Most of my students would be excited to take over control over the classroom. Some would do a great job, others would not as they would just be focused on what they want to do and not see the needs of others. It would be a great learning experience as sometime students complain about how a teacher runs the classroom, and now they can actually walk in those shoes, probably not as easy as they think it will be. More of a humbling experience! but would grow from it.
Maybe after a set amount of time it will allow some student to feel that they are not entitled to particular grades and that they in fact actually have to earn them.
Giving control over to students is kind of scary, but think of the possibilities. As with other concepts being in control of their learning would need to be "taught" and along with it comes personal responsibility.
I actually was able to exit a student from a behavior goal that he had for years because I did give him the control he wanted. Fortunately he was able to handle it and did absolutely great! He still does not have a behavior plan and is now working during the school day at a local restaurant. There are success stories out there!
I think it's pretty cool. I know it would be a big confidence booster for a lot of my kiddos. I have seen such and increase in confidence with some of my kids already, volunteering to read, reading their writing, wanting to do their math on the board.. and this is just from openly talking about everything we do in class, sharing everything and growing comfortable with each other. To see some of these kids so eager to read first, from when I first met them, when they would rather pull teeth than read in front of a group, has been an amazing thing to witness. I know giving them control would increase that even more. My goal for so many of my students is to advocate for themselves; I want them to be successful in middle school next year, and not be too shy/scared to speak up. Well, what a better way to teach them to take control of their learning than to give them some. Baby steps from me here on how I'm going to do it.
I think it is awesome that your are already teaching your students to be their own advocates! Not being scared to ask for things will also help them go far in life! I agree that this idea of student lead classrooms could be/is a huge confidence booster, after all we trust them to run our class(es).
Being in charge of their own learning....or having input on it would be a confidence booster for students, if they take it seriously. Look forward to hearing how this goes
It's good to hear you are encouraging student's to build self-advocacy in elementary grades. I agree it should be a part of instruction all the way through school.
It would be really hard for me not to intervene on some of their choices. As some of my students do not have the best track record with make positive choices. But I also think that it would be good for the students to feel they have some control over one area of their life. It would be interesting to see what happens after a weeks time. I predict that for the first couple of days my students my not get much accomplished, but maybe by Friday they would actually start taking ownership of their learning and that's what I would be excited to see.
It is very difficult to stand by and watch the kids fail and not intervene! But if guided just right that will lead to more potential learning than if I did interfere so the outcome would be right the first time.
I agree Carol it would be very difficult to stand by and watch them fail or go off on the wrong trail. I think this is something I would have to work with and help guide them, but also let them explore some before heading them in the right direction.
I think that would be a big challenge for me too, not intervening. I think it is important to know when to and not too though. We have to sometimes right?! even in a student led classroom??
I also agree that it could be difficult at times to stand by and do nothing, even when you might know it's going to lead to a negative outcome for the kiddo. But I also think that in some cases, that might be the best thing to do. I mean, you can teach and advise and talk to some individuals until you're blue in the face, but they're just not going to learn until they've experienced it for themselves. And then in actually going through the ordeal personally, I feel like sometimes the lesson learned sticks better than if you were to hear about it secondhand from someone else.
Most of my students love to control my classroom! That is the problem. The solution is the students controlling it appropriately and learning is actually involved. How to get from point A to point B is the tricky part. Students need self-control to stay focused and on-task, with increased freedom comes increased responsibility. Then I have those students who just want to blend and be followers. Getting them out of their shell is as challenging as getting the others to take the control seriously. I think like the author said, take little steps over time and not do this all at once. Build on releasing control and gradually give it to the students in increments that they can be successful at. Middle school is a great transition period to give my students the control that they need to be successful in high school!
I think you are correct in this being a challenge to get kids out of their shells. I agree little steps would help and what a great way to teach self advocacy skills to the students.
What I do is give each student a she duke for that class. It is their responsibility to get out the materials they will need to complete each "task" and wok their way through the problem. There is a para or another student if they have a question and I try to do ask three before me. Especially if I am teaching 1-1 with another student. This lets them control part of their learning. And interestingly, even my most off-task students handle it fairly well.
Thats also a concern of mine, getting the students to take the control seriously, and other students to speak up. I think assigned jobs could help with this by leveling out the responsibility.
I think that "walking in their shoes" would be an eye opener for those who are now in charge. It might change how they think of the classroom management, and we as teacher could learn from them.
You are right. There are so many variables I can think of when considering an effective student led classroom. The idea of taking it step by step rather than tackling it all at the same time is helpful.
It would be hard for me to turn total control over to my students. I give them quite a bit of control now and what they do for the first half of my class period is student led and run. Letting them take over the daily lesson would be hard for me. I do think it would be a great means for them to learn a concept. I think that my computer kids could really take off with a student led classroom. They could do a lot with probably just a little training.
I already let my students have some control. We do a lot of independent station work and they have to move around and work independently while I work one on one with another student. It is totally scary to me to let them have the control. It's still new in my room and completely different. But the kids handle it SO much better than me. Of course, they have off days. But for the most part they are engaged in learning when I back away and let them figure it out.
I would like to hope that turning the control over to the students would bring about new ideas and perspectives and a desire to show up each day and participate, but my oh my it sure is a scary thought and one of those sacred cows we have to learn to let go of!
I wonder if part of the excitement, desire to show up and participate, etc is partly because of the newness. This is a very different way of teaching/learning, but if everyone taught this way and students always learned through these methods, would there still be excitement about it? Or would it become "old hat" and the student excitement would fade?
I think much depends on the student or students. I have some independent task box work that students do. I know that when I worked w/ 4-Her's and they were given control, it really gave them a buy-in to decide what was important to them and what areas they wanted to address.
In 4-H, students get to explore and create based on their interest in a topic. Like in foods, they can create or follow a recipe to make a food, or focus more on expressing their artistic side by decorating such as a cake. It makes me wonder, in a student led classroom, do students pick their own partners based on common interests or approaches to a topic? Or are they teacher assigned in order to facilitate homogeneous or heterogeneous groups?
When I've given students more control in my room, I have seen them buy in, but I've also seen them sit, struggle, and get nothing accomplished. Many times I feel like if I don't give enough instruction, the students don't know what to do, and therefore do nothing without my prodding. I suppose this is why other teachers have pointed out that this is a process. If you try to implement it immediately, it can be a pain for both student and teacher.
So far a lot of what has been discussed in the book through chapter 1 sounds very similar to cooperative learning with a little less direction from the classroom teacher. Having supported cooperative learning classrooms, I think I could handle turning over control as long as all partners and group members and working toward the learning objective. If it appears that one group member is taking over and leaving the others out or a group member is refusing to participate or be a good group member it will be harder for me to feel I am enabling a kid to get by on his/her group members work.
I agree that it would be easier to turn learning over if the groups are focused on learning. It would be difficult not to step in when groups aren't focused.
There are times that I would prefer that students take over what we’re working on and take off. I can see with some topics that the student gets excited about it and wants to run with the idea. Other times, I can see the students don’t have the buy-in to really apply themselves. It would be difficult for me to let them go and be unfocused or off topic.
I'm excited about the aspect of working away from the "learned helplessness" that is a calculated risk of a placement special education services. I'm concerned that the students we work with might need more preparation to learn the skills and to build the successes and momentum that they'd need to become motivated learners.
Oh my gosh, to not have anymore learned helplessness... What a game changer that would be! I honestly can't even wrap my mind around that right now, haha!
It sounds good, but it scares me. It seems like the more I turn over to my kids, the less quality of work I get back. I also notice the students waste as much time as possible. They don't seem to take pride in the product they create and are more interested in getting things done than what they are doing. If I could help them take pride in what they are working on, I feel like they would do a much better job on "taking control" of their learning and my classroom.
Honestly, turning over control to the students sounds very frightening to me! I am a tad bit of a control freak and have always personally hated group projects because I cannot be in complete control of how the work will get done. I would love to try this but I know it would test me for a while but if the expectations are clear and the buy in is there with students then after the first few stressful days I believe it could be an amazing learning experience for myself and the students alike! Losing control can be hard but the gain of giving the control over to students could potentially be life changing to some who are afraid to take the leadership role.
I wouldn’t have any problem turning control over to students if they had a positive mindset about their education. However, sometimes I think students don’t fully understand the importance of what they’re doing in school and how doing well now is going to benefit them in the future. Especially with our kiddos who struggle. A lot of times I hear, “I can’t WAIT to be done,” “It’s just too hard, and I don’t want to do it,” or “I just want free play all day long.” I don’t think handing over the reins to someone in that situation would be helpful at all because they still need some guidance regarding the ‘why’ and possibly the ‘how’ of academics.
Most of my students would be excited to take over control over the classroom. Some would do a great job, others would not as they would just be focused on what they want to do and not see the needs of others. It would be a great learning experience as sometime students complain about how a teacher runs the classroom, and now they can actually walk in those shoes, probably not as easy as they think it will be. More of a humbling experience! but would grow from it.
ReplyDeleteMaybe after a set amount of time it will allow some student to feel that they are not entitled to particular grades and that they in fact actually have to earn them.
DeleteI love your comment about it not being as easy as they think. How true is that!
DeleteGiving control over to students is kind of scary, but think of the possibilities. As with other concepts being in control of their learning would need to be "taught" and along with it comes personal responsibility.
ReplyDeleteI actually was able to exit a student from a behavior goal that he had for years because I did give him the control he wanted. Fortunately he was able to handle it and did absolutely great! He still does not have a behavior plan and is now working during the school day at a local restaurant. There are success stories out there!
DeleteI think of what students would learn from this experience!
DeleteI think it's pretty cool. I know it would be a big confidence booster for a lot of my kiddos. I have seen such and increase in confidence with some of my kids already, volunteering to read, reading their writing, wanting to do their math on the board.. and this is just from openly talking about everything we do in class, sharing everything and growing comfortable with each other. To see some of these kids so eager to read first, from when I first met them, when they would rather pull teeth than read in front of a group, has been an amazing thing to witness. I know giving them control would increase that even more.
ReplyDeleteMy goal for so many of my students is to advocate for themselves; I want them to be successful in middle school next year, and not be too shy/scared to speak up. Well, what a better way to teach them to take control of their learning than to give them some.
Baby steps from me here on how I'm going to do it.
I think it is awesome that your are already teaching your students to be their own advocates! Not being scared to ask for things will also help them go far in life! I agree that this idea of student lead classrooms could be/is a huge confidence booster, after all we trust them to run our class(es).
DeleteBeing in charge of their own learning....or having input on it would be a confidence booster for students, if they take it seriously. Look forward to hearing how this goes
DeleteIt's good to hear you are encouraging student's to build self-advocacy in elementary grades. I agree it should be a part of instruction all the way through school.
DeleteIt would be really hard for me not to intervene on some of their choices. As some of my students do not have the best track record with make positive choices. But I also think that it would be good for the students to feel they have some control over one area of their life. It would be interesting to see what happens after a weeks time. I predict that for the first couple of days my students my not get much accomplished, but maybe by Friday they would actually start taking ownership of their learning and that's what I would be excited to see.
ReplyDeleteIt is very difficult to stand by and watch the kids fail and not intervene! But if guided just right that will lead to more potential learning than if I did interfere so the outcome would be right the first time.
DeleteI agree Carol it would be very difficult to stand by and watch them fail or go off on the wrong trail. I think this is something I would have to work with and help guide them, but also let them explore some before heading them in the right direction.
DeleteI think that would be a big challenge for me too, not intervening. I think it is important to know when to and not too though. We have to sometimes right?! even in a student led classroom??
DeleteSome of the biggest scientific discoveries, and life lessons, come from failures.
DeleteI also agree that it could be difficult at times to stand by and do nothing, even when you might know it's going to lead to a negative outcome for the kiddo. But I also think that in some cases, that might be the best thing to do. I mean, you can teach and advise and talk to some individuals until you're blue in the face, but they're just not going to learn until they've experienced it for themselves. And then in actually going through the ordeal personally, I feel like sometimes the lesson learned sticks better than if you were to hear about it secondhand from someone else.
DeleteMost of my students love to control my classroom! That is the problem. The solution is the students controlling it appropriately and learning is actually involved. How to get from point A to point B is the tricky part. Students need self-control to stay focused and on-task, with increased freedom comes increased responsibility. Then I have those students who just want to blend and be followers. Getting them out of their shell is as challenging as getting the others to take the control seriously. I think like the author said, take little steps over time and not do this all at once. Build on releasing control and gradually give it to the students in increments that they can be successful at. Middle school is a great transition period to give my students the control that they need to be successful in high school!
ReplyDeleteI think you are correct in this being a challenge to get kids out of their shells. I agree little steps would help and what a great way to teach self advocacy skills to the students.
DeleteWhat I do is give each student a she duke for that class. It is their responsibility to get out the materials they will need to complete each "task" and wok their way through the problem. There is a para or another student if they have a question and I try to do ask three before me. Especially if I am teaching 1-1 with another student. This lets them control part of their learning. And interestingly, even my most off-task students handle it fairly well.
DeleteThats also a concern of mine, getting the students to take the control seriously, and other students to speak up. I think assigned jobs could help with this by leveling out the responsibility.
DeleteI definitely think this would be a step by step process in order to ensure success for students.
DeleteI think that "walking in their shoes" would be an eye opener for those who are now in charge. It might change how they think of the classroom management, and we as teacher could learn from them.
DeleteYou are right. There are so many variables I can think of when considering an effective student led classroom. The idea of taking it step by step rather than tackling it all at the same time is helpful.
DeleteIt would be hard for me to turn total control over to my students. I give them quite a bit of control now and what they do for the first half of my class period is student led and run. Letting them take over the daily lesson would be hard for me. I do think it would be a great means for them to learn a concept. I think that my computer kids could really take off with a student led classroom. They could do a lot with probably just a little training.
ReplyDeleteI already let my students have some control. We do a lot of independent station work and they have to move around and work independently while I work one on one with another student. It is totally scary to me to let them have the control. It's still new in my room and completely different. But the kids handle it SO much better than me. Of course, they have off days. But for the most part they are engaged in learning when I back away and let them figure it out.
ReplyDeleteI would like to hope that turning the control over to the students would bring about new ideas and perspectives and a desire to show up each day and participate, but my oh my it sure is a scary thought and one of those sacred cows we have to learn to let go of!
ReplyDeleteI wonder if part of the excitement, desire to show up and participate, etc is partly because of the newness. This is a very different way of teaching/learning, but if everyone taught this way and students always learned through these methods, would there still be excitement about it? Or would it become "old hat" and the student excitement would fade?
DeleteI think much depends on the student or students. I have some independent task box work that students do. I know that when I worked w/ 4-Her's and they were given control, it really gave them a buy-in to decide what was important to them and what areas they wanted to address.
ReplyDeleteIn 4-H, students get to explore and create based on their interest in a topic. Like in foods, they can create or follow a recipe to make a food, or focus more on expressing their artistic side by decorating such as a cake. It makes me wonder, in a student led classroom, do students pick their own partners based on common interests or approaches to a topic? Or are they teacher assigned in order to facilitate homogeneous or heterogeneous groups?
DeleteWhen I've given students more control in my room, I have seen them buy in, but I've also seen them sit, struggle, and get nothing accomplished. Many times I feel like if I don't give enough instruction, the students don't know what to do, and therefore do nothing without my prodding. I suppose this is why other teachers have pointed out that this is a process. If you try to implement it immediately, it can be a pain for both student and teacher.
DeleteBuy in is so important. I could imagine a student led classroom without student buy in!
DeleteSo far a lot of what has been discussed in the book through chapter 1 sounds very similar to cooperative learning with a little less direction from the classroom teacher. Having supported cooperative learning classrooms, I think I could handle turning over control as long as all partners and group members and working toward the learning objective. If it appears that one group member is taking over and leaving the others out or a group member is refusing to participate or be a good group member it will be harder for me to feel I am enabling a kid to get by on his/her group members work.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it would be easier to turn learning over if the groups are focused on learning. It would be difficult not to step in when groups aren't focused.
DeleteThere are times that I would prefer that students take over what we’re working on and take off. I can see with some topics that the student gets excited about it and wants to run with the idea. Other times, I can see the students don’t have the buy-in to really apply themselves. It would be difficult for me to let them go and be unfocused or off topic.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited about the aspect of working away from the "learned helplessness" that is a calculated risk of a placement special education services. I'm concerned that the students we work with might need more preparation to learn the skills and to build the successes and momentum that they'd need to become motivated learners.
ReplyDeleteOh my gosh, to not have anymore learned helplessness... What a game changer that would be! I honestly can't even wrap my mind around that right now, haha!
DeleteIt sounds good, but it scares me. It seems like the more I turn over to my kids, the less quality of work I get back. I also notice the students waste as much time as possible. They don't seem to take pride in the product they create and are more interested in getting things done than what they are doing. If I could help them take pride in what they are working on, I feel like they would do a much better job on "taking control" of their learning and my classroom.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, turning over control to the students sounds very frightening to me! I am a tad bit of a control freak and have always personally hated group projects because I cannot be in complete control of how the work will get done. I would love to try this but I know it would test me for a while but if the expectations are clear and the buy in is there with students then after the first few stressful days I believe it could be an amazing learning experience for myself and the students alike! Losing control can be hard but the gain of giving the control over to students could potentially be life changing to some who are afraid to take the leadership role.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn’t have any problem turning control over to students if they had a positive mindset about their education. However, sometimes I think students don’t fully understand the importance of what they’re doing in school and how doing well now is going to benefit them in the future. Especially with our kiddos who struggle. A lot of times I hear, “I can’t WAIT to be done,” “It’s just too hard, and I don’t want to do it,” or “I just want free play all day long.” I don’t think handing over the reins to someone in that situation would be helpful at all because they still need some guidance regarding the ‘why’ and possibly the ‘how’ of academics.
ReplyDelete