Beyond Engagement

This lesson was one of last lessons on a week long problem on circumference, a video of the set up for the lesson is here and a blog post explaining more about it can be found here. ​

If you haven't done so already take the time to watch the video below, but more important than that I would like you to listen to the video below... 

This video brought a massive smile to my face, in fact it is still there.  Teaching can be tough work, but it is these sorts of moments that reaffirm why I have chosen it as a profession, it brings nothing but good stuff to your soul.

I didn't realise the reaction was this strong when we were doing it, I was wrapped up in ensuring we finished off the task before the lesson ended. So when I went back and watched it I thought "wow, the engagement here is really high"... but then I listened again, and it is more than that. The reaction those students are giving to this task goes beyond engagement, they are invested in it, they care deeply about it.  Activities that will have this level of "buy in" are hard to cultivate, but when they work, when the invest themselves in the task, the learning is exponentially more powerful.