The degree to which students think, feel, and act engaged in school plays a vital role in their chances for academic and life success, yet levels of student engagement remain low. In this article, we focus specifically on how engagement works in the classroom, namely as a function of the interactions between students, teachers, and the class content. We propose a model in which student engagement in the classroom can be understood as emanating from the relationships between students and teachers; teacher levels of content and pedagogical expertise; and the degree to which students see the class content as relevant to their current interests, future goals, and identities. (Contains 1 figure.)