Mik Love has strong feelings about choice in the classroom. As a student, he struggled with traditional learning models. As an auditory and visual learner, it was difficult for him to showcase what he learned on a standardized test. He was always looking for different ways to understand the material. Now, as an educational advocate, he is passionate about giving other students those same opportunities. He insists that “Student choice can amplify our efforts to build a great, vibrant culture both in and out of the classroom.”
This means giving up control in the classroom and letting students lead, but this can be a scary step for teachers to take.
Khan Lab School Wichita Director Kyle Ellison believes one of the first steps is for teachers to realize that they don’t have to be the subject matter experts in everything.
Embracing Online Learning Tools
With Google, TikTok, and dozens of other Internet sites, students today have easy access to more information than earlier generations could ever imagine. This means they can easily find information about subjects they’re interested in and use it to create passion projects or connect it to other assignments.
Interest-based learning is taking off on a national scale, and the results might surprise you. Organizations like Big Picture Learning and their flagship school The Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center have created programs for their students that are focused on uncovering each kid’s interests and goals. Advisers help students create projects and an individualized learning plan. They also find internship opportunities and ensure that students are both safe and challenged in their learning environment (Connections and Choice For High Schoolers).
These programs have been incredibly successful; Big Picture Schools boast a 92% graduation rate – 4% higher than the national average. More importantly, over 80% of students report that they feel they have opportunities to succeed. These feelings are borne out by successful student-run businesses and programs in the schools.
Creating Your Own Resources
Not all teachers have access to these programs or opportunities. So how can you add more choice in your classroom now, without radically changing your curriculum?
In their book, Empower, John Spencer and A.J. Juliani share two simple strategies to get started:
- Ask yourself what decisions you’re currently making for your students that they could actually make for themselves.
- Try something like a Makers Challenge on what they call a “wasted day” like the day before Spring Break or during State Testing week.
Spencer and Juliani stress that giving students these kind of choices doesn’t mean taking away all guardrails. Teachers are there to be guides, help set parameters and debrief after projects.
Empowered Educator Darren Couch of Wichita’s The Independent School uses these tips to help his students succeed. Like Mik, Darren also taps into his experience as a student to help shape the choices he gives his students. He acknowledges that he made some bad decisions as a student and learned hard lessons after getting out of school. Now he uses his classroom as a place for students to practice decision-making in a safe environment.
Guiding Student Choices
In the beginning, when they first start choosing topics or projects, he’s there to help them narrow things down. It comes down to “Knowing who they are, giving them the chance to know this is the path. These are my interests, these are my hobbies, these are my passions.” And then steering them. When they make mistakes, if they fail, he focuses on how to use these experiences as learning moments. “Say . . . hey . . . okay – can we reflect on this project? We can look at this assignment, what went wrong? And then what could we do better the next time?”
The best part, Kyle reports, is the way this allows kids to be leaders in their own space. They put together a curriculum, a project, or an activity without even realizing it, and those first experimental steps drive them toward success in the future.
Watch “Teacher’s Lounge – Ownership and Engagement”
You can watch both parts of Mik discussing “Choice” with Darren and Kyle on our YouTube channel:
Share Your Thoughts on “Teacher’s Lounge – Choice”
After you’ve watched the above videos, share your thoughts including how you offer students more choice in your classroom and interact with 16,000+ innovative teachers on Empowered Hub (click here to create your free account).
