We talk about engagement like it’s something we can flip on — a switch, an app, a strategy.
“What’s your engagement strategy?”

But after decades in the classroom, one truth keeps showing up:

Engagement isn’t something we create. It’s something that emerges.

Students don’t engage because lessons are flashy or entertaining.
They engage when the work matters, when they have ownership, and when their thinking is required.

In this episode, Dan challenges a common framing that impacts both classrooms and schools: we often treat engagement as a performance problem instead of a design problem. When we chase activity, speed, and surface-level participation, we confuse busy with engaged — and that’s where frustration, burnout, and disengagement creep in.

Through real classroom stories, analogies from sports and the arts, and practical reflection questions, this episode reframes engagement around cognitive demand, relevance, autonomy, and purpose — not compliance or quiet classrooms.

In this episode, you’ll hear:

• Why engagement is often misread as entertainment or activity

• The critical difference between compliance and true engagement

• How cognitive demand and relevance drive student motivation

• Why some of the most engaged students don’t look compliant

• What teachers and administrators can design differently to support deeper learning

• Three reflection questions to reset how you think about engagement heading into the new year

This episode is especially timely for educators on break — not as another “do more” conversation, but as an invitation to rethink what’s worth designing in the first place.

We say we want more student engagement—but what does that actually mean?In this episode, I unpack why engagement has become one of the most overused and misunderstood goals in education. Drawing on current research, classroom experience, and insights from Building Thinking Classrooms, I make the case that engagement is often treated as a stand-in for learning—even though it’s easy to fake and hard to define.Instead, I argue for a shift in focus: away from how students look and toward what students are actually thinking about—and whether they truly own the work.This episode challenges common assumptions, offers practical classroom moves, and reframes what teachers and school leaders should be looking for if they want deeper learning to happen.What You’ll Hear in This Episode:

• A clear, current definition of student engagement and how it’s commonly understood today
• The difference between behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement—and why one matters most
• Why engagement is often measured, but thinking is rarely designed for
• How Thinking Classrooms reframes learning around visible thinking and ownership
• Why hands-on building and non-permanent thinking increase risk-taking and revision
• Simple classroom moves that shift the focus from engagement to thinking
• What administrators should look for instead of “on-task” behavior during walkthroughs

Key Takeaways:

• Engagement is a signal, not the goal
• Students can appear engaged without doing meaningful cognitive work
• Thinking leaves evidence—if the environment is designed to make it visible
• Ownership, agency, and revision matter more than participation and compliance
• Hands-on, erasable thinking lowers risk and deepens learning

Try This in Your Classroom

• Remove one engagement strategy from an upcoming lesson

• Add one thinking demand instead:
• Ask students to build their understanding
• Have them explain their choices
• Require them to revise their thinking
• Reflect on where thinking became visible—and where it didn’t

Reflection QuestionWhat would change in your classroom—or your school—if engagement wasn’t the goal, but thinking was?Join the ConversationIf this episode resonated with you, share it with a colleague and let me know your takeaways.Tag me on social media using #WheresTheFunInThat and share:

• What does thinking look like in your classroom?
• What’s one way you’re moving beyond engagement?

About the ShowThe Tech Ed Clubhouse Podcast explores teaching, learning, play, and thinking in real classrooms. We focus on practical ideas, honest conversations, and strategies that help teachers and students do deeper, more meaningful work.

EpisodeSummary

I return after a six-week break to recap MASSCUE and NYSCATE—two conferences that, despite being totally different, revealed the same message from educators everywhere:

Teachers want learning that is joyful, simple, hands-on, and usable tomorrow.

This episode highlights inside-session moments, hallway conversations, and even late-night trivia and Family Feud that turned into powerful professional learning. I also preview my upcoming FETC workshop, Design. Build. Play.Assess., happening January 11 at 8:00 AM.

•MASSCUE: The Spark

• Showing up as a Bills fan in Patriots territory
• Hands-on takeaways from sessions
• The real learning happening in hallway conversations
• After-hours chats that kept circling the same theme: “Give me something I can use Monday.”

• • NYSCATE: The Family ReunionWhy NYSCATE feels like coming home
• Trust, honesty, and real talk with “family”
• High-energy LEGO Serious Play + worksheet-busting sessions
• Trivia and Family Feud fueling meaningful conversations
• The deeper need for joy + manageable routines

• The Pattern Across Both Conferences

• Teachers everywhere are asking for:
• Joyful learning with clear structure
• Simple routines that work every day
• Assessment that shows thinking
• AI that supports—not complicates—teaching
• A sense of community and connection

• FETC Preview

• I give a sneak peek at the hands-on LEGOlearning lab he’s leading: Design.Build. Play. Assess. A practical, use-it-tomorrow workshop rooted in everythingteachers said all fall.

Free Resources Mentioned

• Fun LEGO warm-up: Build the Worst Superhero Ever!
• Build → Reflect → Share routine
• Simple AI workflow for hands-on lessons

Download link

Join the Conversation

Tag me at @coachthomastech and use #WheresTheFunInThat.

Explore more shows at xfactoredu.org. Want to be a guest—or know someone who should be? Reach out!