Many teachers look for ways to keep their students engaged. Days when the Common Core State Standards seem too difficult or the lesson too boring, teachers have to find a way to grasp students' attention and encourage them to care about school. However, teachers are also susceptible to feeling disengaged. In fact, this is a problem for a large portion of teachers. According to a Gallup poll, only 30 percent of teachers are engaged with their work. The majority, 57 percent, are not engaged and 13 percent are actively disengaged.
What it means to be engaged
Gallup defined an engaged educator as someone who is enthusiastic, committed and involved. These teachers find some fulfillment from their jobs and look for ways to improve their work environment. Teachers who are not engaged are not emotionally connected to work, so do not use their free time for their job. However, they do feel satisfied with work. Those who are actively disengaged are unhappy, and their actions reflect that.
Wellness and engagement
The Gallup poll also revealed a link between engagement and unhealthy days. As opposed to sick days, unhealthy days are instances of teachers coming to class even though they feel under the weather. The survey indicated that the less engaged the teacher was, the more unhealthy days he or she had in a year. Engaged teachers had almost half the number (10.1) of unhealthy days of actively disengaged educators (20.4).
As such, teachers who aren't engaged spend less time actively working with students. Unhealthy days may include watching a video rather than teaching a lesson.
Engagement matters
Teachers who are engaged are not only happier, but they also contribute more to their schools than their peers who lack engagement. For instance, they're more likely to actively seek ways to improve their skills (such as doing additional Common Core training), stay at the school and make their lessons exciting for students. Engaged teachers use their creativity and skills to better their workplace, which directly benefits students.
What's more, most students remember their favorite teacher as someone who cared about what he or she did, or made lessons easy to understand and fun. To have this impact on students, teachers need to be engaged, constantly seeking ways to help students.
Education Week noted that teaching is a career in which making emotional connections with others is vital to job success. For example, students who feel connected and supported may be motivated to work harder. In a field like that, low engagement rates can be a big problem.
No comments yet.