We have to be honest with ourselves: "If schools truly want to engage students, they need to downgrade control and compliance--and upgrade technology." Amy M. Azzam in her article "Motivated to Learn: a Conversation with Daniel Pink" in Educational Leadership reinforces my belief about student learning: the more we control, the less students learn. Our goal must be become great facilitator's of knowledge, providing structured learning opportunities where students say "ah-ha!" as they discover knowledge and skills that apply to the world outside of school. And, when students feel they control their learning, they are more motivated to learn. BONUS!!!!
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| It's on a poster, so it must be true! |
Here, the teacher is coaching students through their artwork, but they still control the writing instrument. She never take it.
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| Students control their learning by having conversations in Spanish, practicing their skills in an authentic manner. |
In this Jeopardy game, every student is required to engage in math learning. The students at the board can't earn points for their team unless their team shows that each member has completed the work as well.
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| The students are modeling the work of figurative language. |
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| Readers are Thinkers - here a student "holds the pen" to write annotations in her reading. This same student just finished reading aloud to her teacher who assessed her fluency and vocabulary -- the student controlled both learning demonstrations. |
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| Students are having fun practicing their sewing on paper before they move on to more complex projects - teacher modeling just wouldn't be enough to build this skill...it takes student control. |
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