Engaging Learners - A Reflection

Reflection Leads to Improvement
As I reflect on the past school year and contemplate the upcoming school year, I’ve been thinking about how to make learning more meaningful for students.  If we can make learning purposeful, the children in our classrooms will dive in wholeheartedly.  

Like most typical students, my middle schooler often grumbles as she’s completing homework, “Why do I need to learn this?  When will I ever use this?”  If our students don’t find value in what they are learning, some will learn in spite of us; they have an intrinsic motivation to learn and will put forth their best effort to somehow make meaning themselves.  Some might put forth minimal effort to complete the assignments, so they can procure a decent grade on their report card.  Seeing no value in the assignments, some might not engage at all.  But, if we can bring lessons to life, we can lure all students into investing in their education.  Using the best instructional practices, we can make this a reality. 

Problem-based learning

Problem-based learning reels students in by presenting them with a real-life they must investigate and work collaboratively to solve.  This might mean going into the community or beyond to find answers to questions.  It might also mean presenting solutions within or beyond the community.  Engaged in critical and creative thinking, students are working hard, applying skills and strategies that show their mastery of the content standards, and taking pride and ownership in their learning.

Genius Hour

Opportunities to explore a passion creates relevance and promotes student ownership for learning.  As students set goals around their passion investigations, research, and create ways to share their knowledge, they are also demonstrating their mastery of content standards.  

Personalized Learning

Using Playlists or the Grid Method or even Flipped Learning, students make choices about how they learn best.  Students are still meeting the learning targets, they just have some say in how they engage in that work.

There are so many ways to go about making learning more meaningful for students.  As I dug into resources for these instructional strategies, I discovered a few common threads.

For students:

Skills are steeped in real life situations

Multi-disciplinary skills are needed to engage in the work

Students invest in themselves through goal setting and reflection

Work quality improves when there is an authentic audience

Communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity develop

For teachers:

Time is needed

Planning ahead is critical

Determining learning targets is essential

Collaborating with others results in better experiences for students 

With the goals of increasing student ownership, advancing mastery, and making learning more relevant, I’m making the commitment to myself and my students to make learning more meaningful.