Student Interest

Consider McTighe and Tomlinson’s (2006) definition of, support for, and research on the role of student interest (p. 182):

Interest has to do with a student’s proclivity for and engagement with a topic or area of study. Interest affects a student’s motivation to learn. Among the theoretical underpinnings of differentiation in response to student interest are these principles and the theorists who propose them:

• When an individual’s interest is tapped, learning is more likely to be rewarding and the student more likely to become an autonomous learner
  (Bruner, 1961).
• By helping students discover and pursue interests, we can maximize their engagement with learning, their productivity, and their individual talents (Amabile, 1983; Collins & Amabile, 1999).
• When students feel a sense of “flow” with their work, they are more likely to work hard, to work in a sustained fashion, and to want to develop the skills necessary to complete the work (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

Among research findings that suggest the importance of addressing students’ interests in the classroom are the following:

• The freedom to choose what to work on, questions to pursue, and topics for study lays the groundwork for creative achievement (Collins & Amabile, 1999).
• Student motivation can be maintained over time if teachers engage students in discussing the pleasure of their work in environments where learners feel free to exchange ideas and share interests (Hennessey & Zbikowski, 1993).
• Student interest is key to ongoing student motivation to pursue tasks at increasing levels of complexity, and satisfaction with earlier tasks is often important in keeping students engaged with work that is temporarily not interesting to them (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
• When students are interested in what they study, there are positive influences on learning in both the short and long term (Hébert, 1993; Renninger, 1990).

Teachers often recognize outward, overt disruptive behavior as task avoidance. DI suggests we should be willing to consider that students may be using their overt behaviors to send a message about the tasks they are avoiding. In that case, task avoidance can be viewed as a symptom of something else – lack of interest. When students disengage for any reason, it should be a red flag for us as teachers, especially if we are unsure as to how challenging the work is for the student. Teachers also need to be equally mindful of the non-disruptive student who is effectively “shutting down” or disengaging – even if doing so “appropriately.” I think many teachers are familiar with the “Cipher in the Snow” story of what can happen when students become isolated from learning, their peers, and even their teachers. It is helpful to remember that a DI approach can create positive connections with students that may be the critical difference in the trajectory of a child’s lifelong learning pathway.

 “The Cipher in the Snow” (1973) is based on a true story about an ostracized teenager, Cliff Evans, who, following his parents’ divorce, has no friends and becomes a completely withdrawn “cipher.” When on a school bus, he asks to be let off, and collapses and dies in the snow near the roadside. His school's math teacher is asked to notify his parents and write the obituary. Though listed as Cliff's favorite teacher, the teacher recalls that he hardly knew the student. After getting a delegation to go to the funeral—it’s impossible to find ten people who knew the boy well enough to go—the teacher resolves never to let this happen to another child in his charge.

As a teacher, I worried more about these students than about the overt classroom disruptors because the students with overt, disruptive behaviors could be easily identified, and heard, by virtually every teacher in the building. Students who struggle quietly and rarely ask for assistance, or do not compete for teacher attention, tend to hold on to their frustrations as well as their currencies. With successive failures, these students begin to draw conclusions their teachers are most likely unaware of.  

Teachers who differentiate consider the lens through which students approach learning and collaborate with learners to create interest-based instructional opportunities. One of the ways we can start to connect with students is to identify interests. Interest surveys are a common tool that allow teachers to pre-assess student interests. Surveys can be designed to capture information interests relative to interests in content, classroom processes, preferred methods for creating products, preferred products, long-term interests, interests outside of school, and so forth. Teachers who differentiate understand what a gift it is to know the range of interests students have. There are now many examples of interest surveys and templates available, and it is likely you have experience in creating your own.