I hate this but really they realize
well I hate this but man this is
actually going to improve my life is
there any Canadians in the room I know
that's a weird question my wife is
Canadian and shreddy is a cereal that's
only offered in Canada the UK and South
Africa that's it in 2007 they were
trying to get people to buy more shreddy
they thought so how should we get people
to buy shreddy should we have a funny
commercial should we have like a new
cartoon character and they came with an
idea and it has everything to do with
teaching you'll see it's right here eyes
up here take a look here's their idea
diamond shreddy
first of all you're thinking man
consumers are stupid yes maybe a little
bit their sales didn't go up they
skyrocketed yes now you're thinking
you're thinking like oh it's dumb but
people be walking down the aisle and
they'd see this diamond TR back that's
so dumb we should buy a couple of those
you're not just an educator you're a
Salesman your job is to sell I sell
economics to a bunch of students who
aren't particularly interested in buying
economics you sell third grade or
kindergarten or biology what a most
teacher do in high school and middle
school first
day management classroom management and
the syllabus right here's the book
here's what you're supposed to do here's
you're not supposed to do here's a
syllabus right it is the worst day of
school it is so horribly boring by your
last class like okay here's a syllabus
here's what you're supposed to do here's
the strategy do it this year I promise
you if there's only one thing you can do
it'll make a huge difference it's right
here teach your best lesson the first
day so when kids come into your room
first thing you start off with is your
best possible lesson I'm not talking
content-wise I'm talking about get them
engaged get them excited about coming
the syllabus can wait like do the
syllabus later do classroom rules later
if you teach third grade do something
awesome third grade like this is what
the sort of things we're going to be
doing and learning that's going to get
them excited about wanting to come back
I got to finish the story by the way
some Canadians were actually really
upset that they did this that they're
like how dare you change our cereal so
take a look up here the post decided to
make everybody happy with this the combo
pack all in one
box e
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