Pedagogy

Flexible Pathways

The State of Vermont created the Flexible Pathways Initiative in 2013 with Act 77 to develop and expand high-quality educational experiences in the classroom and acknowledge students' individual goals, learning styles, and abilities in secondary school (high school). At the Hartford High School this is called the Eye Program. Toward that model, the Explorations class is intended to take advantage of students' individual goals and learning styles.

Universal Design for Learning, UDL

There are three main principles to UDL which are engagement, representation, and action/expression. Examining each for flexible pathways to achieve a learning goal will avoid a one-size fits all lesson.

1. Engagement - Why

   • Use different ways of creating and maintaining a student’s engagement with the material. Find the student’s hook and exploit it.

2. Representation -What

   • Present information and content in a variety of different ways to appeal to different abilities and interests.

3. Action/Expression - How

   • Allow students to present their learning in a variety of ways. Verbal, written, artistic, and electronic, are different mediums to collect the same evidence of learning and make assessments.

Explorations gives students the freedom to design their own education, while I act as an avenue to find or collect resources. Students must plan their activities and present to me their idea, methods, and viable logistics (cost, time, space, materials) before we can move forward with execution portion of the project.

Engagement

The Explorations class attempts to capitalize on students' personal interests to increase engagement and make learning intrinsic and fun. One definition of engagement by Schlechty (2011) identifies the following four components always present with engaged learners:

1. Students are attentive, focusing on tasks associated with the work being done.

2. Students are committed, volunteering scarce resources like time, attention, and effort to support the activity.

3. Students are persistent and stick with the task even when it becomes difficult.

4. Students find meaning and value in the task at hand.

Students who are engaged: (Schlechty 2014)

1. Learn at high levels and have a profound grasp of what they learn.

2. of what they learn.

3. Retain what they learn.

4. Can transfer what they learn to new contexts.

While it would seem a perfect classroom for students to express their creativeness and pursue ever changing interests, I find that students will also stall for lack of ideas or interest. This can be frustrating for all. I treat these speed bumps as opportunity to brainstorm and learn more about each student. We usually can come to some agreement about what is next, knowing that the journey and path to learning is the goal not necessarily a finished product.