Fostering high-quality learning requires dedication to the continuous improvement of self and professional methodology. In this section, I highlight my efforts to improve my methodology, i.e., Educational Practices. I hope that you'll delve into these activities and come away provoked and inspired to strengthen our profession.
My goal for this activity was to foster in my students, a psychological ownership of the of the StupHub. By using a backward design plan, and by giving students responsibility over for the classroom norms of our learning space, my hope was that they would instinctively commit to the final objective, i.e., they'd show enthusiastic support for the appropriate use of use of the space rather than presenting opposition and making excuses.
A student-developed BEHAVIORAL CONTRACT was adopted to regulate use of the StupHub. Any student that wishes to use the space is required to contract for its use, committing to abide by the social norms established by their peers. Thus far, this has been a huge success, marked by the high level of engagement within the learning space.
Empowering Students to Take Control of Their Learning
As I transitioned from Business Professional to Professional Educator, I realized that planning a lesson was a lot like planning a business project. Both have an objective, allottable resources, constraints and risks. The project manager, or in the case of a lesson, the teacher, balances all these things in order to reach the objective in a timely manner. So it came as no surprise, that a lesson designed to inspire self-directed learners, should begin by communicating lesson objectives to its students and following up on their understanding of that objective throughout delivery of instruction. After all, when it comes to project management, you likewise communicate the project's objective early and often to make sure your team stays focused on the outcome. However, something seemed off to me. When I communicated and assessed understanding of a lesson objective, it seemed like I was giving commands, marching orders that left no room for self-governing action.
For example, check out this objective:
"The students will be able to identify and apply products to the four components of the BCG Matrix."
A mandate like the one above may be OK in business, where the project members are paid to produce the specific results desired by a client, but it seemed contradictory to the purpose of encouraging self-directed learning. Nevertheless, I wasn't sure how I could improve this situation and stuck with communicating objectives until in May, 2017, I finally figured it out after speaking with ASCD Faculty Member and Author, Dominique Smith,
Mr. Smith related that when a students thinks "I can" do something, rather than " I will" do something, students take recognition and ownership of their own learning. In short, it empowers students to take dominion over the learning process. See the images to the left to see how this experience changed the way I've communicated expectations going forward.
A self-directed learner is one who knows their learning objective and the path to achieve it. My goal with this particular activity was to enable self-directed learning behavior through the use of a personalized learning path, i.e.,a road map, that my AP ECON students could use to get to where they want to be.
My implementation used a web-based guide ("Tracker") to provide students with Personalized Learning Paths that they could use to progress through the AP ECON program. In theory, my students could use the Tracker to formulate their learning objectives, verify whether they are on target to meet those objectives and to plan/prepare for upcoming lessons. This strategy clearly communicated program expectations to students, allowing them to take ownership of their learning by setting quantifiable goals, self-monitoring their progress and self-correcting as needed.
My role in this process is one of a Guide, collecting, organizing and assessing students' needs, i.e., what they want help with during their next lesson, and adjusting my support to help them reach their desired outcomes.
This process is ongoing and has thus far been meeting my objective of nurturing self-directed learners remarkably well. So far, my students have taken full advantage of the options I have given them to plan and control their own learning. This includes routinely providing me with feedback on what they need me to teach during upcoming sessions.
Here I seek to answer the question - Is it possible to plan a lesson that is both rigid and flexible at the same time?
Rigid, in that it follows a basic lesson design model, is aligned to our school's adopted standards and demonstrates strong closures to check for understanding . Yet, Flexible, because it engages students individual interest while including and accommodating their distinct needs.
In this example, I show how I addressed the objective in my Introduction to Marketing class. My approach was based on my go-to lesson planning method of using a 4-stage UBD planning cycle to formulate a UNIT PLAN (UP). Use of this planning methodology, including the standards-based selection of learning objectives in the plan's first stage, and in its final stage, assessment via student group presentation in a format of choice/media provided the Rigidity, i.e., adherence to process and standards that I sought to achieve.
Flexibility, took the form of student Choice in Stage 3 - Learning Plan, were I provided the opportunity for students to explore, evaluate and present findings based on their individual life-experience and with respect to their unique capacities.
Some student presentations spanned a spectrum from basic, to the point briefings, to professional, world-class affairs. However, without fail, my students met the learning objectives for this UP and together we've moved on to new and exciting material.
Accounting presents excellent opportunities to tailor instruction to meet individual needs, i.e., to differentiate the learning experience. I have groups of accounting students that meet accounting objectives based on the work they are doing in other classes. -- So, I extend their learning by jumping them into complementary material from my Marketing class.
The most effective way to get learners to be self-directed is by engaging their individual interest . My Marketing course offers plentiful opportunities to do just that. For example, when I challenged my students to show me that they knew how to to promote a product by creating a Super Bowl advertisement; the results were spectacular.
The opportunity for Authentic Learning is among the many benefits of my Entrepreneurship course . By its design, the course promotes and develops a student's capacity to take on real-world problems. In this particular case, my fledgling entrepreneurs wanted to sell their wares at the school's Fall performance of Dracula; however, they had to earn the right to ply their wares; the school's theater company required that aspiring vendors sell a set number tickets prior to giving them the OK to sell at the show. My students got it done and it was a Bloody success.
Flip Grid - In Progress
