The Disengaged Teen: A Framework on Student Engagement

Happy Tuesday!

When you were in school, how did you show up?

Did you spend time coasting in Passenger Mode? Trying to get top grades in Achiever Mode? Avoiding learning in Resister Mode? Or trying to make learning more interesting for you Explorer Mode? Maybe a mix of all four?

This framework on student engagement is one I developed with my colleague and friend Jenny Anderson. After 3 years of research, I’m thrilled to announce the release of our new book, The Disengaged Teen, Helping Kids Learn Better, Feel Better and Live Better. I'm so excited to finally share it with all of you. I have checked all the book buying sites, and there it is, ready for preorder. Hooray!

We argue that there is a profound shift happening in education, only accelerated by generative AI. We are moving from an Age of Achievement to and Age of Agency. In the US, the top skills employers were demanding several decades ago were strong literacy and numeracy skills. No longer is this the case. Now young people must have not only a strong academic grounding, but a range of agile learning and interpersonal skills. This requires a completely different way of showing up at school (or in extracurricular activities) and a completely different suite of competencies to practice and learn.

This means in or out of school, young people will need learning environments and opportunities that deeply engage them and help them develop agency.

Engagement and agency help so many things. ?

Understanding a child’s mode of engagement is vital for supporting their success in school and nurturing their ability to drive their own learning now and in the future.

But engagement can be a fuzzy concept to grasp and oftentimes hard to see. Plus- and I say this lovingly- academia makes it so confusing! Although I greatly admire the excellent academics working on student motivation and engagement, terms and measures are all over the place!

This is why in our book, we have developed the Four Modes of Engagement—to give caregivers, educators, and Ed leaders a roadmap.? The first step is to be able to recognize kids’ mode of engagement:

???????Resister: When kids resist, they struggle silently with profound feelings of inadequacy or invisibility, which they communicate by ignoring homework, playing sick, skipping class, or acting out.

???????Passenger: When kids coast?along, they consistently do the bare minimum and complain that classes are?pointless. They need help connecting school to their skills, interests, or learning needs.

? ???????Achiever: When kids show up, do the work, and get consistently high grades, their self-worth can become tied to high performance. Their disengagement is invisible, fueling a fear of failure and putting them at risk for mental health challenges. They need help taking on new challenges and encouragement that they matter beyond their achievements.?

? ???????Explorer: When kids are driven by internal curiosity rather than just external expectations, they investigate the questions they care about and persist to achieve goals. This is the pinnacle where kids become resilient learners and build skills to help them thrive.

Students may use all these modes as they go through their day, but too many kids have no opportunity to be in Explorer mode. Ultimately, young people need to develop Explorer skills, mindsets, and dispositions if they are going to succeed in the Age of Agency and keep a firm hand on the steering wheel of the technological innovation to come and we provide a host of recommendations on how to do just that.

If you care about adolescent mental health and wellbeing, student achievement, chronic absenteeism rates / kids refusing to go to school, young people being prepared to navigate an AI world, technology’s role in learning, preparing democratic citizens, then this book is for you.

If you are a parent, teacher or coach, or education leader, this book is for you.

You can pre-order your copy at this link (or wherever you normally buy your books) and get a sneak peek of the book contents (and some extra goodies not in the book), including:

??For Parents: Signs your child is in Passenger, Achiever, Resister, Explorer Mode?

??For Teachers: Signs your student is in Passenger, Achiever, Resister, Explorer Mode?

??How to have better conversations with your child about school: Tips from Top Teachers

??Bridging the Divide between Belonging and Learning

Let me know if you would like us to come talk to your organization, community, or school about the recommendations in the book. Just email at [email protected].

P.S.: When I was a student, I think I mostly operated in Achiever and occasionally Passenger mode in school and Explorer mode outside school. What about you?