The 4 Components of a Highly Engaged & Productive Student

Educators know the importance of having a highly engaged student, whether they learn online or in-person. It tells a teacher whether their classes can understand Key concepts or if additional time is needed to revisit the lesson.

But I recently thought about something that hit a cord, and I know it will resonate with you, especially since engagement and productivity can transfer to the corporate world on their bottom line.

Whether you are an educator or not, we can be engaged in our work, but does it mean we are productive?

It's authentic engagement that gives us some sense of comfort knowing that people acknowledge you, but it’s the productivity we must focus on while building up our engagement.

Take a moment and think about the chart on the right.

Engagement starts the process of a student’s willingness to learn, but it’s when the engagement turns productive when one realizes how much others know or don’t know.

Some wonder how this can be done, but it boils down to four essential components from my experiences. The best part is it costs nothing but a little time initially.

1. Build a healthy relationship. Until students understand that trust is in place and that the teachers commits themselves to build relationships, no ground will be covered.
2. Listen and watch. If we took the time to listen, there would be so many things we would pick up. From watching someone’s body language to sitting down and asking about their next steps after graduation, you can learn a lot about your students. From those conversations, you can help guide and coach them to new goals and levels of awareness.
3. Give students the tools they need to succeed. When we have the tools needed to perform a task, it helps change our mindset to seeing the result. Tools help to reduce errors and speed up the tasks. When students get to choose the tools they want to use, they become empowered, instilling leadership skills.
4. Collaborate on the result. When tasks are completed, time for collaboration should be factored into the assignment. Exchanging conversations allows for reflecting and celebrating while providing closure where one knows that the work they submitted was productive and engaging.

Having these components in place does more than just reaffirming someone. It sets the precedence everyone matters just as much as their academics.

Do you have any other suggestions on making a highly engaged and productive employee? I love to hear what you have to say.