Roberto Germán [00:00:01]:
Welcome to Our Classroom. In this space, we talk about education, which is inclusive of, but not limited to, what happens in schools. Education is taking place whenever and wherever we are willing to learn. I am your host, Roberto Germán, and Our Classroom is officially in session. Welcome back to Our Classroom. Recently, we were part of a professional development planning conversation with a group of school leaders. We were discussing productive struggle, student engagement, and the challenge of maintaining high expectations while supporting students who have gaps in their prior learning. And something came up during that conversation that I've been thinking about.
Roberto Germán [00:00:52]:
School leaders described I saw classrooms where students were doing many of the things we typically associate with engagement. They had their notebooks out, they were following directions, they were participating in talk turns. They were doing what teachers asked them to do. But then came the question, are students actually doing the thinking? And I thought, that's a question worth exploring. Because there's a difference between a student who is compliant and a student who is actually intellectually engaged. And sometimes as educators, we confuse the two. Think about the classroom behaviors we often celebrate. Students seated, they're quiet when they're supposed to be quiet.
Roberto Germán [00:01:35]:
They have their materials, they're looking at the teacher, completing assignments. And there's nothing wrong with those behaviors. You know, we embrace that. It's all good. Classroom routines matter and organization matters. I like to be organized. Students, they need environments where learning can happen. We know that.
Roberto Germán [00:01:57]:
But here's the problem. None of those behaviors necessarily tell us what students are thinking. So a student can sit quietly through an entire lesson. However, they understand very little. They can copy notes without processing the information. They could participate in a turn and talk without contributing an original thought, and a student can complete an assignment by following a procedure without understanding why that procedure works. So when we evaluate engagement, we need to move beyond what students appear to be doing. We need to investigate the thinking behind the activity.
Roberto Germán [00:02:42]:
What are students being asked to analyze? What decisions are they making? What problems are they solving? What ideas are they developing? And how do we know? Because the goal isn't simply to keep students busy, right? The goal is to engage students in meaningful learning. So here's another question. Who is doing most of the intellectual work in your classroom? Is it the teacher or is it the students?
Speaker B [00:03:13]:
Now, teachers absolutely have intellectual work to do, right? Let's establish that.
Roberto Germán [00:03:19]:
We're planning lessons, anticipating misconceptions, selecting resources, designing questions, modeling thinking. We're doing all of that.
Speaker B [00:03:32]:
But during instruction, we should be intentional about how much of that thinking we're doing for students?
Roberto Germán [00:03:40]:
Let me give you an example. Imagine a teacher introduces a challenging text. The teacher explains the background, defines the vocabulary, summarizes each paragraph, identifies the main idea, and then asks the students to answer a few comprehensive questions. The teacher may have delivered an excellent explanation, but how much of the intellectual work did students actually do? Now, imagine a different approach.
Speaker B [00:04:04]:
Teacher provides essential context and vocabulary support. Students encounter the text. They identify what they understand and where they're confused. They discuss possible interpretations. They support their thinking with evidence, and the teacher guides the process without immediately supplying every answer. That's a different learning experience, and I want to emphasize something: student-centered learning doesn't mean teachers disappear. Poof. No, gotta be there.
Roberto Germán [00:04:32]:
It means we become more intentional about when to model, when to support, when to question, and when to allow students to wrestle with ideas. Sometimes the most powerful thing we could do is resist the urge to answer our own question. Give students time. Let them think, let them reconsider, let them explain their reasoning. Because if we're always doing the thinking for them, we're limiting opportunities for them to develop That capacity themselves, which brings us to productive struggle. It's a phrase we hear frequently in education, but I think we have to be careful about how we understand it. Productive struggle isn't simply making learning difficult, and it certainly isn't leaving students to figure everything out without support. They're going to need that support.
Roberto Germán [00:05:24]:
Many of them, not all of them. Productive struggle happens when students encounter meaningful challenges and have the tools, relationships, and support necessary to work through them. That distinction matters because during this planning conversation, another challenge emerged. What happens when students arrive with significant gaps in their prior learning? Many of us are familiar with this. How do we maintain grade-level expectations while helping students develop foundational knowledge and skills they may not have mastered. That's a real tension. Let's acknowledge it. And I don't think the answer is simply to lower expectations.
Roberto Germán [00:06:04]:
I don't think most of you think that, although sometimes we do things without necessarily thinking about what we're actually doing. And so I also don't think it's reasonable to give students demanding work without considering what they need to access it. The question becomes, how do we provide support without removing the thinking? Maybe students need vocabulary instruction before engaging with a complex text. Maybe they need a visual representation to understand a mathematical concept. I know I did. Maybe they need an opportunity to rehearse their thinking with a partner before sharing publicly. Practice. Maybe they need a model of the process before attempting it independently.
Roberto Germán [00:06:46]:
Those supports don't necessarily diminish They can create access to it. We also have to recognize when our support becomes so extensive that we've completed the intellectual work for students. That's the balance, and it's one we have to continually evaluate. There's another piece to this conversation that I want to address: our expectations. When students enter classrooms with gaps in their prior learning, it's easy to focus on what they can't do. They can't read at grade level. They don't know their multiplication facts. They struggle to write a paragraph.
Roberto Germán [00:07:23]:
They lack certain background knowledge. And those observations may identify legitimate instructional needs, but we have to be careful about the conclusions we draw from them. And we be drawing conclusions. A, a gap in learning is not a measure of a student's intelligence, potential, or worth. It certainly shouldn't, it certainly shouldn't become the basis for permanently lowering our expectations. Instead, we should ask, what does this student already know? What knowledge or skills are they missing? What experiences and strengths— What experiences and strengths can we build upon? What instructional supports will help the student access meaningful grade-level work, and how will we know whether those supports are working? I think this is especially important when we consider students who have historically experienced inequitable access to educational opportunities. We cannot allow students' previous learning experiences to determine the limits of what we believe they're capable of achieving. High expectations matter.
Roberto Germán [00:08:40]:
Raise the roof. Yes, I'm bringing it back. All right. But high expectations without meaningful support can become empty rhetoric. And support without high expectations can become another form of limitation. Our students deserve both. So I want to leave educators with 3 questions to consider as they plan their next lesson. First, what thinking am I asking students to do? Not simply what activity are they completing, what intellectual work does the activity require? Are students analyzing, interpreting, explaining, questioning, or solving problems, or are they primarily following directions and reproducing information? Second, where might students struggle and what support will help them move forward? Anticipate the challenges, identify the prerequisite knowledge, and consider which scaffolds will provide access without eliminating the need for students to think.
Roberto Germán [00:09:52]:
And remember that students may need different kinds of Support. Third, how will I know students are intellectually engaged? Don't rely exclusively on visible compliance. Listen to student conversations, examine their explanations, ask them to justify their reasoning, look for evidence that they're making connections, reconsidering ideas, and developing understanding. Because a classroom can be quiet and Intellectually active. That is possible. I've seen it, and you probably have too. And a classroom can be busy and intellectually passive. Seen that also.
Roberto Germán [00:10:36]:
The difference isn't always visible at first glance. So look beyond.
Speaker B [00:10:43]:
And as I reflect on that professional development conversation, I keep returning to the same question: who's doing the thinking?
Roberto Germán [00:10:51]:
It's a simple question, but I think it has the potential to change how we approach instruction because our responsibility is not just to get students to follow directions. We need to help the students develop the knowledge, the skills, confidence, and independence necessary to think for themselves, right? We want to develop critical thinkers, and that requires us to create classrooms where students are appropriately challenged, meaningfully supported, and actively engaged in the learning process. So here's an invitation. The next time you walk into your classroom or observe someone else's, look beyond the visible behaviors. Don't just ask whether students are on task. Ask, what are students thinking about? And what evidence do I have that meaningful learning is happening? Because compliance may help, a classroom function, yet intellectual engagement is what helps students grow. Thanks for joining me for another episode of Our Classroom. Until next time, teach in truth, lead with courage, belong to a community that gets it.
Roberto Germán [00:12:01]:
As always, your engagement in Our Classroom is greatly appreciated. Be sure to subscribe, rate the show, and write a review. Finally, for resources to help you understand the intersection of race, bias, education, and society, go to multiculturalclassroom.com. Peace and love from your host, Roberto German. Peace.
