Principal’s Corner: Self Direction

By Starr Cunningham

Princeville School District has made many innovations to the learning environment in an effort to help students become more self-directed in their learning endeavors. In order to get a better understanding of a principal’s expectations of a self-directed student body, Starr Cunningham interviewed Mrs. Julie Bayless, the principal of Princeville Grade School.

SC: In your own words, how would you define self-direction?

JB: Self-direction simply means directed by oneself. Being self-directed refers to having the ability to choose how you go about completing tasks and/or how you go about acquiring new information. Self-directed learners take ownership, initiative and responsibility for their own learning and have more control over what they learn. 

SC: How does self-direction play a role in your own personal life?

JB: I consider myself a life-long learner. Whether it’s keeping up with the latest technology, best practices in education or learning to play an instrument, being self-directed allows me the choice of how and when I go about learning new things. I can choose to learn more about anything that interests me by reading a book, watching a video, researching a topic online, meeting with an expert on the topic, taking a class, etc...at my own pace. There are countless ways to learn and gain new knowledge on a subject. Learning anytime and anywhere makes learning more authentic and meaningful. 

SC: In what way would you like to see self-direction used in a school environment? How can it be useful?

JB: Throughout this building, teachers are giving students more choice on how they complete their assignments and how they demonstrate their new learning.  For example, students may be given a topic and are given choices on how they learn that topic, or students choose a topic that relates to what they are already learning.  Students may be able to demonstrate what they’ve learned through a variety of forms such as creating a model through educational websites or with manipulatives such as Legos, making a Google Slides presentation, designing a brochure or a poster, etc...Students are given rubrics to guide them with self-assessing their projects, while teachers are facilitating conversations and setting goals with their students. 

Teachers have also incorporated a PLT- Personalized Learning Time into the school day as well. This is a time where students can work independently or with partners or small groups on more personalized goals. You may see one student working on multiplication facts and another working on addition and subtraction within the same classroom. Teachers assess their students’ current knowledge on a given task and move students forward from there. Not every learner learns the same or comes into the classroom with the same knowledge and experiences as their peers, so teachers have to meet each learner right where they are.  When students are working on activities that are specifically geared toward them personally, they become more engaged and interested in the content. 

On the flip side, teachers are practicing self-directed learning themselves. Each teacher created their own plan to guide their own personalized professional learning. They decided what they wanted to learn more about and how their new learning would benefit their classroom instruction and improve student learning. There is time allocated throughout the year for them to work on their professional interests. Then, at the end of the year they share what they learned with other teachers. This process has also been useful in keeping teachers engaged in pursuing educational interests of their own. 

SC: How can students implement self-direction in their own lives?

JB: Students can begin implementing self-directed learning by setting some learning goals for themselves and asking themselves questions about what they want to get better at doing and/or what they want to learn more about. They also need to know where they can find the resources to help them acquire information. Meeting regularly with their teachers to keep them focused and moving forward is essential as students learn how to pace themselves and learn to manage their time. Collaborating with others who share the same interests can also help to keep students moving forward in their learning. Being able to advocate for themselves and reach out to others to ask for help when things get hard, is necessary, so that students will learn how to overcome obstacles and persevere through their learning experiences.