Goal 13: Give Students Reign
Part of the 30 Goals Challenge Series
When I get into discussions about integratng technology efectvely in the classroom, I usually pause. I
fear many schools have a long journey ahead of them, because they have yet to adopt efectve
teaching practces, such as facilitaton and cooperatve learning. These are just a few. When I walk into
most universites, lecturing is what I see. When I walk into public schools, lecturing is what I see. I also
see many unmotvated students and read about the thousands of students who drop out every year
and do not receive a diploma or about the struggle most universites have with freshman retenton. I
ofen think about students without a high school or college diploma and the struggles they bare. The
reality is that many will raise children in poverty who will repeat the cycle. However, educators can do
something about this. They can motvate their students to learn by giving them ownership of their
learning.
• What if we took all the bookmarked web 2.0 tools we’ve been meaning to learn and let each
student pick one to teach the class?
• What if we persuaded our principals to have one day dedicated to throwing out the lectures
and book work?
• What if we walked into our classes on the frst day, assigned some learning objectves to each
student, and asked them to design that part of the curriculum with engaging lessons?
• What if we told every student, please use your cell phones during this test, because your
classmates are your lifelines?
• What if we asked the students what they wanted to learn about the subject and how they
wanted to learn the material?
• What if we gave students choices on how they would be tested?
I do not remember graduatng from college and thinking I had all the answers now let me share them
with my students. I think the best educators motvate students to experiment, research, and refect. I
think these educators are passionate about learning and contnue to learn themselves. That is why my
long-term goal is to provide more opportunites for my students to teach me, especially the ones that
are labeled “challenging” by others. I want my students to have more control of the curriculum than I
do. I believe if the student has more ownership of their learning they are motvated to be lifelong
learners. I want my students to use what they learn and one way is by having them teach others what
they learned. I do facilitate in the classroom like probably many of you do, but I want to take this
further. What do you think?
Challenge:
Allow your students to have complete control over one class period. Have them choose the material
and the way they want to present the material. Just trust them and see what they create.
Don’t forget to leave a comment that you accomplished this goal using the hashtag #30Goals!
Care to share your experiences with allowing your students to make decisions about their
learning?
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