Engaging the Disengaged Child (Not Just the Disengaged Student)

Outline

Introduction (5 minutes): We'll ask participants to consider a student who is disengaged, and we'll extract a couple of descriptive comments (this often is humorous and provides a stark contrast to what comes next).
Overview of session learning (5 minutes): What if the disengaged student were actually a kid with dreams, skills, ambition, interests, and passion? We'll explore ways to leverage that reality in our classrooms and school settings.
New learning (40 minutes): Separated into four parts A-D (below), this section will be a mix of brief mini-lessons, collaborative conversations, role plays, video snippets, and reflective processing. We like to weave a lot of interactive, engaging structures into our workshops, so they're not sit-n-git.
Part A: Felt Safety. The key in constructing such a setting is to have a clear goal: that each kid in the class feels safety.
Part B: Individual Interest Inventory. This is a tool to help educators extract key information about what drives our kids (often outside of school).
Part C: Connection Before Correction. Rather than try to convince kids they need to change, we'll focus on the relationship and the connection as leverage points.
Part D: Cognitive Interest Cues. Taking what we've collected so far, we'll now link it to the learning targets of the activity, lesson, or course.
Reflection and Application (10 minutes): Here, we'll ask participants to reflect on the practicality of the information we've provided and to set a goal to implement a specific strategy (or batch of strategies) in order to address the disengagement of a particular kid (student) they've been struggling with. Folks often share at the end in an emotional wrap-up.

Outcomes

...identify the strengths, interests, and motivating factors that contribute to our kids' (students') level of engagement.
...practice conversations that foster connections and emphasize relationships over conformity and behavior correction.
...construct and curate a setting in which kids (students) feel safe, have ownership in their learning, and commit to engaging in the educational process.

Supporting research

Souers & Hall: Fostering Resilient Learners. ASCD.

Souers, Orchard, & Hall: The Fostering Resilience Workbook. ASCD.

Souers & Hall: Relationship, Responsibility, and Regulation. ASCD.

Trauma-Based Relational Intervention: https://child.tcu.edu/about-us/tbri/#sthash.tlsLNsxY.dpbs