| While the benefits of authentic engagement are widely accepted, no published empirical research supports the claims made by those who advocate the concept. The purpose of this case study was to begin to build a knowledge base by analyzing how three junior high teachers and their students defined and described authentic engagement. This study was also designed to explore the initial assumption of the researcher that supervision played a role on facilitating authentic engagement for teachers and students.;Teacher participants were interviewed three times for 90 minutes using phenomenological questioning techniques including an open-ended protocol. The data collected were analyzed using narrative, domain and model testing methods. Findings were verified and triangulated by participant review and audits. One audit involved teachers, familiar with the concept of authentic engagement but who were not participating in the study, giving feedback; the other audit entailed collecting information from students of each participating teacher through one 90 minute focus session for each participating teachers' students.;Authentic engagement emerged from the participants' narratives as the internal process students, teachers or administrators engaged in when they found a motivating experience personally relevant because it gave them the opportunity to connect emotionally or intellectually, allowed them to be active participants in their learning, gave them a sense of accomplishment and captured their interest to the exclusion of outside distractions and time considerations. This differs from Csikszentmihalyi's (1990) conceptualization of engagement in its emphasis on meaningfulness. This study confirmed Schlechty's (2002) premise that his lesson Design Qualities would create conditions that permitted authentic engagement to flourish for students. These findings are important to educational leadership because they give insight into how supervision and collaboration are critical ingredients for leadership efforts to successfully influence the quality of instruction in the classroom.;An implication for this study was that leaders could not mandate that teachers or students be authentically engaged, but leaders could surround teachers and students with the opportunities and tools they needed to become engaged. Additionally, the study has implications for transforming Schlechty's lesson Design Qualities into a campus or district-wide supervisory framework. |
