Many of the routines of the school day have been frayed by the pandemic. From kids unable to engage in work to walking out of class altogether, we are seeing norms and relationships stretched and tested like never before. This might even be described as “normal” right now — as in that it’s the norm, it’s typical and (sort of) expected (note: not “normal” in the more colloquial sense of ‘the way it’s supposed to be’). It makes me wonder if intentionally centering relationships and routines could help ease things?
That’s what teaching is, isn’t it? It’s about being in community with young people. At least that’s what has been true for me. Sure, it’s also about “teaching” them things – but a wise person once said we don’t teach subjects…we teach children. And they sure teach us a lot, too.
Wobbles
It took me a while to learn how to be with my students. My first year teaching, I danced between tight control and laissez-faire. My students waffled from rebellion to no boundaries. (Spoiler: neither really worked out like I’d hoped.) It was kind of a mess. But it was a caring and connected mess. We had fun at least. But I still hadn’t figured out how to be. What was my role as the “adult” in the room? As the teacher?
Sometimes we call this part of teaching “classroom management”, but the more I think about that term and what it implies the less I like it. I don’t want to “manage” students; I want to nurture their learning. I don’t want to have “control” of my class, I want to engage them. I don’t want to instill a culture of “compliance,” I want to co-create a community of caring and curiosity.
Routines that become…routine
In the summer following my first year teaching, my team attended a Developmental Designs professional development workshop. And it was a game changer. (Full disclosure: I am such a believer in the Developmental Designs ways that I have become a trainer.) I learned a different way to be in relationship with my students. I learned how to share power and scaffold responsibility so that my students could partner with me and one another in co-creating our learning space. And I learned very concrete ways to accomplish these aspirations.
It was in this workshop that I first learned about Boynton & Boynton’s research on classroom management and the importance of proactive management. Essentially, the Boyntons found that if we spend 40% of our time building relationships with and among our students, and 50% of our time establishing and practicing routines, we’ll only need to dedicate 10% of our management time to reactive strategies — dealing with things that aren’t going as intended.
Too good to be true?
It kind of sounds too simple, doesn’t it? But after aiming for that formula for several years (and practicing routines ad nauseum), I found it to be mostly true. And while these numbers may not hold up in the collective trauma that is school-during-covid, I still believe that we find our power to fly in relationships and routines.
But how?
According to Boynton & Boynton’s research, approximately 50% of our “management” efforts should be directed to developing and practicing routines. In my experience, no routine is too small: how to sharpen a pencil, how to move a chair, what to do when the bell rings. All of the seemingly small, inconsequential things that somehow halt the flow.
Are you noticing any patterns of where things are going not-so-well? Is it when students enter the room? Is it transitions? Is it independent work time? Make a list of important routines (bonus if you can do this with your colleagues and students). Then, hone in on a couple of these routines and think about how they should go. What are the steps to success? Break it down into super small parts. First do this yourself. Then together with students — leave room for their ideas and suggestions. How could we make this better/more effective/quicker/less disruptive? What are the benefits to us as a group if this goes well? Why would it be important to make sure this happens smoothly?
Practice, Practice, Practice
Then, practice. And practice some more. Like, literally get up and do the steps you just articulated. Have the students practice. It will feel silly! That’s ok. It’s also ok if it takes half (or all) of your class to get this important routine down. Because this is an investment in the future. As they say in Developmental Designs, “go slow to go fast!”
Then tomorrow, perhaps a quick reminder of how the routine goes. And don’t forget to notice success! If it took 17 fewer seconds for students to transition today, that’s something! If you accumulate enough of that “saved time” you could even celebrate with a game of silent ball!
Finally, when routines begin to slip again (and they will, especially after a long weekend or vacation, but really any time), practice again. Invite students to review the routine, why it matters and take a minute to practice. Rinse. Lather. Repeat.
Building relationships & community, all day, every day
The other 40% of proactive classroom management, according to the Boyntons, is building relationships. Getting to know these young humans with whom we spend our days. Sharing our stories, laughing together. And thriving learning communities are built of strong relationships.
You probably already have structures for building relationships in place. Advisory, anyone? But the magic of advisory can be woven throughout the day when we take the time to get to know one another. Consider how PLPs or identity units might help you get to know students, or how student clubs might pique interest and engagement.
Some teachers do a check in at the beginning of class – a quick whip around where everyone is invited to say whatever’s on their mind. They make time for games and to have fun together. They ask students about their lives, their passions, their worries, their hopes. All of this. Because how we show up matters, so let’s cultivate a culture of caring with and among our students.
According to the Boyntons’ formula, if we dedicate 90% of our energies to relationships and routines, then we’ll only need to spend 10% of our time responding and redirecting behavior. While that number may seem comically low this year, there’s something to be said for investing our energy in building things in the direction we want them to flow rather than playing Whack-a-Mole when things go awry.
So I’m curious what happens right now, in this unprecedented moment, if we recommit to routines and relationships? While it surely won’t be a panacea, it can’t hurt, right? And it will probably bring some comfort, too. How might you strengthen routines and relationships this week?
Need more student engagement and wellbeing? Join the club!
Educators are always looking for ways to get students more engaged with school. In this third school year impacted by the pandemic, engagement and wellbeing are more important than ever.
Ample research links extracurricular opportunities to student engagement and to social emotional learning. We also know that access to these opportunities is often inequitable. Cost, transportation, and availability can all be barriers to access.
How can we give every student access to these sites of engagement, relationship strengthening, social skill building, and interest-driven learning? Build it into the school schedule, of course.
Several schools across Vermont are setting aside time for clubs during the school day, with positive results. Here are the steps for getting clubs going in your school.
Be clear about purpose
At Orleans Elementary School (OES) in Barton, Vermont, the middle school team designed the schedule to include an hour per week of club time. Their goals for clubs:
Provide students with voice and choice about the activities they want to pursue.
Build community amongst students in grades 5-8 and also between students and staff.
Practice targeted skills within the cross-curricular proficiencies (communication, problem-solving, perseverance, citizenship) in a low-stakes, informal environment.
Lyndon Town School (LTS) in Lyndonville, Vermont, was looking to adapt structures they’ve used in the past. The middle school leadership team looked at clubs as an alternative to the Genius Hour projects that have been part of their Enrichment Block for the last couple of years. They saw clubs as a mellower version of Genius Hour, with no required product at the end. And more mellow was exactly what this year needed.
At White River Valley Middle School (WRVMS) in Bethel, Vermont, they were looking for a way to replicate successes from the past.
In the pandemic we were in pods with 13 kids and an adult spending the majority of their day together. Our behavior from last year showed fewer write ups than ever before. Students love to connect with teachers and peers in small groups.
Sarah Fisher Snow, teacher at White River Valley Middle School
This year, WRVMS continues to have three hours per week for “pod projects.” These are group projects that go in whatever direction the pod decides to take things. Clubs complement pod projects by providing a space where “teachers are purely auxiliary members,” according to Fisher Snow. The hope is that clubs help scaffold toward the student leadership needed for negotiated curriculum in pod projects and classrooms.
Now that you’ve justified carving out time and highlighted connections to other goals, things get fun.
White River Middle School: sports club; information and inspiration from Gender Sexuality Alliance; and improv exercises in Theater club,
Get student input on club offerings
While the heart of clubs is socialization, it is driven by shared interests. Offering good choices is a key to success. How to figure out what students are interested in? Ask them.
The club concept at OES came from exit interviews with outgoing 8th graders at the end of the previous school year. Those students also seeded a few ideas for which clubs should be offered. Teachers used that list to pick a few to start the year, and after a few weeks the current students were in a good position to brainstorm choices for round 2.
At WRVMS, students filled out a Google Form at the beginning of the year. There were a couple of teacher generated ideas on there with an open response where students could make suggestions. The range of student ideas represented the spectrum of interests among young adolescents – from the socially conscious to the downright goofy. Though they couldn’t quite pull off welding, teachers put together a solid list of initial offerings.
Sign up students
The process of student input ideally generates excitement and curiosity. WRVMS students Matthew and Conor, grades 7 and 8 respectively, recommend introducing the choices a week or two before students need to make their selections.
It’s clear why some think time would be important based on the extraordinary list of initial offerings at WRVMS:
Spanish cooking
Cozy club
Dungeons and Dragons
Board games
Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA)
Japanology – anime and Japanese cooking
Mystery and detectives
Outdoor club
Team sports
Theater
Leadership
Students ranked their choices and everybody was assigned to one of their top two. Teachers grouped students in new ways that didn’t match their classroom cohorts or typical social groups.
Ideally, the social mixing happens not just across clubs but within them. Kyle Chadburn, Humanities teacher at OES, observed during a session of game club “seeing where students are sitting right now, the groupings are different than they usually are. That’s exactly what we wanted to happen.”
Have fun!
“I love clubs!” “Clubs are the best!” Tristan and Lucien from WRVMS talked over each other in their excitement, but they got their point across.
This sentiment was echoed by almost every single student we heard from across these three schools (20 interviews and 20 survey responses).
Students. Love. Clubs.
Here are a few representative responses from OES students when asked why they like clubs:
“It’s like having fun instead of constantly working” (Dominic, grade 6).
“It’s like a recess but 10 minutes longer and we decide what we want to do together” (Shian, grade 6).
“More clubs should be done all around the world” (Maddie, grade 7).
“Clubs take pressure off students and are something fun to do… it really makes a nice end to the day and makes the day go by fast” (Thayer, grade 6).
“I think it’s a pretty good thing for when it’s almost to the end of the week and we have that one time to have fun at the end of the day, socialize, and become better friends with kids in other grades” (Preston, grade 7).
Teachers who are supervising clubs need to provide materials and keep an eye out for safety, but otherwise approach the clubs as a participant. Keep it light, connect with kids, and have fun!
[Gallery caption: Orleans Elementary School clubs.]
Rotate and mix it up
Clubs at these schools typically run on a 4-8 session cycle. Although some clubs may repeat across cycles, new clubs come and go as students come up with new ideas. Another major factor is the weather – some clubs work better outside or during particular seasons.
Rotating clubs exposes students to more activities and to different peers. Ava, a 6th grader from LTS, noted that social connections during clubs can be unique.
We get to know each other in a different way. We get into our club activity, calm down, and talk about all sorts of things.
Ava, 6th grade student at Lyndon Town School
Clubs are about expanding connections. Creating a rhythm of novelty will help more humans connect around more interests.
Don’t overthink it
Resist the temptation to “schoolify” clubs. When students were asked what they learned in clubs, besides becoming familiar with the central activity, most had a hard time pinning down what they were gaining. One student summed it up by explaining that “it’s not your average learning … I guess you are learning in some sorts of ways. Not the ways you’d think about it in school, but yeah it’s learning.”
Though many of the positive outcomes may be undefinable, there is plenty of evidence to provide a rationale for clubs in middle school. Such as:
The research base about the benefits of extracurriculars. Why not bring some of these activities into the curriculum?
The trend among schools in Vermont to incorporate clubs during the school day. This includes high performing schools such as Champlain Valley Union High School and South Burlington High School. If these highly rigorous academic environments are prioritizing clubs, then certainly middle schools can justify carving out the time.
Perhaps the strongest reason came from an anonymous 7th grade LTS student. They said that the best thing about clubs is that “I’ve learned it is good to take time for something you like to do.”
Indeed, carving out time purely for enjoyment and social connection is something we could all use a lot more of in schools. Let’s prioritize simply being our human selves, together. Because the human being club is one that we are all automatic members of.
How are you going to get clubs going at your school?
“Increasing Student Self-Direction” was a webinar presented by Rachel Mark as part of the 2020-2021 UVM Tarrant Institute Professional Learning Series. We present it here in its entirety. You can either watch the webinar recording, listen to an audio version, or read the annotated transcript. Follow-up questions about self-direction in your classroom? Email rbmarkvt@gmail.com.
My name is Rachel Mark. I have been a professional development coordinator for the Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education at the university of Vermont for five years now.
Prior to that, I was a middle school teacher in the southern part of Vermont. I taught sixth and seventh grade, many different subjects, for 16 years.
I‘m also a doctoral student at the University of Vermont working towards a degree in educational leadership and policy studies. And through my work on that degree I have been engaging in a number of different research projects related to self-direction for students in middle school. Adolescent students.
A Brief History of Self-Directed Learning in Vermont
The way that really came around to be was that in 2013, the Vermont legislature passed Act 77, which was a really ambitious series of educational reform steps.
And one of the things that moved Vermont towards proficiency-based learning was to differentiate content skills from what the Vermont state Agency of Education calls transferable skills.
Vermont decided to identify a series of very cross-cutting, large-scale skills that were important for all learners. One of those was self-direction. The others were:
clear and effective communication
responsible and involved citizenship
informed problem solving.
Things that I was familiar with as an educator. I had assessed those things before. I had a large sort of background knowledge base to draw upon.
But self-direction felt different to me and felt new.
Self-Direction in the Current Moment
Fast forward a few years, and I’m working with schools on implementing the assessment and teaching of self-direction. I’m starting to see implementation and assessment that really looks different across the different spectrums and different environments.
And I get curious about what self-direction is.
So that became the first sort of seed. And it led to more questions:
What does self-direction mean?
What is the history of this concept in education?
And how do we make that make the teaching of self-direction actionable in schools?
How do we increase self-direction for students?
I’m by no means an expert. But I’m really an aspiring self-direction person. I love talking about this topic. And I have done a fair amount of research around it. So I consider my knowledge to be emerging.
What Self-Direction Is… And What It Is Not
One of the things that’s most important to me as I start to share what I’ve learned about self-direction is for me to understand that self-direction is based upon the ability for a learner to have choice and selections based on their needs and interests.
That is critical.
So self-direction does not mean that a student follows and completes teacher directions and follows the teacher on their timeline.
Self-directed learners are not by definition, compliant learners. They may be — you may see those two things interacting.
But there are some times when self-directed learners are very uncompliant because they are showing signs that they would like more choice and would like more opportunity to self-direct their learning.
I wanted to debunk that myth because sometimes I am seeing that one interpretation of self-direction is a person’s ability to complete tasks on time. And according to instructions that are provided by a teacher.
That’s really not at all the intent of self-direction. It sometimes could completely backfire!
Self-Direction Emerged from Adult Education
You can imagine that in the sort of mid 1900s, certain educational researchers were curious about what drove adults to continue their education as adult learners. In night school or community college, where people who did not originally get a degree might be expected to go back to get a degree.
And sometimes more informally: what does it look like for adults to learn on their own?
Meet Randy Garrison
One of my favorite resources and models comes from Randy Garrison and his paper in 1997 that identified these dimensions of self-directed learning.
I think they’re really important because they have a lot of application to this idea of self-direction in schools. Garrison first identifies that in order for there to be self-direction, there has to be motivation. Motivation to both enter the learning, and motivation to sustain that learning, and stay with the task.
Those are two separate things.
In addition to that entry — motivation and the importance of motivation — Garrison identifies two other dimensions at work.
One, he calls self-monitoring. That’s really the responsibility you might think of as taking care of what you need to take care of.
And the second is control. Self-management. That to me has a lot more to do with task management.
But they’re really all intertwined. Motivation is the first thing that needs to be there. And then self-monitoring and self-management interact with one another, those three dimensions go into self-directed learning according to his research.
Motivation
Self-Monitoring
Self-Management
Yeah.
Updating Garrison for a 2020 Context: The BEST Toolkit
When we think about self-direction in a more 2020 context, there has been a lot more that’s been developed.
And what we know now is that there are several different components of self-direction, and that the interrelatedness of them is really important.
And they talk a lot about the inter-relatedness of the components of self-direction. They have five different dimensions of self-direction. These tend to be the five that are currently being used in, in the literature and the research right now.
Self-Awareness
Initiative & Ownership
Goal-Setting & Planning
Engaging & Managing (the learning process)
Monitoring & Adapting (to the learning process).
You can see this sort of metaphor of braided and threaded strands.
When the learner is emerging in their ability to be self-directed, those things seem a little disparate and disconnected.
But as the person becomes more proficient, they sync together in a better way.
What’s important about the braided visual is just imagining how these things are all very inter-related and actually dependent upon one another. In my opinion, that’s one of the reasons self-direction is so fascinating: it’s so often hard to tease these pieces apart.
Unpicking the Braid
Within the dimension of self-direction, we’re really wanting the learner to be asking:
What am I learning about myself as a learner?
For them to have that self-awareness that is very important. We want the learner to be thinking:
How can I integrate my personal interests into how I approach new learning?
So thinking about that — what they know about themselves and that self-awareness — how do they integrate that into learning opportunities and situations within goal setting and planning?
We also really want the student to be asking:
How can I break down a complex task and develop concrete steps to accomplish it?
Sounds Simple, Right?
So how can we help students plan out steps and develop goals and establish really meaningful learning targets for themselves?
We want them to be asking,
“What am I learning about locating resources, managing my time and seeking help when I need it?”
That’s about the sort of managing of the process and the learning experience. And then the monitoring and adapting that needs to happen all along that student is we want them to be asking themselves,
“Am I able to see when something isn’t working well, adjust my approach and learn from my missteps?”
There’s a way in which self-awareness informs all of these dimensions. In some cases, people who are wanting to increase self-direction for their students start with self-awareness because it seems so foundational.
“Dimensions of Self-Direction”
One of the other most common places that we’re seeing resources around teaching self-direction is from the essential skills and dispositions document that was published by the center for innovation in education and the educational policy improvement center.
They use the same five components there.
It’s just interesting to look at these two documents that I think are the most helpful in supporting schools and teachers. And it’s interesting to note that they use the same sort of five components or five different dimensions.
Gerald Grow’s Differentiated Teaching Model of Self-Direction
One of the things that really strikes me about self-direction is that it requires teachers to have an understanding of where a student’s readiness is for self-direction.
And so we have learned through the research that there’s really a continuum of readiness for self-direction.
What strikes me about self-direction is that because our learners are at different levels of readiness, our teaching to each of those learners must be different. There’s no one strategy that’s going to work for everyone in your class. Just like we differentiate all of our content for students, when we are teaching, we need to differentiate our opportunities for self-direction.
Gerald Grow’s work emerged in the 1990s out of higher education. He was a professor of journalism, and he started to become really curious about the way in which his college -evel students were compelled to be self-directed.
So he identified these four different stages.
What I think is interesting about this is that he’s identified what type of teaching really needs to match the learner’s stage of self-direction.
So if you have a stage one, dependent learner, that learner at that stage needs someone to be authoritative and coaching, and they need to get coaching with immediate feedback. They need to get informational lecture.
And that’s very different than a student who’s at stage four, who is self-directed. That person needs a teacher as a consultant. That person needs to be engaging in work that looks like internships, dissertations self-directed study group or individual group.
Those are the two extremes.
And then we have people at stages two and three, and those people also need a different type of teaching to match their learning. Grow argues that in order for the learner to advance to the self-directed stage, stage four, they need to receive the best type of teaching for the stage that they’re at along each step of the way.
Match and Mismatch Between Learner Stages and Teaching Styles
I hope you can see that when there is a match between learner stages and teacher styles, things will kind of jive and flow and work well. In this second figure by Grow, those green areas show you the areas of complete match, or near match.
So for example, if I’m an interested learner at stage two, and my teacher teaches with a style of facilitation or in a facilitator mode? That’s a pretty near match.
And what I think is so interesting about this is that I can connect back to my time teaching and think of where I saw this, you know, in a scenario.
Let’s say that I’m the teacher and I teach like this teacher one level: I’m the expert, I’m the authority, everything’s in my control, I’m lecturing. I’m giving all the instructions and not allowing for students to have any sort of involvement or responsibility.
If I have a self directed learner who’s at stage four in my class, that student is going to be pretty frustrated.
They’re going to feel like they resent this style of teaching, where the teacher’s the authority.
At the other end of the spectrum, we might have a learner who is very dependent. They don’t know how to do some things for themselves. And if the teacher teaches at this other end of the continuum where they’re a delegator and saying, “What? Go study what you want to know!” Or, “You can learn about anything you want to learn about during the next 30 minutes!” That dependent learner is going to be also very frustrated because they’re being given freedom that they’re not ready for. They’re being asked to do things that they don’t understand how to do.
Equity & Self-Direction
The interesting pieces that I have been drawn to as I’ve conducted research about self-direction is I’m wondering if and how we give our learners equal opportunities to develop self-direction.
And it turns out that there are some pretty major concerns around how students have equitable access to self directed learning opportunities.
There’s a particular study out of Europe that found that that teachers actually do some of the thinking for less self-directed children, and the children that already have high levels of self-direction received even more opportunities to practice self direction. So the implication of this is that teachers can behave in ways that actually encourage some students to develop self-direction and discourage other students from developing self-direction.
How Do We Increase Self-Direction for All Students?
What’s important to understand is what some of these things look like in the classroom.
There’s a lot of talk about planning, in terms of developing self-direction. And so if we want to teach our students how to plan, some of the things that can happen are giving people questions to frame learning goals, engaging in something like a KWL (what do you want / what do you know / what do you want to know?) Explicit instruction about and modeling based on students’ knowledge and readiness for open-ended tasks.
And so while teachers are conducting those activities, we are developing the student’s responsibility to be able to set goals, identify personal interests, reflect on learning needs and develop strategies for completing a learning task.
Some of the other instructional phases that we heard discussed in the dimensions of self-directed learning are around monitoring and adjusting.
Appropriate Classroom Activities for Self-Direction
So again, if the goal is for students to monitor and adjust, some appropriate classroom activities might be:
giving very clear teacher and peer feedback
having students self-assess
assess using some brainstorming strategies or whiteboards to make students thinking visible
doing journaling with some prompts to get student explanations out there.
And that’s so the teachers can be modeling how people monitor learning, and adjust as they move through learning tasks. We hope that as a result of that, students will be able to monitor progress, engage in self observation and really be cognizant and critical about how their learning process is going as it’s happening.
We know that another instructional phase is reflecting and evaluating. That comes down to some of the classroom resources around assessment and reflection. Showcases and presentations, for instance, so that students see that there’s a real utility for their work and an opportunity to share it with other people.
A Learning Scale for Self-Direction
My colleague Emily Hoyler and I developed a learning scale that is based upon three indicators for how teachers can develop self-direction in their learners.
First we think the environment is important. The learning environment is helping develop self-direction.
We described that indicator as that teachers will create a learning environment and design learning experiences where students can practice self-awareness. They can take initiative and take ownership of their learning. There has to be an environment for self-direction where students have opportunities and self-direction is valued. That cannot be overstated.
The next two indicators build off of that.
The second indicator is around structures and processes that you have for self-direction. So again: how is your teaching helping to provide opportunities and scaffold a process for students to make learning plans, reflect upon and monitor their progress and adjust their strategies?
And the third indicator is around curriculum and instruction.
How am I as a teacher, creating learning experiences that encourage students to take initiative and ownership, locate their own resources, manage their time and seek help when needed?
I share this with you because it’s a great tool for you to use as you investigate your own teaching. AS you think about how you might have some strengths in teaching for self-direction, and you might have some areas for growth.
And then what do you do with it?
After you have determined some growth areas, you might look for ways to improve it.
And we have lots and lots of teaching strategies related to self-direction and resources in a self-directed learning toolbox.
Again, in our toolbox are three learning indicators:
learning environment structures
processes
curriculum.
So, for example in the area of learning environment, there’s a prompt about: how do we talk about mistakes in my classroom? Because there’s certainly an amount of risk-taking that’s necessary in order for self-direction to exist and develop. Which means we need to normalize mistakes and have a belief system where mistakes are part of the culture of learning.
On Choice Boards, Hyperdocs, and Playlists
So I wanted to address a couple of particular strategies that are you know, enjoying a lot of attention right now.
I want us to consider how choice sports HyperDocs and playlists support self-direction.
So. HyperDocs!
HyperDocs, they’re basically a Google Doc that is created as not just links out to resources, but as an instructional sequence, if you will, to let the learners know what they actually need to be doing with those resources. It’s providing a frame and instructional steps through links out to content and what students are supposed to then go ahead and do it.
So, HyperDocs, choice boards and playlists are all enjoying some notoriety right now in our educational spaces. They are great tools. They are lovely tools, because they look pretty, they are assembled along a theme or a particular skill that needs to be developed. And they do allow students — in almost all cases — to progress at their own pace. Pacing is something that has been really impacted by using tools like this.
What I want to make sure is that if we use choice boards, HyperDocs or playlists to encourage and develop self-direction, then they need to be more than just a set of instructions. There needs to be an element of choice. (Believe it or not, I have actually seen choice boards that don’t have any choice.)
We also use the word “menu” sometimes, and that’s a similar structure, but a choice board is more than just saying, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, and do that at your own pace until you’ve mastered the information.
There needs to be choice.
There needs to be a place where you say:
“Do this if you need to learn more about this, or do this other thing if you’re interested in this other topic.”
I can’t overstate the importance for choice in these three different structures that are similar. So students are making choices.
They’re also given the opportunity to make decisions about the content, and about the learning process based on what they know about themselves and their needs as a learner and their personal interests.
Another kind of critical component to any of these processes or structures is that there’s a reflection component for students. A place where they can practice and exercise some metacognition about:
How is it going?
Did I make the right choice?
Did the choice I made in my learning process help me understand this better?
Or did I make some wrong choices?
And now I know more about myself!
Final Thoughts on Self-Direction
My final thought I want to leave you with is that I can’t overemphasize the importance for us to be providing *opportunities* for self-direction in order for our students to demonstrate and develop self-direction. Without opportunities, how can students even try?
I really think that we can start that as early as possible in our schools. There are probably classrooms of kindergartners and first graders that are doing that really well. It makes me think about going into my children’s kindergarten class and seeing those different centers that students can choose and go to. They’re using self-direction to do that.
Q & A Session
Question on Self-Direction & Proficiency-Based Assessment
“This is perhaps custom to the Vermont context, but I’d like to ask you about self-direction and assessment. Self-direction is something we’re being encouraged to assess in students, at the same time Vermont’s Act 77 legislation encourages us also to use proficiencies. Can you talk us through maybe a little bit about how you might tie those two concepts together?”
Answer:
So first of all, Vermont does have rubrics that they developed, the Agency of Education has rubrics for different grade bands and they’re sort of what the criteria looks like for self-direction that are supposed to be student friendly. They’re written as “I can” statements. Like “I can locate a resource and determine whether that is a trustworthy source.” That actually is one of that’s part of the criteria of self-direction which seems more like it kind of like bleeds into library media and technology skills too, but that’s because a lot of the emphasis of self-direction is on locating resources and, and managing resources.
Those are a great place to start, but know that the resources that I shared here from the best tool kit that has very good resources also for rubrics.
Self-direction is this really big concept and we as teachers typically give it one space on an assessment, and instead we’d probably be better off diving deeper into the criteria and being really specific about the assessment of that particular part of self-direction.
Like, maybe you are great at self-awareness, but not great at like, monitoring and adjusting as you’re in the process.
I think we need to separate those things out for students so that they can see where their growth areas are and take steps to do better. You know, ironically there, our assessment of their self-direction should inform their self direction in the classroom. It’s a two way street.
Question on Self-Direction & Flexible Pathways
“Are there ways that you can envision self-direction being key for learners to actually take advantage of the opportunity to pursue flexible pathways in their learning?”
Answer:
Absolutely. Those two things are so wedded together.
I believe that aspiration starts in grade seven. There are 14 year olds who don’t know the pathway they want to take because they have not had to exercise that muscle before, of knowing who they are as learners and knowing what choices they’re going to make that will take them in the direction they want to go as learners.
If we’re developing self-direction in students, in primary K to five school and then middle school, grades 6-8, by the time we’re ready for them to go out and enjoy some flexible pathways, they should have a sense of who they are and what they’re interested in. What they want to do.
So my, one of my fears is that we haven’t, in some systems we haven’t introduced self-direction early enough, so that by the time they arrive at the doorstep of the flexible pathway opportunities, they they’ve lost their muscle to know what’s what they want and where they want to go. And they’re like, why are, you know, I kind of think about people that I know and think that, that there’s a kid saying, why are you asking me now what I want to learn about? And so it’s too late, we’ve missed the window and that we needed to have been doing that all along. So that by the time we’ve got a kid who can do an internship off campus for credit they’ve they’re primed and ready hope. That makes sense.
Question on Self-Direction & Project-Based Learning
“In terms of the popularity of project-based learning as a scaffold for, for authentic and meaningful learning opportunities for students, do you see a role that self-direction can play in the PBL cycle? Especially when you have a PBL that’s done in groups and you’re trying to assign the various types of activities, the various responsibilities; is there a way that you can fold self-direction into that as an explicit part of the process?”
Answer:
Well yes.
Self-direction can be reinforced in PBL environments.
Project-based learning environments typically do allow students to have some amount of choice about which kind of angle they’re going to follow of this topic or this theme. There’s a little bit of flexibility in terms of the task itself if there’s project based learning that is in groups. We know when you work in a group, there’s an amount of compromise and collaboration and you can’t just be like, well, I’m in charge and this is what I want to do.
The other piece I would say about project based learning reinforcing self-direction is the fact that project-based learning is building towards a culmination.
There should be some iteration that’s happening, which allows students to be monitoring and adjusting. If I’m building towards a a presentation I’m going to give, I’ve gone through some of the pre stages so that I can see where I need to adjust and maybe I need more research there or something. So I think just that aspect that project-based learning is usually there’s usually some iteration building up to this culminating event, and that takes monitoring on the student end.
Question on The Most Challenging Aspect of Self-Direction
“We know that there is some element of choice and agency that all really great teachers give to their students in the classroom. As educators become more familiar with inculcating self-direction in students, what could you identify as maybe the most challenging aspect of trying to build self-direction in students? What have you perhaps experienced as, as a common challenge for educators trying to build this up, or the research tells us is a challenge in getting started on this process?”
Answer:
That’s a great question. I can think of a few things.
There’s a really fine balancing act that teachers need to walk. That’s where Emily and I came up with our title of our course, “The Sweet Spot”. That’s balancing between them getting there on their own and you helping them get there.
The Sweet Spot
The sweet spot is this just-right grain size of place, where for them to play with what they want to know about in a way that is manageable.
And sometimes it’s really hard to get somebody to that sweet spot, right? If we let kids take on something that’s too big in scope they will get frustrated and fall short and maybe give up. If we let them do something too small in scope, we know that they’ll just finish and not know what to do.
And so there’s a way that teachers can, in their language of coaching help get to something that feels like the right size. One of the things that’s really hard for teachers is to stay in a place of language that promote self-direction. What that looks like is saying:
“Well, what do you think you need to do next? Hmm. Yeah, I hear you. I wonder how you might find a way to solve that? I wonder what tools you have around you to solve that question that you have?”
It takes time to use that kind of language. It takes patience. Sometimes even the most well-intentioned teachers go to a teacher directed place and say, this is what you need to do.
228 days home with my 3 children. 88 days of remote learning, spanning 2 school years and 5 different grade levels. 10 different teachers. 34 Zoom meetings per week (not counting mine). Engagement level: 27%. This is parenting pandemic math.
But who’s counting, right?
At home, my kids are missing school. Or, more specifically, they miss their friends, they miss their teachers, they miss recess, they even miss riding the bus.
They love seeing your face, and their classmates in their Zoom meetings. They love sharing their art, or talking about which Garfield character is funnier.
But once the Zoom meetings are over, the twinkle leaves their eyes, as they reluctantly turn to the pile of spelling worksheets… if we’re lucky. And if we’re not, they refuse and instead start to play with the cat, or look for pencils under the couch. Anything to avoid the stack of work piling up.
But in their free time…
Then they are deep in the Lego bin, working together to build an amusement park. Or baking lemon squares. Or building forts in the woods. Designing logos and emblems in SketchUp. Or creating board games. Or training chickens. Designing jet-propelled race cars. Or learning embroidery. Or reading. Or playing Monopoly.
Wait. What?
Did I just say engineering design, fractions, chemistry, physics, writing, fine and gross motor development, literature study and economics?
Despite all the challenges of the moment, kids are doing some cool stuff at home. They are learning things. Maybe just not (only) the things we’ve planned.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could leverage what kids are already doing at home as learning?
There are possibilities. And PLPs.
One way we could do this is with PLPs- personalized learning plans. PLPs. Their blend of learning tool-meets-portfolio might be just the thing to help us navigate this moment.
What if we shifted from a focus on content to a focus on skills? Transferable skills, specifically. Things like problem-solving, reasoning, critical thinking, clear & effective communication, or citizenship. The magic of these skills is that they’re, well, transferable….across contexts and settings.
The communication skills a kid hones while working on their Minecraft tutorial video for YouTube are pretty similar to the skills they’d need to write an expository essay on caring for pets: What information do I need to communicate? How can I most effectively explain what readers/viewers need to know?
And if you know the student well, you can probably figure out which context they’d prefer to develop those skills within.
Less is more.
The last thing any of us needs is more work. We’re all — teachers, students, parents — stretched to our max right now.
So instead, could we shift our synchronous time with students to focus on building relationships, getting to know them and their interests, and then coaching them on how the pursuit of these interests islearning?
Could we teach them to reflect on and document their learning, so that they, too, could appreciate all the learning they already do, every day?
Yeah, we’ll probably still need to teach them to write an effective RACE response, but perhaps it’s focus could be ‘who is the best Jedi?’ or ‘which Lego pieces are the most important.’
Personal Inquiry Projects
Finally, one last thought: last spring, my family sprinted out of the gate with some fantastic school-at-home projects. Any of these projects could easily become the focus of student reflection and documentation in a PLP.
So could Lego villages, chocolate chip cookies, or organizing a bookshelf.
Want to go deeper? What about using personal inquiry projects, such as Genius Hour, Passion Projects, or Curiosity projects to help connect students’ interests to the curriculum. They’re practically pandemic-ready.
And it turns out they’ll continue to be amazing even after all this is a distant memory.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to think and talk about innovative school change.
It’s difficult to see the start of this school year with a heart that’s anything but desperately worried for students, for teachers and for families. We want this school year to be fruitful in terms of learning, but we’re also shocked and dismayed by the physical danger school communities face in re-opening.
It’s difficult to think and talk about innovative school change, but at the same time, right now it’s pretty hard not to think about school.
pleased to unveil my 2020 teaching strategy: "don't worry about grades, just learn something and please don't die"
When schools let out for the summer, it was a relief.
We saw continued creativity from schools around Vermont in celebrating their graduates. We saw educators around the state have a chance to breathe and cry and relax.
Summer’s a weird time for students. In theory, school’s over, so you can do your own thing. But in reality, school’s over, and that can have a huge impact on the structure and support school brings. Freedom only goes so far when you’re under 18.
But sometimes it goes just far enough.
This summer we saw students making their own way through, and were impressed by their tenacity, flexibility and creativity. We saw students pursue learning in ways that made us wonder: what could we learn from students who pursued their own learning outside of school this summer?
Turns out: quite a bit.
Summer interrupts schooling.
For students, schedules and locations become completely different. There could be freedom to launch a yard work business, such as the one by the Warren VT-based Fretz brothers. Some students work at a family or local business, running cash registers, preparing food, balancing books, raising livestock or changing the world.
Other students see a need in the world and craft a project to address it.
After losing her summer internships, student Lia Rubel, of Barre VT, leaned in on a Yale University project that turns unwanted, aged-out tech devices into lifelines to healthcare for elderly Vermonters. Rubel sourced devices and raised funds and coordinated with others in the national network. Vermont is a better place because of her work.
Students in Winooski VT, formed a group called the Winooski Students for Anti-Racism. En masse, they showed up their school board’s July meeting. Over Zoom, one by one, they spoke of their experiences with racism, and the need for urgent change. They looked at the world and stepped forward to make it a better place.
In the summer, community organizations, too, step up their game, opening additional service pathways for students. The Vermont Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC), for instance, this past summer increased food deliveries around Washington County to alleviate food insecurity this summer. Young adults perform various tasks around the VYCC’s food stand and farms.
They stay involved and curious and relaxed and hard-working and loud and energetic. They keep going.
And when pandemic things happen, students stay flexible. They double down.
In Essex, VT, brothers Nathan and Henry Wu had been touring Vermont, performing classical music on cello and violin at libraries around the state. When the pandemic hit, they didn’t want to lose the opportunity to share their passion and proficiency. They’d worked on the library tour for two full years: learning how to communicate and organize events (transferable skill), figuring out a manageable schedule (reflection), determining what to say about the pieces they learned (transferable skill).
And of course, practicing. (Proficiency.)
So, working with the VT Department of Libraries, the Wu brothers put together a Facebook Livestream event for their senior showcase. They taught themselves live-streaming technology. They wrote and published a program to accompany the music. And they had to figure out a comments policy, and learn what Facebook stats mean.
Now, imagine what the Wu brothers’ PLPs look like.
And that’s what we’re asking of ourselves right now, and you too. (Caveat: only if you have the capacity. If you just need to go lie down in the dandelions for a few months and come back? We’ll still be here asking.)
How can a fundamental interruption to the way we have practiced schooling be tied to the way we see students pursuing learning outside the classroom and the school day?
Unlock & encourage Flexible Pathways
When students need to attend school remotely, we naturally ask: what are they doing with the rest of their time? What are they reading, watching, making and learning about? Act 77’s Flexible Pathways mandate creates a way for students who spend their time away from school and screen to “legitimize” self-directed inquiries.
Valid learning experiences can look like:
volunteering at the library and developing a new summer reading program
teaching Sunday School
teaching garlic braiding classes at your family’s farm and producing a video tutorial on it for the farm website
building a YouTube channel of PSA remixes you send to local radio stations
becoming a published author
using a photography drone to map out the species of trees at a planned town development site
Valid learning experiences can look like putting surplus tech devices in the hands of seniors. They can look like developing a series of classical music concerts at local libraries.
And flexible pathways create ways for us to formally recognize those.
They make space for students with big ideas they want to try.
Support PLPs
One of the best parts of working on our blog, our videos, and our podcasts, are hearing stories from students. It’s hard to find an adult who doesn’t enjoy hearing from students — especially when learning is working.
And PLPs are those stories made real.
PLPs with this kind of evidence also can signal to the viewer the expansive skill sets students have mastered. The breadth of skills they can bring to the table. How could we expand the audience for student PLPs? If we think of the PLP as a living, breathing story in motion, what chapters would you want to read? What kinds of stories will captivate students and their families, and make them turn the pages outside of a student-led conference?
“Systems don’t change until credit systems change.”
We have the power right now to change the way we look at giving credit for learning. Whether it’s via micro-credentials or enhanced transcripts, proficiency-based assessments make it possible for us to design ways of both providing guidance on and pushing students toward skills-based self-directed learning.
And now: a word about equity.
None of this works unless it works for everyone. That’s it. That’s the tweet.
We know that even with Vermont’s progressive Act 77 legislation, we need to keep working on equalizing access to these opportunities for every student. It’s difficult to pursue self-directed learning when you’re struggling with trauma. When you’re crushed by racism. When you’re helping your family put food on the table. Fighting for equity must be part of every conversation on innovative school change.
And right now the best answer we can come up with is to keep fighting.
Put them all together and you get–
You get busy, capable, engaged students pursuing learning outside the classroom and the school day. Students who can show you an array of skills, detailed and accredited. Students who have documented stories to share to back up experience and skills both.
Basically: if we eliminated all the constraints, how could we imagine summer learning opportunities as a blueprint for student engagement?
What are some other keys you’re seeing to unlocking the potential of a disrupted school system during this time?
The other day as I imagined my thirteen-year-old self stuck at home for the remainder of the school year, I panicked! By now I would have read, and re-read my entire library. Where would I get more books?
Never fear: books are everywhere!
Fiction has always been a means of escape for me, a way to forget about harsh realities.
And it seems it is not just my imagined past self that is having this crisis. A colleague mentioned that his daughters and their friends have started a book exchange to refresh their own stacks of reading material. Numerous teachers have also reached out to ask how they can get new titles into the hands of their students.
Now, this is an emotional time, folks, and I don’t want to overwhelm you. But books are definitely an emotional topic for me, and that emotion is LOVE! You don’t need to access ALL OF THE THINGS, just find the ones that work for you and your learners. Find the ones that help you all get hold of reading material that you love.
First, check your local library.
Recently, librarians have been working overtime to make our Covid-19 lives a little more bearable. Libraries are going all-out right now to get books in your hands. Ask and ye shall receive.
Meet Libby
The Libby App allows public library patrons (kids and adults) to borrow ebooks and audiobooks for free with a library card. They have a huge selection that’s categorized by genre, as well as special collections. Now is as good a time as any to get in the habit of using your local public library, albeit virtually!
(I am currently reading Free Lunch by Rex Ogle using the Libby App.)
Go into Overdrive
The Green Mountain Library Consortium, also affiliated with Vermont’s public libraries, makes titles available through Overdrive. And there are So. Many. Great titles here! Students can access titles on Overdrive via their local public library, or via their school.
Due to current public demand, the Green Mountain Library Consortium has made available additional copies of popular titles such as — be still my heart — the ENTIRE HARRY POTTER SERIES. Ebook and audio versions both. They too, assemble special collections for your heart’s content, including right now, a collection of curated STEAM project books for students.
These folks are serious about getting you good stuff, and we heart them real hard. Thank you Green Mountain Library Consortium!
Take off with Sora
Many Vermont School libraries have accounts that allow students to access books through the Sora App. The app is designed specifically for student access to ebooks, as opposed to access for the general public. Now, once you’ve downloaded the app to your device, you choose your school from the list. And then you log in with your school email account.
Second: authors are being amazing right now
Almost as soon as schools started closing, authors started stepping up. In a big, big way. They have given permission for teachers to read their books online, they’re going live on Instagram to perform their books and answer reader questions. They’re making extra material from the books available, they’re recording themselves reading on YouTube — you cannot swing a Babysitters Club paperback without hitting a passel of authors giving it their all to make books available. Thank you, authors!
Here are a few places to find them en masse:
Authors (literally) Everwhere
Authors Everywhere! is a YouTube channel that provides videos with a huge number of children’s book authors. They serve up book talks, readalouds, writer’s workshops, and more. The Children’s Book Council is assembling an ongoing YouTube playlist of authors reading their works aloud. Additionally, We Are Teachers is curating a massive list of authors reading their works aloud online. They’ve striated the list by age group because of course they did. Teachers are amazing.
Get involved: ask an author
Kids Ask Authors is a great podcast featuring writer Grace Lin and a guest author. Kids can also submit questions, poems, book reviews, or jokes for future episodes.
And while we’re on the topic, if you have a favorite author you’d like to hear more from, this is a great opportunity to reach out to them and ask. (Transferable skills in action!)
Join a book club
National Book Club for Kids connects 4-6th graders with fabulous books and authors. May will feature Kelly Yang’s Front Desk and Refugee, just to name two.
2.5 Let’s give it up for authors, ’cause they are giving it up for us
I’m going to call this “reader advisory”. In no particular order, here’s nine authors giving us all their love:
Prolific and award-winning Catherynne M. Valente reads from her hugely popular Orphan Tales each night on instagram, and just released a new free short story in ebook and audio formats.
Meanwhile on her instagram, Sarah Rees Brennanis posting extra material from her Sabrina, The Teenage Witch tie-in novels.
Maureen Johnson is sharing free lesson plans (Common Core included) to accompany her trio of Vermont-based YA mysteries that culminated with The Hand on the Wall.
LeVar Burton is *not* an author, but he’s rebooted Reading Rainbow as a podcast and it’s even better than you remember it.
I could go on, but I’ll stop before your eyes glaze over!
Third: publishers are showing up, too
It isn’t easy to offer your goods for free, but some publishers are doing just that. Here are a couple that are offering their books at no cost.
Epic!
Epic! provides ebooks to students aged 12 years and under. Currently, they are offering free access to families for 30 days and free access to students until June 30, 2020.
Junior Library Guild!
Junior Library Guild is offering free access to their JLG Digital Online Reading Platform. It includes an array of options for elementary, middle, and high school readers, it features a variety of fiction and nonfiction titles. New books are added each month.
Riveted!
Simon & Schuster are providing free access to a range of YA titles through Riveted. (I’m hoping to read Enchanted Air by Margarita Engle.)
Abdo!
Abdo Digital is offering a variety of books for students of all ages, as well as databases, all for free.
Finally, don’t miss out on online book events
For a lot of readers, myself included, a huge part of the excitement of reading is sharing that love. And while we’re currently constrained as to getting together in person, there’s a ton of folks heading online.
Yall West is this weekend! The popular Santa Monica CA-based book festival has headed online so yall stay home and flatten the curve. So many YA authors (I’m tuning in for fantasy powerhouses Sonan Chainani, Hafsah Faizal and Bethany C. Morrow. Plus Nic Stone. And Angie Thomas. And–) Festivities kick off Friday, and feature events for both students and teachers. A happy mix. Saturday morning features a Nic Stone and Angie Thomas smackdown. (Angie Thomas!)
And while doing research for this post I found an event I will definitely be attending: The Everywhere Book Fest! This virtual celebration will feature picture book, middle grades, and young adult authors. Kids and adults are invited to attend on May 1-2, 2020. With this amazing list of authors, there is something for everyone.
Until then, you’ll find me curled up with a book (currently rereadingStamped), listening to an audiobook (Dig.), or daydreaming about the reopening of my local public library.
Okay, this was a lot. Some of us potentially just got carried away here.
But: what’s the word on your street? What other resources are you using to get ebooks out there?
I am, however, a huge fan of reading for pleasure. Stories, real or imagined, build empathy, connect us with the broader world, and help us understand our own lived experience. Getting lost in a book is a real joy, one even the most reluctant readers can experience, as I learned in my many years as a school librarian.
Reading logs, on the other hand, can turn a fun activity into a chore and kill a love of reading. They foster compliance over joy. And they are often tied to extrinsic motivators: grades, rewards, prizes. All of this sends a message: reading is a chore. (For more on the harms of reading logs check out this Atlantic article or this blog post by Pernille Ripp.)
But I am a fan of goal-setting.
Like countless Goodreads users (including many #vted teachers, librarians, and students), I set a reading goal each year: 52 books. Every. Single. Year. For the last 5 years!
Jeanie’s past reading challenge goals and progress.
I don’t feel the need to up my goal, to beat a past record, or to compete with others.
I just know that a regular habit of reading feels good and that a book a week seems to be the right number for me. Goodreads helps me track my reading, and that keeps me from falling into a reading slump for too awfully long. (You know… that moment you hit when you finish a great book and are worried nothing else will ever compare… that kind of reading slump.) I don’t have evidence, but I think it’s made me a more self-directed reader!
Self-direction and reading can go hand in hand
After all, self-direction is all about setting personal goals. And about monitoring your progress, adapting and strategizing to meet your goal, and exercising choice over how you get there.
I reach my personal reading goal by:
listening to audiobooks
giving up on books I am not enjoying
and including a wide variety of texts: professional books, fiction, poetry, graphic novels, and even the occasional picture book.
Keeping track of my reading keeps me on track!
Jeanie’s current reading challenge goal and progress.
So, what might goal setting look like for middle school readers?
Well, a year is a long (looooong) time. Eric Curts of Control-Alt-Achieve has created a reading goal and record document that help readers break their goals into more manageable chunks (brought to my attention by Mount Holly Elementary School teacher Margaret Dunne). Learners can set goals for the number of hours, pages, or books they want to read, or a combination of these.
This definitely ISN’T just an online version of a pencil and paper, fill in the blanks reading log. Rather, it’s a goal-setting, monitoring, and progress charting machine! It helps readers see a visual representation of the strides they are taking towards their goal. It makes it possible for users to adjust their goal as they see fit. And it allows them to document their reading such that they can identify and address any obstacles they encounter as they work to meet their goal.
I’ve modified it slightly for use in #vted schools:
Reading Goals and Record spreadsheet
Goal-setting is a process
I think giving students an opportunity to set their own reading goals and monitor their progress can be an important step towards students become lifelong readers. And I can imagine that this process will look very different for different students. Certainly, there will be some who set an ambitious goal and meet it. Others may need to adjust their goals, course correcting as they realize that their goals were too easy or too ambitious. This is one step along the way to getting better at setting goals, developing a sense of agency, and exercising their rights as readers.
Here is a screencast showing how students might use the Reading Goals google sheet to set goals and celebrate their progress:
Conferencing with readers about reading and self-direction creates powerful synergy.
Imagine a 1:1 conversation with a reader.
They spell out their reading goal and share their progress.
Perhaps they talk about where they got stuck: the wrong (boring) book, waiting to read until bedtime when they are tired, or getting interrupted by a sibling.
And they celebrate their successes: the time they got so swept away by the story that they read for over an hour, when they stopped reading the boring book and chose a magazine instead, or the author they discovered who makes them laugh out loud.
The goal of a conference is empowerment, not surveillance. Instead of focusing on the hours the student spent reading, the teacher focuses on the student’s self-direction. How they adjusted their goal or their strategies for reaching it, what they learned by monitoring their progress, how they managed to overcome obstacles. Perhaps the teacher asks questions to deepen reflection, or suggests other ways to deal with barriers to reading, helping students grow as both self-directed learners and as readers. Ultimately, the two connect reader to reader!
How are you empowering your readers? How are your readers setting and tracking reading goals?
When states around the country shifted towards standards-based, competency-based and proficiency-based learning and reporting, that involved separating the content-specific skills and knowledge from the learner-specific habits and behaviors.
The particular set of learner habits and behaviors that districts and states chose to measure and report have varied. Similarly, some states adopted guiding structures such as the Essential Skills and Dispositions framework created in 2015. In Vermont, the AOE created a set of proficiencies called the Transferable Skills. These two frameworks differ in some ways, but both have in common a focus on self-direction for students.
(The 5 Components of Self-Direction from the Essential Skills and Dispositions framework)
Lench, S., Fukuda, E., & Anderson, R. (2015). Essential skills and dispositions: Developmental frameworks for collaboration, creativity, communication, and self-direction. Lexington, KY: Center for Innovation in Education at the University of Kentucky
A little Vermont context
The first time that I saw the Vermont Transferable Skills was in 2015. Many of the skills, such as Clear and Effective Communication, seemed, well, clear. But over the years I have been increasingly puzzled by the definition and conceptual framework behind learner self-direction.
Nearly every mission and vision statement coming out of schools these days aspires to produce self-directed learners. This has me insatiably curious. What is self-direction? What does it mean to be a self-directed learner? From where? And why did this skill suddenly appear in our vocabulary? That is to say, I feel a burning desire to better understand the concept. For the sake of teaching and learning young people.
Turns out, self-direction and self-directed learning are terribly complex concepts
Self-direction is a human trait that combines psychological, educational, emotional, and social behavior. Behind self-direction is the messy interaction of those needs and behaviors. Self-direction manifests into outcomes of our human behavior and decision-making. Instinctually, educators want to frame self-direction as purely positive and compliance-oriented behaviors. But that is a myth.
Any action, human decision and behavior is an act of self-direction: “good” and “bad”. If I’m in my evening class and I’m bored and feel like I need to move my body, I might get up and leave class to go to the bathroom. That is an act of self-direction.
Consequently, the instructor might think that I made a poor choice to leave class and miss the information and learning. But I examined myself and made the decision. I directed my “self” based on my needs, motivations, my context, and my previous experiences.
Similarly to self-direction, self-directed learning has become an umbrella term in education. It refers to a host of processes and outcomes. In short, it’s an educational experience (formal or informal) where the learner has some knowledge of their personal needs, sets goals, makes decisions, and finds the necessary resources. Then the learner conducts the actions necessary to meet their learning needs and goals. The concept of self-directed learning is being increasingly applied to K-12 educational settings. What’s interesting is that the roots of self-directed learning are in adult education.
Some salient self-directed literature
Certainly, one of the most influential texts is Malcolm S. Knowles’ 1975 book, Self-Directed Learning: A Guide for Learners and Teachers. He was a leading authority in the field of adult education. He defines self-directed learning as,
“A process in which individuals take initiative, with or without the help of others, in diagnosing their learning needs, formulating learning goals, identifying human and material resources for learning, choosing and implementing appropriate learning strategies, and evaluating learning outcomes”
Another adult learning researcher, D. Randy Garrison, contributed to development of the self-directed learning concept. In 1991, he published Self-Directed Learning: Towards a Comprehensive Model and created this visual to show the interaction of four dimensions of self-directed Learning.
Checking assumptions
In each of these adult learning models, there is an implicit assumption that the learner has some control and responsibility over their learning. These two models rely on opportunities for the learner to direct their own learning and determine learning goals. More current frameworks of self-directed learning, like the ES & D, also require that the learner has the opportunity and occasion to own and manage their learning.
Alas, I would argue that in many K-12 educational settings, learners do not regularly have these opportunities and this control. Which suggests an interesting problem. What are the behaviors that we are teaching and assessing when students do not have the opportunity to be self-directed learners?
Finally, we (as educators) need to ask ourselves:
If the origins of self-directed learning are rooted in adult education, how do we adjust frameworks and expectations when we apply it to children and adolescents?
What is a young person’s capacity and ability for self-direction and self-directed learning?
What does self-direction look like in a 6 year old? In a 12 year old? In a 16 year old?
How do our schools promote self-direction?
What structures in our schools impede self-directed learning?
These are questions that need answers. I’d love to hear your thoughts and ideas.
I’m going to be honest with you, writing this blog post about self-direction has taken, well, a lot of self-direction. I’m a busy person with agendas to develop, meetings to attend, reading to do… and it’s been really easy to put other work ahead of this post. What’s a Professional Development Coordinator to do?
I’m well versed in the language of the transferable skills and I know that self-direction requires taking initiative, managing learning goals, and persevering when the going gets tough. But somehow, those concepts weren’t helping me.
So I’m going to take some lessons from the 6th graders at Ludlow Elementary School. They’ve been building self-awareness around self-direction under the guidance of their teacher, Heidi Baitz.
First, some context
Ludlow Elementary and the entire Two Rivers Supervisory Union have adopted the Essential Skills and Dispositions framework as their transferable skill model.
Created by the Center for Innovation in Education and the Educational Policy Improvement Center. Authors: Sarah Collins Lench, Erin Fukuda, and Ross Anderson.
This framework targets four skills: Communication, Collaboration, Creativity, and Self-Direction, and goes into great depth into the components, development, and interpersonal and intrapersonal nature of the skill in action.
Here are the components of Self-Direction:
Lench, S., Fukuda, E., & Anderson, R. (2015). Essential skills and dispositions: Developmental frameworks for collaboration, creativity, communication, and self-direction. Lexington, KY: Center for Innovation in Education at the University of Kentucky
It’s a complicated framework that takes some time to fully understand and actualize. And while these are not meant to be linear, self-awareness is a great entry point.
Starting with self-awareness (and then self-direction)
While self-direction seems like something students would have to do alone, Heidi began with the whole group in order to scaffold the learning: reflecting as a group on elements of self-direction before moving to individual reflections. And she wanted to make this process visible, so she made a class game board to monitor their progress.
Students chose an image to represent themselves and they chose a collective image to represent the class. As they developed self-awareness they moved their pieces up the path.
Reflecting on strengths and limitations
The class began with a strengths-based approach, asking the group to reflect on their work and identify their strengths as a class. At the end of a learning activity she would ask them:
What are our class strengths?
When do we do our best work?
These students are great at hands-on learning. Opportunities to move their bodies help them do their best learning. And they learn well when the expectations are clear.
Strengths go hand in hand with limitations, and she allowed the class opportunities to reflect on these as well:
What are our challenges?
When did we struggle or lose focus?
When students have side conversations or talk over each other, they lose focus and don’t learn as well. A little silliness is okay, but a lot of silliness makes it hard for the group to learn together. And if they aren’t interested in the work at hand, it is hard to stay engaged.
After many opportunities to debrief their learning in this way, the class had a pretty thoughtful list of strengths and limitations AND they were familiar with how to reflect in this way. Their new skills in group-awareness could be applied to themselves – they were ready to reflect on their own personal strengths and challenges.
I’m ready to reflect on mine too! My limitations: I struggle with writing a first draft. Getting words on the page is the first step for me, but I agonize over choosing the right ones. My inner critic won’t let me be! And my strengths: I compose best when I’m moving: walking, running, cross country skiing. As I move my body my thoughts flow. And I benefit from a thought partner, someone to think aloud with.
When it comes to self-directed learning, what are your strengths and limitations?
Moving from self-awareness to evaluation
After Heidi’s students reflected on their personal strengths and challenges, Heidi asked them to evaluate themselves on specific skills self-directed learners practice:
This focused their attention on the specific areas they can leverage in their learning and on those they might seek to improve.
Intrapersonal AND interpersonal
Remember how the Essential Skills and Dispositions framework focuses on the intrapersonal as well as the interpersonal? Heidi asked her students to do this too by sharing their strengths and limitations within the learning community. They each hold a piece of the classroom puzzle, learning from each others’ strengths and offering support for growth. Students shared their self-reflections in the form of puzzle pieces.
Another lesson for me from these 6th graders: when you face your own limitations, reach out to someone with strengths in those areas. I asked a friend with a strong blog writing voice (looking at you Emily Hoyler) to talk through my ideas for this post and get some feedback. And it worked!
Who do you look to for support when you face a limitation?
Identifying motivations
Now that her students were aware of their strengths and limitations, Heidi moved them to reflect on what drives them to learn. Again, starting as a class before moving to individual work, they brainstormed the things that motivate them. Curiosity, recess, grades, a sense of accomplishment, getting to go outside… they were motivated by a wide range of things.
As a class, they sorted these into different categories, and they did the same for their personal motivations. One student found that he could group his motivations into two categories: inside motivators and outside motivators. Another student sorted hers by whether they are things she experiences alone or with others.
This sorting process was another step on the scaffold to deeper understanding.
What motivates me to write this blog post? Several things! I’m excited to share the interesting work Heidi and the 6th graders at Ludlow Elementary School are doing. And I find it satisfying to organize my thinking in a way that others can understand. Perhaps someone will give me a prize, too? Just kidding, I’m all about the intrinsic motivation of doing my best to show off the important work of Vermont teachers!
What motivates you?
Aspirations for the win!
Ludlow Elementary 6th graders had done a ton of reflecting. Now they were ready to aspire! (Don’t you just love to aspire? I do!) Again Heidi began with some group work: brainstorming aspirations and thinking out loud about whether or not these aspirations were achievable.
Personally, I aspire to be as awesome as Lizzo. Winning a Grammy for a singing performance seems highly unachievable given my fear of singing in public. On the other hand, being an outspoken LGBTQ+ ally is achievable if I educate myself and speak up in the face of homophobia and transphobia. But, back to our 6th grade mentors…
And what do I aspire to, besides being more like Lizzo? I aspire to helping teachers develop educatoinal practices that help ALL students learn and grow. And also to be better about meeting my deadlines…
What do you aspire to?
WOOP there it is!
All of this reflection on self-direction has led to some pretty self-aware students. And self-aware students are primed for goal setting. Heidi’s students are using WOOP goals to identify their Wishes, Outcomes, Obstacles, and Plans.
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They are creating goals and plans that are informed by their evaluations of their aspirations, strengths, challenges, and motivations. Now that is self-direction!
A celebration of self-direction
As for me, my wish was to write a coherent blog post about self-direction. I’m grateful to Heidi’s students for providing these examples, but also for helping me to identify my obstacles and develop a plan to meet that goal.
What do you wish for?
Fostering self-direction is a process
Self-directed learners leverage so many skills: taking responsibility for learning, setting and managing goals, developing strategies that help them learn, taking initiative, channeling their motivation… Self-awareness is critical to their ability to do these things. Developing awareness of strengths and limitations, interests and motivations, dreams and aspirations is an ongoing process, one that contributes to the ability to demonstrate self-direction in and out of the classroom.
How are you fostering self-awareness in your classroom?
As for Heidi Baitz’s 6th graders, their next area of focus is on Initiative and Ownership, and I’m certain they will continue to grow their self-awareness as they reflect on these aspects of self-direction.
Question generation is key to inquiry, goal-setting, and negotiated curriculum. And asking the right kinds of questions pushes students further. They need to know how to ask questions that lead toward deeper learning and effective goal-setting. Meanwhile, teachers need to be skilled at asking questions in a way that leads to deeper learning *for all*.
It’s a small ask, right?
Let’s look at some strategies to help learners with this skill.
We just held the Best. In-service. Ever. And all it took was a little love & empathy.
Some in-service professional development days are better than others. Sometimes, we get to be active learners and receive just-in-time instruction (and maybe even the gift of time to apply that learning for the benefit of our students).
Other times, we find ourselves really far down that Facebook feed as a well-intentioned presenter discusses best practices with us while simultaneously killing us by PowerPoint. (That can’t be best practice, right?)
And sometimes, it’s the Best. In-service. Ever.
The best in-service doesn’t happen by accident. It happens with careful consideration of the needs of the humans whose professional skills we are developing.
So we did that.
I am fortunate to be part of a stellar team of Innovation Coaches in the Greater Rutland County Supervisory Union (GRCSU). The coaching team has taken on the role of planning in-service for the 8 schools in the supervisory union.
How we did it
This fall, we planned what turned out to be a sublime day of learning & growth for our teachers.
And they loved it. I mean really loved it.
Do you want to know why? Because we asked them what they wanted and then we gave it to them. It wasn’t rocket science! (But there was a 3D printer.)
We’ve all sat through that PD session that was completely irrelevant to our practice. Perhaps it covered things we’re already doing, or maybe it was completely impractical to implement. To avoid this #PDfail, we began the planning process by surveying staff to ask what their needs were. Questions like:
What outside expertise would be most helpful?
Who do you most want to collaborate with?
What topics or themes would you like to see addressed?
Is there a workshop you would like to offer?
What do you hope to get out of the day?
They also asked staff to rank the importance of the following in-service activities:
sharing & celebration
collaborative work time
expert input/workshops
individual work time
cross-school sharing
tech help
Kind of Captain Obvious, right? Who better to identify the learning needs than the learners!
Then, we used that data to design a self-directed day of professional learning. We created workshops and fireside chats (or invited in-house or outside experts to come to facilitate). We also arranged a pop-up for Makerspace, and set up an “Innovation Hub” where teachers could come for tech help or to find a thinking partner. And there were cookies, but I’ll get to that later.
It was all about community & collaboration
One of the best parts about in-service is usually the coffee hour and socializing. Why? Because we rarely get to spend time with the other adults we do this work with. Many a brilliant collaboration has emerged from that chance encounter by the muffin platter.
Got so much work done at the #GRCSU inservice today. What a great opportunity to collaborate with @happiest2ndgra1 on our "Research Buddy" project! Just wish the people next door were a little less raucous @ProctorSchool… #VTed
So we designed the day to offer plenty of opportunities for folks to connect and collaborate.
Teachers began the day with breakfast. Fortified by caffeine, sugar, and carbs, they then headed off to homerooms which were facilitated by a teacher-leader from their school. Homerooms provided an orientation to the day, an opportunity to set learning goals, and time to plan a choose-your-own-adventure agenda with teammates.
Some teachers spent the day in their homeroom working with colleagues, others ventured out to workshops and fireside chats, still others found cross-school partners to collaborate with. After a day of learning, teams met back in homeroom to close the day with reflection and offer feedback on the day.
And perhaps most importantly, we let teachers be the professionals they are…and showed them some love
Ultimately what made this day most successful was the gift of autonomy. In most cases, teachers know what they need to do. They just need the time to do it.
This day allowed teachers to build their own agenda, anticipated their needs, and provided the resources to meet those needs. Teachers had the choice of whether to attend workshops or spend their time learning and collaborating in other ways. There were also cookies.
And the cookies were important. You really must read those lovely signs that accompanied the apples and cookies. You won’t be sorry.
And check out the mood lighting in the fireside chats! This created a lovely ambiance for rich and invigorating conversations. And there was sa nack & coffee bar that was open all day- because humans who work all day need sustenance. And chocolate. Lots of chocolate.
The coaches took care of the teachers so that the teachers could do their work. And it was a rousing success.
But you don’t have to take my word for it.
Here are a few highlights from the exit ticket:
“Really liked the format of in-service. I felt that it was the perfect blend of structure versus self-direction. I went to the WeVideo and LGBTQ fireside chats. Both were exceptional! My only wish was more time to attend different fireside chats.”
“I loved that people could actually work with the people they need to collaborate with to get work done that they needed to get done.”
“I really loved the self-directed setup. I was able to go to things that I specifically needed, rather than being fed a bunch of information that does not pertain to me.”
“Time to just work and collaborate was AMAZING! I feel like I was able to get so much accomplished, and was able to collaborate with folks I usually don’t get to work with. Please, please, please let’s do this again!!!!!!!!”
“I really enjoyed having the flexibility to work on my needs, and having multiple schools in the building to work with various people across the district.”
“Loved that it was self-directed! I also loved the TLC in the library (cookies, snacks, drinks, etc. very thoughtful!).”
“I really enjoyed how flexible today was. I feel like today was the most beneficial in-service we’ve had in a long time. I was able to be very productive. I spoke with a lot of people that I normally would not be able to collaborate with.”
What was the best in-service you’ve ever attended? What made it so special?
A trio of students at Crossett Brook Middle School, in Duxbury VT, have spent the past two years building a go-cart. When their first cart snapped in half on its maiden voyage, the students took that incident as a challenge, and the next year, they figured out what had gone wrong, and better yet, what would make it go right.
Every teacher should consider making time for Genius Hour (sometimes called 20% time or Passion Projects). We know that when students are given the opportunity to explore their own topics, they gain skills in self-direction.
But I’ve come to believe that the ideal Genius Hour involves as much of the school as possible. Here’s what it could look like.
Art is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination”. To teach children that expression or application sounds like a lofty endeavor. But that is exactly what art teachers do in our schools every day.
If art is the expression of creativity and imagination, then we need new models. Because art is about voice and originality. There is no right and wrong way to express your vision and creation.
You heard me. Set aside classroom time to let your students design their learning. If you’re not quite ready for a full-on Genius Hour (where each individual student pursues their own learning passion), think about dipping a toe in the water by giving groups of students the space to create and implement learning activities for the rest of the class.
Let’s look at how it’s working for one math class down at The Dorset School, in Dorset, VT.
Something about this book title and summer reading fits perfectly. The open ocean, pirates, and fierce independence. I’m hoping you have a bit of time to settle into some reading for fun and some that inspires you in the classroom to have students take on more leadership and develop their own independence.
Passion-based research goes by many different names; 20% Time and Genius Hour are just two different terms that describe school projects that center upon personal inquiry and innovation to spark motivation in students.
For the past several years, students in my 7th grade social studies classes have engaged in 20 Time. Based on a framework employed by such innovative employers as Google, GE, Skype, and Apple, this four-month, decentralized unit provides students with 20% of their class time, or one day per week, to develop, research, design, test, and refine a project on a topic of their own choosing.
When applied within the classroom, this opportunity is meant to increase student engagement, independence, and responsibility, while allowing me to model explicit research and design skills, to provide an environment of entrepreneurship, and to give students access to feedback from authentic, real world audiences.
Curating lists of online resources for deep dives into content research
We have been spending much of our time here at the Tarrant Institute exploring the idea of what engagement looks like in a learning environment where access to resources is ubiquitous, where learning can and does take place anytime, anywhere. That is why when Lisa Nielsen’s Learning without Teachers, Textbooks, or Tests – a Case Study, crossed my personal learning network (PLN), I perked up.
Don’t get me wrong, I have no interest in exploring a world with no teachers, but I could imagine one without the other two Ts in her title. I am interested in guiding others with robust examples of self-directed learning, or as Nielsen puts it, real-life learning ventures.
In this episode, we talk with math educator and STEM Academy leader Lea Ann Smith about Essex High School’s STEM Academy and take a look inside a program that lets students pursue projects in medicine, engineering, computer science, mathematics or biology — by working with community partners during the school day.
A trio of students at Crossett Brook Middle School, in Duxbury VT, have spent the past two years building a go-cart. When their first cart snapped in half on its maiden voyage, the students took that incident as a challenge, and the next year, they figured out what had gone wrong, and better yet, what would make it go right.
Every teacher should consider making time for Genius Hour (sometimes called 20% time or Passion Projects). We know that when students are given the opportunity to explore their own topics, they gain skills in self-direction.
Art is “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination”. To teach children that expression or application sounds like a lofty endeavor. But that is exactly what art teachers do in our schools every day.
Something about 
In this episode, we talk with math educator and STEM Academy leader Lea Ann Smith about Essex High School’s STEM Academy and take a look inside a program that lets students pursue projects in medicine, engineering, computer science, mathematics or biology — by working with community partners during the school day.