It’s Elementary! MBL in the Early Years

Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages

Greetings. 

We're reposting below Chris Sturgis's recent post on MBL in elementary schools. Most of the MBLC founding member schools are middle and high schools, beginning and building on research-based, learner-centered practices. Happily, our founding cohort includes an elementary school, too.

Elementary school is a powerful place to start a district-wide shift to MBL. Many common practices in elementary classrooms align with MBL. To name a few: a focus on building skills, lots of hands-on practice, and norming that students can all move ahead from different starting places (think about reading levels). 

Another great reason for MBL with our youngest students is this: Unlike more traditional approaches to education, MBL has a game plan for addressing learning gaps and misconceptions. As Sal Khan points out in this TedTalk on MBL, if a student gets a 70 on the Unit 4 test, and the next day we move on to Unit 5, that 30% of whatever that student missed goes unaddressed. That's a lot to miss! In a MBL classroom, the student would get more time, more practice, more feedback to build those skills and knowledge, close gaps in understanding, and avoid baking in misconceptions that are hard to dislodge later on. (Later note: See this compelling post on conceptions vs. misconceptions, from Rochelle Gutierrez's introduction to Rehumanizing Mathematics for Black, Indigenous, and Latinx Students—by way of Dan Meyers's Mathworlds substack.)

A key shift in moving to learner-centered practice is supporting students to become expert learners, rather than prioritizing completion and compliance. As Chris points out in her post below, we're building learner agency* when we invite learners to not just "do what I say," but to speak up, make decisions, and collaborate on classroom conduct agreements. 

Are elementary students ready for this? Let's see what Chris has to say. 

Please come back next year (early 2023) for more. Meanwhile, please take good care of your colleagues, your students, your loved ones, and yourself.

Wishing you a joyful new year—Joy  

_________________________________________________

* The Students at the Center Project in 2012 defined learner agency as the initiative and capacity to act in a way that produces meaningful change in oneself or the environment.

*    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *    *

How do you offer more independence to little kids who haven’t learned how to be independent learners yet? I think this would be worthy of a conversation to create shared knowledge. But in the short run here are a few of the things that pop into my mind: 

1. Invest early on in creating a shared ‘code of conduct’ that is created by students. This is the desired behavior that supports learning—everyone’s learning. 

2. Teaching students about how we learn, growth mindset and some basic language about the skills that we use in learning. Give them language to talk about their learning-to-learn skills and the basics about self-regulation, directing their attention, and cognitive overload. 

3. Introduce rituals and practices that help students become familiar with routines that offer them independence. Some of these are “standard operating procedures” that are reminders to students such as what to do when you get to the classroom or how to revise. Some of these should be consistent across classrooms so if students are changing classrooms they don’t have to direct their working memory towards learning new routines. (The picture is a standard operating procedure from an elementary school in New Zealand for what to do if you have a problem with other people.)

4. Build in time to reflect on how students are doing on building executive functions, metacognition, self-regulation, etc. 

5. Use gradual release so that students are being given just enough opportunity without overwhelming them or setting them up for failure. 

What might you add to this list? 

Here are a few mini-case studies on elementary schools I’ve visited. You’ll see different ways they have been strengthening their practices to develop independent learners and create the conditions for students to be successful in their learning. 

• Greenhurst Elementary (Idaho)

• Swannanoa School – 4 part series (New Zealand)

• Red Bank Elementary (South Carolina)

• Blair Elementary (Wisconsin)

• Metz Elementary (Colorado)

_________________________________________________

Reposted from https://learningedge.me/its-elementary-what-mastery-based-learning-looks-like-in-the-early-years/