Seeing Instead of Being Told

From the desk of Leigh Ann . . .

As a young educator I felt the overwhelming need to be in control.  I thought to be a successful teacher my schedule must run like clockwork, my students must sit quietly and compliantly following my directions, – and if all went as I had so neatly planned – the learning would flow like milk and honey.  I quickly became aware of the numerous flaws in my theory.

Number one – no schedule in a school setting ever runs like clockwork.

Number two – no amount of planning ever meets the changing needs of the children or the day, and number three – my quest for control was as sticky as the honey I mentioned earlier.

Now that I am more chronologically advanced I realize that in the classroom, just like in life, I am not in control.  The classroom is filled with many little individuals who are making choices daily about their behavior and deciding how engaged they will be in the learning process.  Now I believe that the successful teacher facilitates and guides those students to actively take charge of their own learning.

I know it is incredibly hard to let go and give those little people even more power, but there are many benefits to supporting learner autonomy.  After we provide a little learner training that sets the expectations, we can help our students see that they have very important roles to play in their thinking.  There are many opportunities during the school day to empower students to make choices in their learning.  When they have that power their engagement, interest, enthusiasm, personal investment, and persistence during a learning activity increases.  Instead of being compliant little listeners who are carrying out a task for the teacher, our students become intrinsically motivated problem solvers who are ready to creatively take on challenges themselves.

Here are a few places where students can receive autonomy support.  Give them opportunities to:

• Choose materials to use on a class project.
• Choose the way to show what has been learned. (Create a book, write a song, make a painting, etc.)
• Display work in an individual manner.
• Handle materials and be in charge of organization and clean up.
• Choose members for group projects.
• Choose how a project will be evaluated.  Establish the criteria or a rubric.
• Take responsibility for due dates for some assignments.
• Participate in establishing classroom rules and expectations.
• Choose seating arrangements. (You choose as long as you make a good choice.)
• Discuss multiple ways to solve problems.  Share strategies and discuss why there can be more than one solution.
• Create activities that match students’ interests.
• Have more student talk time.
• Examine and rework mistakes.  Use these as learning opportunities.
• Debate ideas respectfully.
• Allow for open discovery time for students to explore areas of interest.
• Develop personal learning goals.
• Create portfolios to show growth over time.

There are numerous benefits in classrooms that are autonomy supportive.  Students become more motivated and take ownership of their learning.  This intrinsic motivation leads to greater school satisfaction and there are more opportunities for students to be creative, use higher level thinking skills, solve problems, and work through challenges.

Rather than waiting for the teacher to dictate every move and give a quick answer, students are encouraged to take ownership and the time to develop greater conceptual understanding.  They are allowed time to question, explore, and persevere in finding meaningful answers.  Research shows that when we give children choices in their academic pursuits, they are more engaged and will take a more active approach to learning.  We want to mold responsible citizens who will be lifelong learners, so wouldn’t it be wonderful to empower our children to engage in quality learning simply for learning’s sake?

“Seeing is different than being told.”  – African Proverb