The Rules of Engagement

Dr. Henry Selby, Headmaster All Saints’ Episcopal School, Morristown, TN

The single most important element in learning is to become engaged with the subject. The single most important element in teaching is to engage the student with the subject. Merely presenting information (or merely taking notes) is neither teaching nor learning. Alas, this non-teaching and non-learning event is taking place in some classroom somewhere today.

There is a common and very useful model to follow for quality instruction. Some people call it the EDGE method. Explain. Demonstrate. Guide. Encourage. It covers the bases and sets the appropriate groundwork for the learner to engage. There are no guarantees, of course! Some people just don’t want to learn. But on the whole this system makes good sense. It certainly opens a number of avenues for great communication between teacher and learner.

My son is learning to drive a car. This will be my third experience explaining, demonstrating, guiding, and encouraging one of my children in the safe operation of a potentially deadly machine that can hurtle its tonnage along at highway speeds. (I take this job quite seriously). It is also the third time that a child of mine has begun to critique my own driving. “Dad, you didn’t use your turn signal!”

I welcome the critique, for it is a manifestation of my son’s engagement with the learning process. Learning to drive a car has a clear and readily understood goal. There is proof of the achievement. It is likely that my son’s driving will continue to improve long after he has received his “diploma” in the form of a license.

I don’t think that this experience needs to be different from, say, learning to analyze poems or solving inequalities or grasping a-b-c order. Clearly defined goals and objectives are a great start for any new topic in the classroom. Regular checks (“How am I doing?”) along the way can serve to reassure the student that she’s on the right track. Engaging others (collaboration) and looking for opportunities to make learning fun are additional and crucial supports!

As noted earlier, there are no guarantees. Keeping the student engaged requires effort from even the very best teachers. But of course, maybe that’s what makes them the best.