Loving What They Learn: Research-Based Strategies to Increase Student Engagement (Research-based strategies for increasing student engagement and building self-efficacy)

Deep learning is possible for all students, regardless of subject, grade, or previous experience. In Loving What They Learn, author Alexander McNeece explains how high engagement nurtures the needs--for competence, autonomy, and content relevance--that students have, provides tools to measure how well those needs are being met in the classroom, and reveals science-based strategies that fill the gap.

See how to increase learner engagement:

• Study the engagement gap's impacts and how to create a lasting culture that bridges that gap, developing a growth mindset in learners.
• Encounter real-world anecdotes about different students, and see the research-based learning strategies in action.
• Become familiar with student needs and the effect their fulfillment has on student engagement and achievement.
• Discover dozens of research-backed teaching strategies that help fulfill students' various cognitive and affective needs, giving them increased autonomy and self-efficacy in the classroom.
• Self-assess how well engagement is cultivated in four domains, and compare those results with student engagement inventory data.

Contents:
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Self-Efficacy Cycle
Chapter 2: Competence
Chapter 3: Autonomy
Chapter 4: Relatedness
Chapter 5: Relevance
Chapter 6: Culture Change
Epilogue: Going Forward
Appendix: Engagement Inventories
References and Resources
Index

Alexander McNeece, PhD, is director of instructional services and state and federal grants for Garden City School District in Garden City, Michigan. He is a children's book author and was an award-winning principal at Douglas Elementary School. Dr. McNeece previously served as a high school football coach, elementary teacher, and middle school English language arts teacher.

Dr. McNeece is an active member of the Metro Bureau's Council of Academic Leadership in Michigan, where he has served as a state-level committee liaison. In 2017, with a team of teachers and principals, he presented to the Michigan State Board of Education, based on the tremendous early literacy growth the district achieved with the professional learning communities framework. As a consultant, Dr. McNeece has worked with districts around the United States and Canada to help close the achievement gap, transform school culture, strengthen the school improvement process, and develop Unstoppable Learning pedagogy.

He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in curriculum and instruction from Michigan State University. In 2017, Dr. McNeece earned a doctor of philosophy degree in educational leadership from Eastern Michigan University with his dissertation, "Michigan's Quantitative School Culture Inventories and Student Achievement."

To learn more about Dr. McNeece's work, follow him at @alexmcneece.