Don't Quit Your Day Job: An Educator's Guide to Student Engagement

Engaged students are learning students. When students fully involve themselves in the lesson, classroom behavior and achievement improves. Students that are active learners, rather than passively compliant, think more critically and use more conceptual thinking strategies. When quality instruction meets motivated students, great things happen. Put simply, increasing student engagement can restore the joy of teaching.Engagement is more than fun activities and tech-driven solutions, however. Instead, it begins with discovering what motivates students. Over 30 years of educational research shows that students are driven by five facets of motivation: competence, relationships, autonomy, value, and emotions. When teachers design instruction that incorporates these areas, engagement and active learning soar.Using a 30-day guidebook approach, this book explores what makes students tick through stories, anecdotes, and practical suggestions. By the end of the journey, teachers will feel confident about their ability to assess and address the motivational needs of their students. They’ll walk away with many easy-to-use ideas that will transform their teaching and jack up the level student engagement in their classrooms.

Aaron has been an educator in Ft. Worth, TX, first as a classroom teacher, then a principal, and currently a charter district administrator in Curriculum and Instruction, since 2000. Aaron lives in Ft. Worth with his wife Heather and four lovely children. He published his first book, Solving Student Engagement: Designing Instruction to Motivate Every Student, in 2017 and his second book, Don't Quit Your Day Job: An Educator's Guide to Student Engagement, in 2018. He trains schools and districts around the country in best practices in student motivation and engagement.