Work in Progress!

Our work with students is not done, its work in progress!

We always need to be looking for ways to challenge them and help them reach their capacity as citizens and as learners. We need to continue to raise the bar and providing them with the support to reach it. This doesn't mean making things harder for students, but rather providing them with opportunities to learn and grow in new and challenging ways.

There are many ways to begin to see students become more actively engaged and contributing citizens of our world, this can include encouraging students to engage, have a voice, be collaborative, supporting curiosity and boldness, to enhance our student's creativity and reflectiveness. This is not an exhaustive list; however, some educators may feel exhausted by it. 

Just breathe!

Encouraging students to be engaged in their learning is something many of us already do. This means giving them opportunities to participate in discussions, ask questions, and share their ideas (Bolkan, Goodboy & Griffin, 2011). It also means creating a classroom environment where students feel safe and supported to take risks and try new things. The essential ingredient though is our intentionality and willingness to experiment with our practice beyond the text book or methods that we do automatically.

Giving students a voice means listening to their ideas and concerns, and valuing their input (Taylor & Robinson, 2009). It also means giving them choice in the pathway of learning and offering them opportunities to share their work with others, both inside and outside of the classroom.

Collaboration is a valuable skill that students will need in the workforce beyond the classroom. To help students develop this skill, we need to create opportunities for them to work together on projects, tasks and assignments. This will help them learn how to communicate effectively, solve problems, and compromise (Webb, 2009). It also aides them to analyse the data and articulate their understandings to others.

To encourage students to be curious and bold presents them opportunities to explore their interests and take risks. It also means teaching them how to think critically and solve problems independently (Ostroff, 2016). 

Creativity and reflectiveness are two other important skills we need to assist students to develop. As we go through our teaching and learning cycles there is a desideratum to create opportunities for students to be creative and to reflect on their learning. Without this element the knowledge remains as information that is not applied but as Bloom (1956) and Hattie (2009) have displayed when applied it has significant impact on the learning outcome students can have.

As we reshape our learning to focus on understanding, thinking and capabilities rather than content, our students are equipped with some of the necessary tools and character they need to thrive as an actively engaged global citizen in and beyond our school contexts.

Stay the course!

References:

Bloom, B. (1956). Bloom’s taxonomy.

Bolkan, S., Goodboy, A. K., & Griffin, D. J. (2011). Teacher leadership and intellectual stimulation: Improving students' approaches to studying through intrinsic motivation. Communication Research Reports, 28(4), 337-346.

Hattie, J. (2009). Visible learning: A synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to achievement. Routledge.

Ostroff, W. L. (2016). Cultivating curiosity in K-12 classrooms: How to promote and sustain deep learning. ASCD.

Taylor, C., & Robinson, C. (2009). Student voice: Theorising power and participation. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 17(2), 161-175.

Webb, N. M. (2009). The teacher's role in promoting collaborative dialogue in the classroom. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 79(1), 1-28.