I see a theme of student choice that I also really want to put more value to in my classroom! I think that you are right, especially in writing it’s important for them to have that choice and show their own voice because they are coming into your classroom with so many different stories and perspectives. Letting them use those will be amazing for their writing and you will get to read a lot of amazing things! I had an English teacher in high school that just wanted us to write everyday, she didn’t care if it was journaling, writing a memoir, writing a poem, etc. She just wanted us to write. I wrote a lot of songs back in high school and a lot of them were written while writing for her class! It was such a cool thing that she had us do, and I think by giving your students freedom, they might find that they have a skill in writing that they didn’t know about!
I think you have several key ah-has in here! In addition to choice, the “why” and buy-in on why is so key to ownership in learning. Perhaps that is why choice is so effective, because even if a young person can’t articulate why they choose something they have a reason why and buy-in. In your final re-design you have these great statements that you want your students to be able to say when they are finished with the project you have planned and what I like about them is that they are not simply shifting standards to “I can…” statements, but they really get at the deeper, culturally relevant whys that can foster buy-in. For me, too, this is also a first step in taking ownership in learning. Students have to trust us that we really mean that we want them to co-design with us. I think sharing these relevant whys with them and being flexible on how we get there…and even on shifting our whys and end goals too…can show them that we mean it when we say we want them to take ownership. (P.S. IMHO, taking ownership the way I interpret what you mean here is different than what “taking ownership” can mean, i.e. behaving and complying to succeed in the predetermined path set before you in school.)
Last, I haven’t used Sway and so I am happy to see that you tried it out!
Hi Theresa!
I see a theme of student choice that I also really want to put more value to in my classroom! I think that you are right, especially in writing it’s important for them to have that choice and show their own voice because they are coming into your classroom with so many different stories and perspectives. Letting them use those will be amazing for their writing and you will get to read a lot of amazing things! I had an English teacher in high school that just wanted us to write everyday, she didn’t care if it was journaling, writing a memoir, writing a poem, etc. She just wanted us to write. I wrote a lot of songs back in high school and a lot of them were written while writing for her class! It was such a cool thing that she had us do, and I think by giving your students freedom, they might find that they have a skill in writing that they didn’t know about!
I think you have several key ah-has in here! In addition to choice, the “why” and buy-in on why is so key to ownership in learning. Perhaps that is why choice is so effective, because even if a young person can’t articulate why they choose something they have a reason why and buy-in. In your final re-design you have these great statements that you want your students to be able to say when they are finished with the project you have planned and what I like about them is that they are not simply shifting standards to “I can…” statements, but they really get at the deeper, culturally relevant whys that can foster buy-in. For me, too, this is also a first step in taking ownership in learning. Students have to trust us that we really mean that we want them to co-design with us. I think sharing these relevant whys with them and being flexible on how we get there…and even on shifting our whys and end goals too…can show them that we mean it when we say we want them to take ownership. (P.S. IMHO, taking ownership the way I interpret what you mean here is different than what “taking ownership” can mean, i.e. behaving and complying to succeed in the predetermined path set before you in school.)
Last, I haven’t used Sway and so I am happy to see that you tried it out!