Engagement vs Buy-In: We All Need Something To Look Forward To
Today is Color Day Eve. Growing up as a kid I couldn’t wait for Color Day. It was my school’s “Field Day” except…it was epic.
And, now as an adult who has kids participating in Color Day, I’m just as excited and look forward to this day all year long.
At Jenkintown when you enter school as a kindergartener (or in any grade) you are given a color: Red or Blue. That color sticks with you throughout the entire K-12 schooling experience. Color Day is placed on the same day as the High School Prom and lasts half a day. At around Noon (when it was over) everyone went back home to eat hoagies and celebrate (or to get ready for prom if you were older).
At this point, you are probably thinking, yeah…my school had a field day too, what’s the big deal?
Well, here is how Color Day was epic.
1. The entire school participated in Color Day. First, was the Color Day Quiz, in which Elementary, MS, and HS students answered academic questions to garner points earlier in the week. On Friday, the field competition. Red Seniors were cheering for Red Kindergarteners, Blue 5th graders were cheering for Blue 1st graders etc. Each grade level had a specific event (think dizzy bat race, tire roll, etc) that garnered points for the winning color. Elementary, Middle School, and High School also had relay races where you could win points, and the High School had a tug-of-war for both girls and boys.
2. Color Day was a tradition that dated back years and years. There was a running tally on who had won each year (Blue is still ahead, sadly). And each year the winning team got to paint our school’s bell their color.
3. Color Day started off with points on the board. There was a Red and Blue quiz during the school year to give a head start to the winning academic team.
4. Siblings were all the same color (either Red or Blue). I was the oldest in my family and chosen to be a Red, therefore all my siblings were Red as well. This encouraged cheering for siblings and family rivalries.
5. I ended up marrying a Blue (I know, I know). Now we have five kids, and the boys are both Reds and the girls are Blues — makes for a hype household leading up to the big day!
6. The night before Color Day was time for Red and Blue mischief and sleepovers. It made for quite an interesting night, and added to the “anticipation” of Color Day.
I could go on, but I hope you get the point: Anyone who went to my school will always remember Color Day as one of the best school experiences. It was something we all looked forward to the entire year, but especially as we got closer and closer to summer break.
STUDENT ENGAGEMENT VS. STUDENT BUY-IN
A few years ago Color Day was on my mind, because the HS I worked at had a Field Day that was canceled. It wasn’t canceled because it was a bad idea, there were a lot of people who put in the time to make it a great day. It failed because there was no buy-in. Students would rather miss school than go to that field day. On the other hand, Color Day has the entire community come out and support the event, including Alumni, and has been postponed due to weather multiple times, but never canceled.
What I’ve seen in schools is that events like this can go one of two ways. They can be embraced, talked about, and loved, or they can be scoffed at, laughed at, and dismissed.
The difference is not student engagement, it is student buy-in.
Student engagement is about getting kids to pay attention. Student buy-in is about getting kids to take ownership.
When we plan events, we want students, staff, and all the community to get excited. But often we miss the part that matters the most. Epic experiences come from the buy-in.
When we have buy-in, there is something to look forward to. And we all need something to look forward to right about now.
LOOKING FORWARD TO THE MANY ASPECTS OF SCHOOL
Back to my school that canceled Field Day. You may be thinking, this school lacks school spirit, that’s the problem… However, this is the same school that packs a gym full of thousands of students for our annual Silent Night basketball game. Check this video (and this one) to see the awesome event.
The difference between Field Day and Silent Night, is that students were active in the creation of the epic experience. Silent Night started out as a student-driven event and quickly became a tradition that everyone in the school community looked forward to as winter rolled around. Alumni come back for Silent Night and parents come out to support it in the same way they do Color Day. I’m sure that 20 years from now students will be talking about what happened on their first Silent Night.
These experiences have me thinking about learning events in school. When I look back on my K-12 days here is what I remember:
Field trips to NYC, DC, Musicals, Plays, and of course our epic Home-Ec field trip where we ate all day in different spots in Philadelphia
The school plays we had to perform in each elementary grade
Timetable competitions…they were epic…so were the “24” and “Krypto” competitions
First big research project on a country. I chose Romania because of Dracula I think…
Creating my first game in computer programming class
Acting out and recording our version of a play
Building cars and towers in Physics
My last research paper on Malcolm X
As a teacher I see this trend continue. Here is what I remember most from teaching:
Flat Classroom Project and NetGenEd
Sparknotes Website Creation for Bonesetter’s Daughter
Class Poetry Slams
CSI Wissahickon (1 week CSI we put together at the end of 11th grade)
Appeals Day (last day of every marking period where students argued for grades with evidence and research)
Writer’s Boot Camp (10- days of intensive writing)
All of these experiences were bigger than what we normally do, and either I bought in as a student, or my students bought it when I was the teacher. Once they were created with student buy-in, they didn’t go away. Each year the anticipation would build and it would be something to look forward to…
The issue, however, is that we can’t make every single experience in school epic, then it would lose its luster and we’d miss out on some very important lessons/content.
Yet, I believe what we do on a day-to-day basis should lead up and prepare students for learning experiences in which they have buy-in.
We also remember the little things as human beings. How a teacher treated us. How a student grew throughout the year. A class coming together to do something great for a family in need. Saying hello in the hallways. Asking about their weekend, or summer, or anything besides school. The games we’ve watched together. The moments in class when no one can stop laughing…
These little things build a school experience over time. But, the epic experiences help shape our view on teaching and learning. You don’t always have to try for epic learning, but when you do, make sure there is student buy-in and ownership. That way, the school community or class will come together naturally, and learning will be a byproduct.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A.J. Juliani is the author of 8 books about learning, including best-sellers Empower, Launch, and Adaptable. He’s worked at every level of education as a teacher, coach, administrator, and UPenn GSE PLN. A.J. speaks around the world about learning, goals, and innovation.
