Educating the whole child is undeniably important in producing healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged students who become productive citizens in our society. However, severe cuts to school funding have forced many districts to make difficult choices in which programs to support. Often times, programs that support the development of the whole child are sacrificed in order to maintain the continuation of support for the core academic curriculum. With diminished funding to school programs, can the practice of “engagement” of the whole child remain a sustainable educational practice?
Wiggins (1993) stated, “Education involves working with the whole
child. Students can get excited by what the world offers, by what types of
activities they are provided in school.” (p. 69) Rather than just presenting information and
expecting that it will be absorbed, the astute educator understands how to
motivate the learner to work hard.
Increased motivation occurs when students see the connection of their learning
to the broader community.
Activities that engage the whole child often take students out of the
school building to experience real world learning or invite experts into the
classroom to impart their knowledge onto the students. These formats may be too costly to sustain as
educational strategies. Shrewd educators
look at their own instructional practice for ways students can engage with
others, challenge their intellect, contribute service to their communities, and
encompass participation in extra-curricular activities.
Classrooms with a sense of high energy seemingly support engagement of
the whole child. Many educators have
restructured their teaching practice to ensure students opportunities to work
with their classmates in cooperative learning structures. “Students find working with classmates to be
far more engaging than individual effort.” (Danielson, 2009, p. 38) Also, providing students with an audience of
their peers as they present their class work often brings out their best performance. Students care deeply about the opinions of
their peers. Students are also driven by
an innate curiosity about the world in which they live. Educators utilizing inquiry-based learning
challenge their student’s intellect to understand incongruous events, solve
problems, or understand anomalies.
Skilled educators are adept at crafting their lessons to ensure all
levels of intellect are challenged throughout the curriculum. Students in high energy classrooms are
engaged through creative and careful lesson planning and opportunities to
collaborate with their peers.
Students participating in volunteer projects, internships, or service
learning see themselves as contributing members of the community. Collecting donations for local charities,
becoming pen-pals with deployed soldiers or the elderly in convalescent homes,
establishing an ink cartridge recycle program or helping at a local shelter are
a few examples of sustainable student learning connected to the broader
community. Students engaged in these
activities are intrinsically motivated to help others’. They see firsthand how their efforts at
school benefit local organizations, individuals or groups of people.
Providing students with opportunities to engage in extra-curricular
activities is an effective way to engage the whole child. Some students participate in sports and fine
arts activities after school. However,
the cost of participating in these activities is prohibitive to other
students. Many schools find ways to
provide extra-curricular activities at their schools through the use of
community and parent volunteers, donations, and grant proposals. Working with local colleges and universities
can provide a win-win benefit for pre-service teachers and local schools. Schools that are not able to tap into local
resources look among their own talent pool to provide instruction. School schedules purposely include enrichment
classes during the school day. Classroom
teachers, instructional assistants, and other school staff share their talents
and hobbies with various groups of students. Within the school or out in the
community, many adults are eager to share their resources, skills and expertise
with students to support the development of the whole child.
Developing healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged students
is paramount in producing citizens that contribute positively to our
society. As each component of the whole
child works in tandem, “engagement” is the area that motivates students to
learn. Understanding the importance of
sustaining engagement of the whole child, classroom teachers are re-designing
their instruction, schools encourage students to provide service to their
communities, and school staffs take it upon themselves to create
extra-curricular opportunities. As school
districts work within the constraints of reduced funding, schools are finding
innovative ways to educate the whole child.
Danielson, C. (2009). Talk
About Teaching! Leading Professional Conversations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Wiggins, G. P. (1993). Assessing
Student Performance: Exploring the Purpose and Limits
Testing. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
Karen Johnson, Principal
Evergreen Forest Elementary School
North Thurston Public Schools
