"Children are inquisitive from birth. From the time they can talk, they start asking questions and they explore everything within their reach. The quest for learning is innate, and children learn a tremendous amount from their peers. A young skateboarder sees an interesting move and begins to put a plan into place to learn that move. It may include watching others in person, on television, and on videos posted on the Internet. It may include creating a practice course and making it increasingly harder. It may include endless hours of practice. Your students know how to take charge of their learning, but schools teach them early on simply to listen to the teachers and do as they are told, thus squelching this natural pursuit of learning."
Dr. Nancy Sulla - Students Taking Charge
See this
blog post for ten tips for encouraging student responsibility.
Reflection Questions:
In order to be responsible for something, we must have power over it - what strategies have you used to empower students in their learning?
On what occasions in your classroom have students taken the most responsibility for their learning?
I like my students to reflect on their learning experiences by keeping a journal and a work log. They are able to write down their challenges and work toward problem solving together with their job coach.
ReplyDeleteMy students take responsibility for their learning when it applies to their lives. For example: creating and revising their resume to go on a job interview.
I ask my students to take notes whenever I introduce a benchmark lesson so that they have the main concepts. Taking notes is a skill that will be useful in their everyday lives. This is a very personal experience as each person will focus on the issues that are most important based on their individual strengths and/or weaknesses. As a teacher I guide my student so that they can see the bigger picture which often is not their objective. They mostly want to know what to do to pass the test/class, etc
ReplyDeleteOn multi-task project, I create several scaffolded exercises. Students are given a completion checklist and dates in which various assignments must be completed. Students must show completion of each stage of the project over a longer period of time.
ReplyDeleteAssignments like research allow for students to take responsibility because they have a lot of freedom to choose their topic and sources. The scaffolded exercises allow for them to choose a pace that is right for them.
Your students know how to take charge of their learning, but schools teach them early on simply to listen to the teachers and do as they are told, thus squelching this natural pursuit of learning.
ReplyDeleteI think this is a "blanket statement" that I disagree with.
It is admittedly a broad statement, but I think it is generally accurate. In more than 20 years as a professional educator, I've seen far more evidence that we are much more about enforcing compliance with expectations than we are with nurturing a child's natural curiosity. That said, if you have counterexamples and experiences that show otherwise, I'd honestly love to hear about them. Can you point me towards some?
DeleteI like that students can see where they need to be for the grade they are given or wish to earn. By showing the students what is expected of them and what it takes to accomplish each level of a rubric, students can see the level of effort they need to put in for that grade. They also get the chance to find various ways to learn a concept or task. It's not a one size fits all in learning. It gives those students who require a little extra the chance to find what way of learning modality works best for them.
ReplyDelete