A few years ago as I was sitting in a Differentiated Instruction workshop, the instructor was talking about the power of giving students choice. I had heard about choice before, but I always thought about it in the context of things like choice boards and project topics. Instead, she talked about the small things that we impose on students each day, for no other reason than it is how we do it. For example, when students are asked to write their responses to a question we give them lined paper. What about the student who would prefer to write on unlined paper? or type it? Does it really make a difference what type of paper the student records the response on? Probably not. As teachers, don't we just want students to be producing content and embedded in the process of learning? Then the bigger question came: Is the lined paper hindering the ability of some to produce the best product?
It is generally true that teachers teach in the way the WE learn best. I am not saying it is a good or bad thing, it just the way we know how to do things. I started thinking about how many times during class I make decisions for students that could be left up to them to decide. So I started making small shifts in how I approached an assignment. I started asking the question, what choice could I offer students in this task. Write or draw the response? Lined or unlined paper? Pen or Pencil? I started implementing this right away with my students, often saying to them, "Choose what works best for your brain." The first few times I did it, they were apprehensive about having a choice. It is a sad commentary that students are trained to just do what they are told, and often have difficulty making decisions on their own. They are afraid there is a "wrong" choice.
After about a week, students started asking if they could do it a different way. When they started asking me, I stopped and really thought about it. Instead of asking the students why I asked myself why not. If the student is asking, they must have a reason for it. What their reasoning is does not necessarily matter to me, but it matters to them. If I couldn't think of a reason why their request wouldn't work, I should let them try it. I decided to use the standard answer "As long as it will help you to be a productive learner." As I reflected on it, I realized that I had empowered my students to set their own stage for success.
In a future post, I want to talk more about the choice I give in the year-long assignment my students do, creating their very own Science Encyclopedias. All students do the same terms each unit, but the deadline is not until the end of the unit. Students have class time and home time to work on them, and I give a suggested timeline for completion. The biggest choice they have is the templates they use. I started out with two choices and I am now up to four.
All templates have the same content, but the layout is different. Students are free to choose whatever ones they want to use and can change at any time. When surveyed students often tell me they appreciate the chance to choose the template and the flexibility of when they do them in the unit.
In my present day classroom, I try to give choice in as many situations as possible. Students are free to sit on yoga mats on the ground or move to a table by themselves during work time. When it makes sense students are able to work alone, in pairs or small groups. Students can write with whatever makes them happy, even if it is a foot long pink sparkly feather pen with pink ink (true story).
With the focus on the work and learning, students are still able to maintain some of the control over the HOW of their learning while I determine the what. Middle schoolers desperately need to have some control of their lives in their ever-changing topsy-turvy world.
So, next time a student asks if they can do something a different way ask your WHY NOT and see what happens.
Until next time,
Melissa