Empower: What Happens When Student Own Their Learning

by John Spencer

too often we fail to let students or employees “scratch an itch.”

Jen would ask for us to Look, Listen, and Learn (Phase 1 of the LAUNCH Cycle) before we started to Ask Questions (Phase 2).

We began to empathize with our students, which led us to ask questions like the following: Why would our students care about literary devices? What would be the best way to learn the devices? What would be the best way to assess their learning without regurgitation? How can we engage the students in understanding their purpose and use in the real world?

we began to Understand the Problem (Phase 3).

We started to brainstorm and Navigate Ideas (Phase 4) on how we could teach the devices

we started to Create (Phase 5) our very own rap song called, “Welcome to Your Lit Device Education.”

Then we worked for hours Highlighting what worked and what didn’t and fixing the lyrics and song (Phase 6).

we shared it with our students (Phase 7: the LAUNCH) and watched as they not only laughed hysterically at us, but also began to put the song on their iPods

bit.ly/2q...

When our students went through the LAUNCH Cycle themselves and used the design-thinking process as a framework for creative work, they were not only engaged in what they were learning but enthusiastic about what they were making for a real audience.

our students thought we were hilarious and appreciated the time and effort we put into making that song about literary devices.

But when we empowered them to make, create, and build their own podcasts and songs, their learning was transformed.

They rarely have a chance to choose their learning path in school and routinely treat school like a “job” instead of the most valuable learning experience they will ever have.

By the time students get to high school, over 83 percent are stressed out, 67 percent say they are bored half the time9, and many learn to “play the game of school” while worrying about what will happen to them if they do not get a particular grade and get into a specific college.

And it’s not necessarily their fault, our system produces many adults who never had a chance to find their passion through schooling and instead found that the best way to get by was to keep getting by. But this can change almost immediately if we add one key ingredient to school: choice.

Choice drives student ownership of their learning. This kicks empowerment into high gear, and ultimately leads to learning that is intrinsic, powerful, and deep.

Many of my students were blinded by the choice at first. It was difficult for them to find their way without a rubric, a project handout, or guidelines to move them forward. But eventually, they began to learn about things in which they were interested, and the products they created gave each a purpose for deep learning.

Limitations often inspire more creativity. They become the creative constraint that leads to innovative breakthroughs.

Give students a variety of content choices to learn the basics, then ask them to demonstrate their knowledge through making a video, giving an oral presentation, conducting a podcast interview, or creating an infographic (using paper or computer).

“Whether or not you discover your talents and passions is partly a matter of opportunity. If you’ve never been sailing, or picked up an instrument, or tried to teach or to write fiction, how would you know if you had a talent for these things?”

we often fail to encourage students to try new things and instead demand that they try new things.

Encouraging expands options and affirms student agency. Demanding limits options and pushes compliance.

We can’t predict what will catch our students’ attention. We can’t choose what will engage them. And we can’t force them to have high attention and commitment in their learning if there is no chance for ownership.

To reinvent school, we don’t need to scrap the entire system. We don’t need to start from scratch. We don’t need to throw away what has worked. Instead, we need to change our focus from rigor to vigor.

Our job as teachers is not to prepare students for “something;” our job is to help students to prepare themselves for anything. Let them choose, and watch what they can do.

Students who had never turned in homework before began voluntarily shooting videos of immigrants in their neighborhoods. Students who had never asked questions in class were asking hard-hitting interview questions. Students who had once told me, “I’m not very creative” were setting up storyboards and editing videos.

I knew that I still had to teach specific content. We had standards and curriculum maps. But I quickly realized that a curriculum map is just that—a map. And maps should inspire possibilities rather than limit options.

students would ask their own questions based upon their own curiosity.

off road, students can work at their own pace. Some blaze a trail quickly. Others take their time as they learn the new terrain. But nobody has to be “left behind.”

They would own the tools and decide on the strategies as they engage in the projects.

students could self-select additional learning targets depending upon their own need for intervention or enrichment.

I was afraid that students would be lazy. Instead, they worked harder because they cared about their work.

students spent more time on the skills they needed to hone and less on the ones they needed to master.

I’m convinced that the answer is to empower students by giving them more voice and choice in what they’re learning.

Most of us work in factory-styled, standardized systems where students are supposed to do the same thing at the same time in the same way at the same pace.

Chances are that your curriculum map will tell you that you need to hit specific standards on specific days. But that’s just the starting point. Sometimes you have to find the hidden opportunities.

Take note of content-neutral standards that allow students to choose the topic.

student inquiry and research are actually a chance to dive deeper into the content area while also practicing the skill-based standards

it doesn’t mean students can’t practice certain standards in order to reach mastery.

the curriculum map tells you what you have to teach. But it doesn’t tell you what you can’t teach.

our current students will work in jobs that don’t exist right now. But here’s another reality: Our current students will be the ones who create those jobs.

Every single one of them will need to think like an entrepreneur in order to thrive in a changing world.

two questions I’ve asked each time have been, “What do you wish you had learned in school?” and, “What are the required skills to thrive as an entrepreneur?”

This is why I’ve started asking, “What does it mean to think like an entrepreneur?”

Adam Grant points out, they are just as scared as you and I. But (and this is key) they are more scared of what will happen if they don’t pursue an idea than if they fail.