It’s been a minute since I released a new podcast, but hey, I’ve got a great excuse. I’ve been busy writing a new book called Even More Hacking Engagement. It was just released. Full disclosure, I’m going to promote it on this episode.
A little over a decade ago, I had a student teacher named Charlie. He was a great guy and now he’s a football coach and a history teacher. Back then he was a green college student. He’s an attractive and friendly guy and most of my students instantly loved him. But I still had some standoffish kids who didn’t want to be subjected to another jock Social Studies student teacher. I recognized early the potential that these backbenchers could cause him some grief. I pulled him aside and warned him about this evolving dynamic. He’s a quick study and asked what he could do to win them over. I loved his inquiry. I knew at that moment he was going to be a marvelous educator. That became our focus during his tenure with me and he went on to bond with all of my malcontents.
When his university advisor came in to observe him she was blown away. She loved how Charlie interacted with my students. She pulled me aside and asked, “I love the culture in this classroom. What did you do to create this?” I sputtered an incoherent response.
After my interaction with Charlie’s advisor, I became obsessed with answering her question. That obsession became my first book, You Gotta Connect, which was published in 2014. Mark Barnes is the founder of 10 Publications. He read my first book and then reached out to me. Over the course of many interactions, he made a proposal, “I’m looking for an author that can create 100 ideas on how to engage students. Would you be willing to take on this mission?”
I jumped at this opportunity. As I dove deeper into writing Hacking Engagement, it became apparent to both Mark and me that 100 hacks in one book would be unwieldy. We decided to create 2 books each with 50 hacks. In the early fall of 2016, Hacking Engagement was published, followed by Hacking Engagement Again in the Summer of 2017. I love these books. They became the inspiration for this podcast.
In 2019, I retired from k-12 instruction. A local university brought me on as an adjunct in the Education Department. This has been a sweet retirement gig. I get to help future educators prepare for the important undertaking of evolving the next generation. Generally students look at me as a solid source to help them with classroom management and student engagement.
Last summer, I got the writing bug again. There have simply been so many ideas that have emerged during my tenure as an Education instructor. Here’s how I describe my motivations in the Introduction of my brand new book Even More Hacking Engagement:
I still love the music from my era. I have all my favorite R&B hits from the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s on my Dad’s Party Jamz playlist on my Spotify account. My Dinner Tracks playlist contains smooth jazz favorites that provide excellent background music when we break bread with friends and family. I became even more of a Spotify disciple once I learned how to use the Enhance feature. When you activate this magnificent tool, your playlist populates with song
suggestions. These new options are based on the music preferences you’ve already expressed through your usage. I still love all my old jamz, but it’s always great to hear new choices. Each of my Spotify playlists has significantly grown thanks to Enhance. I haven’t gotten rid of the great old stuff; I’ve just added great new stuff.
Think of this book as hitting the Enhance button on your Student Engagement playlist. I wrote Hacking Engagement and Hacking Engagement Again in 2016 and 2017, respectively. I love the content in those books, and I use Hacks from each one every time I step in front of young people. Since I wrote my last Hack back in 2017, I’ve been exposed to, or I’ve created, so many impactful new ideas that I simply must share. I’m closing in on my fourth decade in teaching.
Rarely does a week go by that I don’t find myself chomping at the bit the night before class because I’m excited to give a new idea a try. I’m excited to share fifty new ideas with you in Even More Hacking Engagement:
- Sign the Magna Carta p. 9
- Pass the Dinner Table Test p. 41
- Clear the Higher-Level Thinking Bar p. 45
- Champion Self-Assessment p. 57
- Fire Up the Random Name Generator p. 61
- Meet Me in the Agora p. 85
- Embark on a Formative Journey p. 105
- Leverage a Learning Experience p. 121
- Transform a Rubric p. 141
- Make Assessment Engaging p. 145
- Promote Brand Ambassadors p. 157
- Stop Cross Examining your Students p. 161
- Insert your Talking Head p. 165
- Form Hook Production Teams p. 173
- Move People! p. 201
These are 15 hacks that I recently featured when a friend asked me for some examples. There are 35 more. The template of this book mimics it’s older siblings:
- Each hack is between 600 and 800 words.
- Each hack promotes an idea that you can employ tomorrow.
- There are 50 hacks in all and they do not follow a linear pattern.
This book is now available on Amazon in paper, hardback, and kindle. If you’re intrigued, visit Amazon and read some of the reviews. I’ve been pleased with what’s been written.
So that wraps up my commercial for my new book Even More Hacking Engagement. Look forward to more episodes of the Hacking Engagement Podcast.
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