My second revelation is that no matter how engaging my work is, if I don't have a personal engagement with my students, and an investment in their success, they may not "buy in" to my course.  I tried out a lot of new tasks that required risk, some chaos, and some failure.  While I believe they resulted in a lot of learning, that would not have been possible if my students did not trust that the risk, chaos, and failure they were experiencing was part of a higher purpose and goal they they would benefit from and that I could help them attain.  According to my action research, my students reported an average engagement of 83% over the course of three months.  While 90 or 100% would be fantastic, in an average class in an average day, more than 8 out of 10 of my students were engaged, and were able to demonstrate that level of learning on assessments. 

My primary focus is to succeed at teaching my students.  I have always worked hard to be an engaging teacher, but my journey through Teacher Academy has led me to a few revelations.  First, my job is less about me being an engaging presenter, and more about designing work that engages and inspires my students.  I used to think my classroom "management," relied upon how interesting I could make my lessons.  Interesting presentations are interesting, but they don't always lead to content mastery.  If I can get my students invested in the work they're doing, and inspired by the content they are using and learning, then their mastery will have permanence because they want it to, regardless of my performance, the format of a task, or for achievement of a grade.  Likewise, if they are invested in and inspired by my work, their behavior will be conducive to satisfying their curiosity and desire for mastery.