Tools of engagement

October 2008

When visitors tour our classrooms at the J. Erik Jonsson Community School, a 3-year-old through 5th-grade laboratory school just south of downtown Dallas, Texas, they sense that something is different. Visitors remark about the respectful, caring environment of the school and the high-powered instruction, and they want to learn how they can implement these qualities in their own schools. As part of the research, professional learning, and leadership team at the Jonsson School, we regularly share the work of the Jonsson School with other educators and communicate Jonsson’s simple success formula: Powerful pedagogy + trusting relationships = student engagement for learning. In fall 2006, we grew curious about what the teachers were actually doing in the classroom to elicit this powerful student engagement. We hypothesized