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Belonging in the Classroom - a mini-course for teachers

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Belonging in the Classroom - a mini-course for teachers

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When students feel like they belong in school, they are more motivated, engaged, and ultimately show higher performance. In this course, you will learn about belonging, why it's important, and belonging strategies for your classroom.

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Mindset Kit - Belonging for Educators Course

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When students feel like they belong in school, they are more motivated, engaged, and ultimately show higher performance. In this course, you will learn about belonging, why it's important, and belonging strategies for your classroom.

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7 Things Teachers Say to Create a Supportive Classroom

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7 Things Teachers Say to Create a Supportive Classroom

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There's no way for a teacher to get through a whole school year without blurting out the wrong thing a few times. Difficult mornings sometimes become insufferable afternoons, and kids of all ages know how to press adults' buttons. When you do slip up, extend yourself some grace.

The good news? You can prepare to be supportive, and even practice before you step into the classroom. "One of the hardest things I had to do was learn how to change my 'teacher' language so that I could encourage and empower students on a daily basis," confides sixth-grade teacher Alyssa Nucaro. In time, she concluded that " using powerful and effective teacher language takes a lot of practice and awareness."

For professor of English education and former elementary and secondary teacher Todd Finley, being mindful about supportive language means surveying students about how they like to receive praise. Do they prefer "receiving acknowledgments via private or public oral communication? Do they want personal notes or notes home?" Finley even recommends that teachers keep track of who has received positive feedback: "Chart who you've praised so you can spread the love evenly," he says.

Being intentional and reflective about the way you deploy language is the key. You can start by imagining common classroom scenarios that call for the thoughtful use of language-delivering hard feedback after considerable student effort, for example, or discussing academic or behavioral struggles-and walk through your responses mentally to make sure you hit the right notes. To find more advice on the productive use of language, we combed through teacher comments and articles by experienced educators to identify phrases that empower learners and create a supportive environment.

7 Phrases to Keep in Mind for Regular Use

1. "I believe in you." Teachers are required to correct papers, hand out grades, and at times chastise poor behavior. That power dynamic can subtly undermine students' self-confidence. Saying "I believe in you" is a powerful way to redress the imbalance and remind kids that you are there first and foremost to help and to serve-and that at the root of all of your feedback is an abiding belief in their uniqueness and their potential.

Finding language that blends constructive criticism with faith in the student's ability can be delicate, but being straightforward generally works. In a seminal study in The Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, when teachers used language like "I have high expectations" for an essay, for example, but "I know you can reach them," the number of kids who submitted revisions doubled, from 40 percent to 80 percent.

2. "We missed you." Instead of asking, "Where were you?" which can carry a note of suspicion-or simply sound like prying-try to respond to a student's absence with a more positive twist. Say "We really missed you yesterday" to signal that you thought about the student when they weren't there and to underscore that they are a valuable contributor to the classroom community.

3. "I'm listening." Used as both a confirmation and an invitation-for example, as an open-ended prompt when a student looks troubled or starts to feel frustrated-the phrase "I'm listening" signals that there is space and respect for student voice in your classroom.

Experienced educators in our community are keen to remind fellow teachers not to jump in to fill the silence too quickly. Refrain from speaking directly after an "I'm listening," and pair the phrase with body language-eye contact if the student is amenable to it, for example-that invites them to fill the vacuum and speak their mind.

4. "Oops, I made a mistake." There are a thousand ways to say you messed up. Saying "That's a real whopper!" or "I can't believe I did that again!" can even convey the idea that academic or social miscues can be both frequent and humorous.

In several threads on Edutopia 's social media feeds, teachers emphasized that a certain comfort level with errors is essential to academic resilience in students. To reinforce this idea with their students, many educators weave preplanned mistakes into their lessons, stop to acknowledge and praise the thinking behind a student's creative error, or pepper their instruction with references to epic mistakes that they've made themselves. While mistakes are never the objective, academic progress always involves failure-and actively challenging the taboo against academic error by saying "I made a mistake," in whatever form you prefer, should be a regular occurrence in your classroom.

5. "We'll figure it out together." This deceptively simple phrase, suggested by teacher Ashley Oweazim in a recent Edutopia Instagram post, is more profound than it seems. In classrooms, where instruction tends to flow in one direction, collaborative language that positions the teacher and student as partners and co-learners flips the script and is subversive in all the right ways.

Students who are struggling with a concept and hear you say "We'll figure it out together" retain a sense of agency, are reminded that even teachers need help, and are encouraged to think of themselves as competent, equal participants in a problem-solving exercise.

6. "You've really improved..." and "I really admire..." Feedback that is specific, measured, and focused on a student's process or effort is motivating and actionable. But it also requires that teachers be attentive to the intricacies of a student's learning journey.

When teachers notice and then articulate areas of academic progress by saying "You've really improved on your descriptive writing-I loved the way you described your family in this story," for example, they signal that learning is a tangible, ongoing process powered by effort and persistence.

7. "I'm sorry." Saying "I'm sorry" can be a bitter pill. It's a frank admission of wrongdoing, and in classroom settings it can feel like ceding authority and thus losing ground in the struggle for discipline and focus. But a judicious use of "I'm sorry" also models one of the most powerful-and rarest-acts of civility and instantly humanizes the relationship between teachers and students. A simple, heartfelt "I'm sorry," recommended by middle school teacher Haley Luckenbill in our Instagram post, instills trust, signals respect for the receiver, and makes you more accessible.

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7 Things Teachers Say to Create a Supportive Classroom

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There's no way for a teacher to get through a whole school year without blurting out the wrong thing a few times. Difficult mornings sometimes become insufferable afternoons, and kids of all ages know how to press adults' buttons. When you do slip up, extend yourself some grace. The good news?

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Building Classroom Community Through Daily Dedications

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Building Classroom Community Through Daily Dedications

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Building Classroom Community Through Daily Dedications

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Keeping Routines Crisp - Responsive Classroom

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Keeping Routines Crisp - Responsive Classroom

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First Day of School excerpt: Signal for Quiet

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28 Ways Peers Can Support Students With Disabilities

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28 Ways Peers Can Support Students With Disabilities

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How To Teach Flexibility - The Autism Helper

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How To Teach Flexibility - The Autism Helper

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When we first began to suspect that my oldest son, Greyson, had some kind of developmental delay, I examined his behavior as if it was under a microscope. What does that mean? Is he doing that because he has autism or because he's two? I wanted to understand him, and support him as best as I could. I just didn't feel equipped to do that because so many things caused him tears and anger.

An autism diagnosis often demands predictability and routine. This is something I try to consistently provide for my boys. In our life, we honor those needs with advance notice of changes in schedule, predictable routines, visual supports and a home environment that is predictable.

However, the world is anything but predictable. (Um- I'm looking at you Covid-19). Places close, restaurants run out of things, schedules change, people get sick, cherished things break. So- how do we factor those things into an autistics environment? There is no one size fits all when it comes to anything in autism. Some autistics may not struggle with inconsistency and lack of routine. Cool. But for those who do- I want to share some things we do to help us deal with rigid thinking and change.

#1 - Is This Something That Needs To Change? Let's be real- I am a creature of habit and I capital L love my routines. When I stop to think about it- boy do I have a lot. I like to drink my coffee out of my favorite Yeti metal mug. I prefer to drink my water from a plastic Starbucks cup with ice. I usually paint my nails on Thursdays, clean my toilets on Fridays, and go grocery shopping on Sundays. Some of the things I do because it makes most sense schedule wise to do it on that day. However, lots of things I do because "that's just how I do it." In teaching flexibility/busting rigidity- does that mean you look for all routines and change them constantly? Heck no. We are all comforted by familiarity, and it also makes the world work like a well-oiled machine. We need consistency. Imagine your boss tells you- I'll just call you every morning and let you know if you need to come into work for that day- each day. Ummmm- NO THANKS. That's not realistic. It's not functional. It won't work for most people on a consistent basic. Back at the beginning of parenting a child with autism- I first tried everything I could to honor my son's needs for things to be a particular way. GOD FORBID the banana broke when I was peeling it (I grabbed a new one! Don't worry- I'll try again I would say, nervously praying banana #2 didn't break too.) Broken cookies created tears and were immediately exchanged for perfectly round cookies. You only want to drink from the sippy cup that's blue with a picture of a car on the outside (that is no longer carried in any store) NO PROBLEM- I'll just wash it after every use and pray we don't leave it anywhere by mistake. Honoring these rigidities gave me so much anxiety because the need for same gave my son so much anxiety. Plus, sometimes the last cookie breaks, and bananas get brown spots and favorite cups break. When this did happen the terror in my son's eyes was tangible.

The more I honored these rigid needs- the more they showed up in our life and the more I realized that living this way is not realistic and ultimately causing more stress on my son- not less. After a lot of research and discussions with our BCBA, I was able to see the difference between routines that brought function and needed consistency in our life- and what rigidities/routines that brought my son stress if something can't be exactly the way his mind needed it to be.

Waking up on Saturday, and staying in pajamas all day sometimes- absolutely.

The hall bathroom door needing to be open at ALL TIMES- not so much.

Only using one swing at the park, regardless if someone else is on it- NO.

Only wanting to wear one specific shirt- NO.

Preferring to wear (multiple different) white shirts- Why not? My closest is full of neutrals.

#2 Now What? If it doesn't need to be changed, awesome. Not all quests for consistency and same is bad. Sometimes my boys will be watching/scripting/reenacting certain movies or focusing a narrow range of special interests for a period of time. So what? We use that to help teach concepts and keep learning engaging. When Parker was into the Statue of Liberty- we read about it, got books about it, watched videos on it, and even dressed like it.

It didn't negatively affect our life. Special interests can be a great strength in many opportunities. But if lack of flexibility does create a negative impact? Read on. First- ensure that there aren't any underlying medical issues that need to be addressed by a professional. In addition to autism, a student may have OCD or an anxiety disorder separate from autism which can have some overlap in these areas. Taylor an intervention based on the WHY you think the behavior is occurring. This may take time to fully understand. (Is it sensory? I.e.- the one t-shirt they want to wear is the only shirt that is soft cotton or doesn't have tags?) Behind every behavior- there is a reason WHY it occurs. Trying to manipulate a behavior without understanding the why isn't fair to do. Understand that rigid thinking has been a protective mechanism in their life, and work to teach them how to be more flexible overall.

#3 Proactively Teach Flexibility. There are many ways to do this- one is by simply modeling flexibility in your own life. "I was really hoping to go to TJ Maxx today, but since I don't have time I'll go a different day." Flexibility is not my middle name, so this takes work for me too. We cannot expect our children to change their behavior if we are never willing to change our own. Another thing I like to do can be categorized as "planned sabotage." Chances are there are frequently opportunities to practice change throughout your day. Make up new rules for a familiar game. Change your spot at the kitchen table. Park in different parking spaces, take different routes to familiar places, rotate favorite cups/shirts/shoes etc. Also- when able, when preparing for a change- we use accommodations to make change easier- things like visual schedules, and warnings of upcoming changes.

Temple Grandin PhD, is one of the most well-known autistic adults, and she shared four steps for helping autistic children learn flexibility:

Maintain a variety of activities in a variety of environments. Go to different public parks, at different times, on different days. At home, offer finger paints, a sand box, swing set, building blocks and stuffed toys. The more experiences a child can have, the better. "When I was little, my nanny made my sister and me do a variety of activities," she said. "This prevented rigid behavior patterns from forming."

Alter routines. Grandin illustrated this concept with a story about cattle. "Cattle that are always fed from the red truck by Jim may panic if Sally pulls up in a white truck." By altering routines slightly children with autism learn to accept variation in their schedule. For instance, parents can have children brush teeth before bath one day, after bath the next. If you went to the library after lunch last Tuesday, go before lunch this Wednesday.

Use visual metaphors. Grandin described a metaphor of mixing colors to illustrate concepts that may not have a "right" or "wrong" answer. For instance, a friend may be very nice one day, and not so friendly the next. Grandin visualized white and black paint being mixed together. On the day when the friend was nice, the paint was nearly white. On the not so nice day, the paint was dark gray.

Show that categories can change. Children with autism may put something in one group, and not be cognizant that it can also belong with another group. For instance, a blue cup may be used for drinking in the kitchen. However, it can also be used in the bath to rinse shampoo out of hair. In another situation the same blue cup might be used outside in the sand box as a toy. If a child with autism thinks a blue cup belongs only in the kitchen, she may become confused or upset if she sees it in a different environment.

Learning skills to increase flexibility can create more stress in the short term, but can significantly decrease future anxiety and increase independence.

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How to Teach Flexibility - The Autism Helper

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When we first began to suspect that my oldest son, Greyson, had some kind of developmental delay, I examined his behavior as if it was under a microscope. What does that mean? Is he doing that because he has autism or because he's two?

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To Engage Students, Give Them Meaningful Choices In The Classroom

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To Engage Students, Give Them Meaningful Choices In The Classroom

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It's important to give students influence over how and what they learn in the classroom. But not all choices are equal. Teachers should structure learning scenarios that equip students with opportunities to strengthen their autonomy, competence, and relatedness.
Giving student real choices in the classroom - having to do with the material they study, the assignments they complete, the peers with whom they work, and so on - can boost their engagement and motivation, allow them to capitalize on their strengths, and enable them to meet their individual learning needs. But, like most teaching strategies, the structuring of choices for students can go very well, and it can go very badly - the nuances make all the difference.

Teachers need to understand how individuals and groups of students are likely to respond to any given opportunity to make consequential choices about the goals, activities, and experiences they wish to pursue in the classroom. To illustrate, we describe three cases in which high school mathematics teachers presented their students with choices. (Although these three vignettes feature secondary math classrooms, we argue that their lessons can generalize to other settings and subject areas.) We begin with the case of Ms. R, who found that when she gave her students a specific choice to make, she saw noticeably improved engagement in learning. Next, we describe the case of Ms. C, who provided a similar choice to her students but was disappointed with their response. We then discuss the ways in which students' feelings determined how they responded to the given choices, and we describe a third case, which illustrates how teachers can structure choices that are likely to support student engagement.
The Case of Ms. R - Choice improving student engagement
Once a week, Ms. R gave students in her Algebra I class a choice of activities to work on. On these "work days," as students called them, Ms. R offered a set of three to four activities. Each student could select the activity that featured the skill that they thought they needed to work on the most. Before implementing these work days, Ms. R was concerned that students might not use their time wisely, so she made sure to give them plenty of work to do, including supplemental practice problems.

Initially, when she introduced the work days, students found it difficult to choose an activity. Ms. R believed this was because students had little experience making choices in school, and they were in the habit of letting their teachers make all the decisions. Thus, she made it a priority to teach them, explicitly, how to choose an appropriate activity.

By the third week, students were comfortable selecting activities and were productive in their work. Ms. R was pleasantly surprised to observe that her students spent more time helping each other and even policing each other's behavior, calling out peers whose behavior was distracting or who weren't being productive. Overall, she found that students knew what they needed to work on and when they needed help, and they used their time accordingly. This meant students spent more time on-task and asked for her help less often. As a result, Ms. R. was able to spend more time checking on students' progress and helping those who genuinely needed her assistance. Ms. R was happy to learn she could trust students to make positive choices.
The Case of Ms. C - Choice not improving student engagement
In her Algebra I class, Ms. C offered a choice activity that appeared to similar to the one that Ms. R offered, only the result was quite different. During a unit on inequalities, she presented students with four problem sets (each consisting of eight problems), each one pegged to a certain level of difficulty. They should each choose one or two problems from two of the four levels, she explained, advising students to choose problems based on their self-assessment of their readiness for each level.

By the end of class, Ms. C was disappointed with her students. Most were treating the problems like busywork, rushing through them without giving them much thought. Further, most students picked problems from the easiest two levels, even though Ms. C knew that some of them were ready to work at levels three and four.

What makes choices engaging? Autonomy, competence, and relatedness Judging by the research literature on choice in the classroom, itǯs not unusual to see the very different outcomes experienced by Ms. R and Ms. C - some studies show that choice positively influences student motivation and learning (e.g., Assor, Kaplan, & Roth, 2002), while others indicate that choice has either no or even a negative effect (e.g.,D'Ailly, 2004). To explain these conflicting outcomes, psychologists Idit Katz and Avi Assor (2006) have argued that what matters most isn't the kind of choice given to students but, rather, how students perceive the choice provided to them: When students associate feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness with choice, then choice is most likely to result in beneficial outcomes, such as student engagement.

Students feel autonomous when they understand the value or relevance of a task, particularly if they believe that the task aligns with their values, interests, and goals. It comes not just from participating in the process of choosing but, rather, from having a sense that the choice is personally meaningful. Students must see real differences in the importance or relevance of the choices at hand, and they must find at least one option to be worth choosing. In short, while Ms. R and Ms. C each gave students a choice of tasks, there was something about the set of choices that Ms. R created that made her students feel that those choices were meaningfully different. Evidently, Ms. C's students did not feel this way.
Competence
Students feel competent when they believe they know what to do to be successful and feel capable of mastering challenges. To engender competence, students must perceive choosing the task and doing the selected work as appropriately difficult. When people are confronted with too many choices or believe the selection process is too complex, they opt for an easier choice method such as choosing a default, choosing randomly, choosing not to choose, or letting someone else choose for them. Teachers, then, must make the selection process appropriate for students in terms of the number of choices and the ways in which students are expected to choose.

Students feel competent when they believe they know what to do to be successful and feel capable of mastering challenges.

Ms. R provided only three to four choices, she was explicit with her students that they choose activities they felt would best address their learning needs, and she made a point of providing explicit instruction in how to make good choices. In contrast, Ms. C told students to choose two out of four problem levels and then one to two problems out of eight problems in each level. This required two stages of choice, and it wasn't clear that students knew how to make a good choice at either of those stages. It seem likely that they were overwhelmed by the range of choices at hand, so they opted for the easiest choices they could make.

The other part of engendering competence is that students must be able to choose tasks that are appropriately challenging. That is, possible tasks should not all be too easy or too hard. In Ms. R's case, students appeared able to find tasks that engaged them and that they could successfully complete on their own or with help from peers or Ms. R. The problems in Ms. C's packet may have been similarly appropriate but perhaps due to the high cognitive demand of choosing from among 32 problems, most students did not find problems best suited for them.
Relatedness
A sense of relatedness stems from feeling close to people or a sense of belonging in a group. Choice can influence student's feelings of relatedness differently depending on their beliefs. Students with more collectivist beliefs value relationships and making contributions to group efforts and can see individual choice as a threat to group harmony. Students with more hierarchical beliefs value the role of authority figures and can see choice as a threat to acceptance from people in authority, such as teachers. People with individualistic beliefs value personal goals over group goals and tend to value choice as a means of demonstrating independence and expressing individuality. However, choice can undermine a sense of relatedness for students with individualistic beliefs if they perceive their choices could lead to rejection, humiliation, or teasing. Ms. R gave students choices that did not seem to interfere with, and possibly supported, students' sense of relatedness as they worked more closely on "work days" than on other days. But students' sense of relatedness in Ms. C's classroom is not clear because she provided the choice for only one day, and students didn't appear to perceive the choice as supporting autonomy or competence.
Learning from choice outcomes
So, how might Ms. C learn from her disappointing experience in providing choices to her students? First, she could have conjectured why students might not have associated feelings of autonomy, competence, or relatedness with the choice she provided them. Reasoning as described above, she might hypothesize that the process of choice was too complex, and students might not have had good strategies for choosing appropriate problems. To check her thinking and get more ideas, Ms. C could then ask students why they responded to the worksheet as they did. For instance, she might ask:

Why did you pick only levels one and two?

Why did you do only one problem at each level instead of two?

Did you find the problems helpful to do? Why or why not?

What might have made this activity better for you to practice solving problems involving inequalities?

Students are often quite insightful about their learning needs. In talking with students, teachers might find that the fundamental structure of the choice they provided the students was not conducive for students' feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. However, like Ms. R, teachers might find that changing the choice structure is not necessary; instead what is needed is helping students understand the rationale for the choice and how to productively make choices. And, of course, improving choice may involve some combination of changing the choice structure along with educating students about how to use choice to learn.

Students who associate a choice with feeling autonomous, competence, and in relationship with others are more likely to be engaged with the learning.

Next, we provide one more case to show a different choice structure, how this choice related to students' feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and the type of student engagement choice can foster. Student engagement can sometimes be garnered by providing relatively small and simple choices to students. The case of Ms. H illustrates this.
The Case of Ms. H - Small choice, big engagement
Every day, Ms. H prepared two warm-up problems, each with the same mathematical content but situated in different contexts - for example, one problem might have to do with hiking and the other with flying. The two contexts were always on the board, and during the first minute of class, students were allowed to vote for the one that interested them. In order to make sure that they could vote, some students began to arrive to class early, and overall, the number of students who were late went down. The motivation to select a context carried over into actually doing the warm-up problem. According to Ms. H, all students began to actively engage in doing the warm-up, which had not occurred before she began offering students the choice of contexts.

After the first week of voting for the warm-up problem context, students asked Ms. H if they could suggest contexts. Ms. H agreed and students put suggestions in a hat, from which she drew contexts for the next day's warm-up. After two weeks of doing the warm-up voting, Ms. H tried to stop, but students loudly objected, so Ms. H continued providing the choice. Tardies continued to remain low, and student engagement in the warm-up problems remained high.

The success of Ms. H's warm-up context choice can be explained by its influence on students' feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Students' feelings of autonomy were likely fostered because most students found at least one context meaningful to them, which was probably strengthened when students began suggesting contexts. Students likely felt competent making this choice because choosing was relatively simple, and the actual warm-up problem appeared appropriately challenging for most students, as indicated by their level of engagement. The fact that students worked productively on whichever warm-up problem was selected suggests the choice did not interfere with students' sense of relatedness. Thus, Ms. H's experience demonstrates that relatively simple choices can foster the key feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness, and consequently even simple choices can improve student engagement.
Conclusion
Teachers have described to us any number of ways in which they provide choice to students, including giving them opportunities to choose work partners, seating arrangements, homework problems, assessment problems, and ways of being assessed.

Like Ms. R, many teachers are initially concerned that students will not respond well to having choices. Ms. R addressed her concern by making sure to have plenty of work available for students to do; other teachers make it a point to be explicit with students about why they are providing choices, and they request student feedback on whether they value the choice. Whatever strategy they choose, though, teachers can increase the likelihood their students will value choice by analyzing how students associate feelings of autonomy, competence, and relatedness with the choice provided them. While this might take some trial and error, finding the right choice structures for students can be a powerful tool for fostering student engagement.
References
Assor, A., Kaplan, H., & Roth, G. (2002). Choice is good but relevance is excellent: Autonomy affecting teacher behaviors that predict students' engagement in learning. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, 261-278.

D'Ailly, H. (2004). The role of choice in children's learning: A distinctive cultural and gender difference in efficacy, interest, and effort. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 36, 17-29.

Katz, I. & Assor, A. (2007). When choice motivates and when it does not. Educational Psychology Review, 19 (4), 429-444.

Citation: Parker, F., Novak, J, & Bartell, T. (2017). To engage students, give them meaningful choices in the classroom. Phi Delta Kappan 99 (2), 37-41.

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To engage students, give them meaningful choices in the classroom - kappanonline.org

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It's important to give students meaningful choices about how and what they learn. But not all choices are equal.

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Page 6: Create a Structured Classroom

Just as they should be aware of how culture and climate influence behavior, it's important for teachers to consider the structure of their classrooms, including both physical structure (classroom arrangement) and the classroom's day-to-day routines. Creating a structured classroom environment can promote student engagement as well as limit factors that might lead to disruptive behaviors.

Effective Classroom Arrangement

Effective classroom arrangement refers to the placement and organization of the room's physical elements (e.g., seating, materials) to help establish a learning environment that facilitates effective instruction and student growth. Well-designed and organized classroom environments:

Increase academic engagement

Decrease the likelihood of inappropriate student behavior

Facilitate appropriate social interactions among students

Positively affect student performance

For Your Information

Because every classroom has its own individual needs and character, there is no one best way to create a structured learning environment. To effectively structure their classrooms, teachers should keep a number of important considerations in mind, such as:

Student learning needs (e.g., students who learn better in groups, students who prefer visual aids)

Instructional formats (e.g., independent work, group work, class discussion, presentations)

Various seating arrangements (e.g., rows, clusters, U-shape)

Use of classroom and hallway walls (e.g., to display rules, content-specific strategies, word walls, exemplary student work)

Below are a few do's and don'ts for setting up a structured classroom space.

To learn more about effectively organizing the classroom, view these IRIS Case Studies:

Establishing Classroom Routines

When teachers establish classroom routines, they are creating a consistent, predictable sequence of events to help students understand what to expect (and what's expected of them) during class. In both elementary and secondary classrooms, routines are critical to the creation of a classroom environment that maximizes instruction and minimizes disruptive behaviors.

Classroom routines will differ according to the grade levels of students. At the elementary level, routines typically incorporate the entire school day and could include:

Morning meeting

Specials or Related Arts (e.g., art, physical education, music)

Specific routines in content areas (e.g., warm-up activity, guided practice, exit ticket)

Lunch

Recess

Packing up and dismissal

guided practice
Instructional method that involves students practicing previously modeled or taught skills with feedback and support from the teacher.
exit ticket
A tool used at the end of a lesson or class period as a brief formative assessment of student understanding of a topic or skill introduced in class; sometimes referred to as an exit card.

In secondary classrooms, routines can be content-specific (e.g., journal writing in ELA, conjugation practice in Spanish) and are generally established within each unique class period. They can include:

A short activity students complete at the beginning of class to warm-up and review previously taught skills and concepts; also commonly referred to as a bell ringer.
independent practice
Instructional method in which students are encouraged to work on their own or to work separately from the teacher on activities that they are capable of performing without significant assistance.
formative assessment
Ongoing evaluation of student learning during the learning process that provides continuous feedback about performance to both learners and instructors and informs or guides instruction.

Secondary teachers' routines also usually extend over a full week (e.g., vocabulary quiz on Wednesday, discussion on Friday) month (e.g., essay, poster project) or quarter and semester (e.g., unit test).

Keep in Mind

Predictable classroom routines can help to create a sense of calm and order and ease some students' anxiety and related behaviors. Likewise, when routines are not in place there is more opportunity for confusion among students. This often results in disruptive behaviors.

Below are a few do's and don'ts for setting up classroom routines.

Listen as KaMalcris Cottrell and Ashley Lloyd offer examples of how they create a structured classroom environment.

KaMalcris Cottrell
School Behavior Support

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Transcript: KaMalcris Cottrell

I think people underestimate their classroom and that environment before the students even arrive. So I would suggest, I call it my "Two Es with an R": environment, engagement, and the response. Environment would be the physical classroom, the desk, the tables, your learning space, your group space, and to have that laid out in a way that's comfortable and convenient for you to move around the classroom as well as students. The Engagement piece, I will often sit at various spaces in the classroom to see what the students' vantage points will be. Will they be able to see me if they're sitting here? Can they see if I walk here? Maybe I need to adjust a group of desks so they have a better view of the learning piece in the front of the class or even to the side of the classroom. My response, I would invite colleagues into my classroom. How does this feel? How does this look? If I'm standing here and you're sitting there, is this OK? If I'm holding this book and you're here on the carpet, is that a good spot? I would also, once the students are in, be open to their feedback. Not that you have to jump when they say, "I can't see this right away." You make a small adjustment. Or maybe the next day when they come in, the classroom is adjusted a little bit more, so it's more conducive for a proper learning environment.

I think it's important to maintain consistent classroom procedures, to create a positive learning environment and helps to maintain the effectiveness of your learning environment because the students know what is happening next, when something is going to happen. And it can also lower the anxiety level of a student if they know what to expect as the day progresses. So after we have our community circle in the morning, my next step is to go over the schedule, and the students know this. That's our classroom procedure. We do our caring community circle. We go over the schedule. If Ms. Cottrell happens to miss that step, they remind me, because that's what we've started to set up as our routine in our classroom. So I have my schedule hanging, and we go through each subject, each transition, and what time those transitions are happening. For my younger students, I may draw a clock next to that piece of the schedule since we're not working with time, but it really helps. They'll say, "Ms. Cottrell, that clock looks like that clock up there. It must be time to go to lunch." "You know, you're right. That clock says 12:45." It's a multi-beneficial way of working through your schedule. And like I said, we go over that every day right after our community circle. That way they know what to expect as our day progresses.

Transcript: Ashley Lloyd

Structure of the classroom is what I would say is the absolute most important key to dealing with behaviors in the classroom. So, for me, making sure that every single aspect of a child's experience throughout their day is well laid out, whether it be physically...They know where their materials are. They know when they are allowed to get them, how they are allowed to get those materials, as well as how are they to move about the classroom? When are they allowed to be up? When are they allowed to be seated? If they need to know how they can get my attention, how they can ask questions to me. And, for me, I try to use as many visuals as possible, so they know what their morning routine is because they walk in, and there's a poster that they know exactly what to look and how to follow that morning routine, what is expected of them at each moment of that routine. Throughout the day, if there is group work, if there is independent work of any kind, I tend to use slides, and all their directions for that activity will be up. But I'll also have little icons that they have learned, so they'll know if there's just one person they have to be working independently. If they see a two-person, they'll know that they're allowed to work with a partner. I will use a box that will have all of the materials that they need listed there, so they know exactly what materials that they need for that exact activity. So if they don't have their crayons out then they're going to be behind because they know that that little picture of that crayon box is up there. I also make sure that they know what their voice level should be at that time. They should know exactly if they're allowed to be speaking out loud or if they need to be silent during the activity.

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IRIS | Page 6: Create a Structured Classroom

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Just as they should be aware of how culture and climate influence behavior, it's important for teachers to consider the structure of their classrooms, including both physical structure (classroom arrangement) and the classroom's day-to-day routines. Creating a structured classroom environment can promote student engagement as well as limit factors that might lead to disruptive behaviors.

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Teacher And Student Relationships: The Power Of Trust 

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Teacher And Student Relationships: The Power Of Trust 

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The positive influence of trusting relationships on student learning cannot be overstated. Whether the learning environment is in-person, remote, hybrid, or in continual flux, one key factor remains constant: the relationship between students and their teachers is critical. In this excerpt video, "The Importance of Relationships and Trust" listen to Eddie, Destiny, Lola, and Juliebeth, students at the Salem Academy Charter School, a trauma-sensitive demonstration school, speak passionately about the impact their trusted teachers have on their education and passion for learning. (W atch the full video, "What Does a Trauma-Sensitive Middle/High School Look Like? here")

The Importance of Teacher and Student Relationships

According to the American Psychological Association, "Teachers who foster positive relationships with their students create classroom environments more conducive to learning and meet students' developmental, emotional and academic needs." In addition, a student who feels a strong personal connection to their teacher, talks with their teacher frequently, and receives more constructive guidance and praise rather than just criticism from their teacher "is likely to trust their teacher more, show more engagement in learning, behave better in class and achieve at higher levels academically." An analysis by the Review of Educational Research of 46 studies found that when teacher-student relationships are strong, improvements are seen in key areas, such as student academic engagement, attendance, grades, disciplinary actions, and school dropout rates.

Developing and nurturing trusting relationships between students and teachers is central to building a trauma-sensitive learning environment. Trauma-sensitive schools recognize that educators need support and planning time to prioritize developing positive, caring, collaborative relationships with each other, so that they can in turn prioritize building relationships with students and help students feel welcomed and safe.

With consistent student attendance now being jeopardized by remote or hybrid-learning in many districts, it has become increasingly imperative that school systems not let up on staying connected to students. They must remain focused on creating and maintaining learning environments, whether in-person or remote, that support and strengthen relationships, trust, and respect between teachers and students.

In this excerpt video, we hear that:

Eddie, a 10th grader, feels more comfortable answering questions in class because he feels comfortable around his teachers.

Destiny, a 12th grader, has faith in the resources and support available at her school because of the faith she has in her teachers.

Lola, a 10th grader, is better able to hear and respect what she is being taught in school because of the respect she has developed? for her teachers.

Juliebeth, an 11th grader, credits extracurricular activities with helping her build stronger bonds with other students and the school in general.

As summarized by Ms. Onembo, the Salem Academy Charter School's Dean of Students, "Students do better if they're connected to a community. They also do better when they have relationships with people in the building."
(Earlier, we invited you to watch the excerpt video, "Building Trusting Relationships Between Teachers & Students See the complete video, "What Does a Trauma-Sensitive Middle/High School Look Like? here")
Read More:

Please see Keeping Connections Strong: A Priority for Trauma-Sensitive Remote Learning for input from educators about the importance of maintaining strong connections with students and their families as well as maintaining a sense of cohesion among staff during COVID.

Please visit TLPI's website for additional resources, including our publications, available to download at no cost, as well as other blogs and videos.

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Teacher and Student Relationships: The Power of Trust - Trauma Sensitive Schools

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In this short video, "Building Trusting Relationships Between Teachers & Students," listen to Eddie, Destiny, Lola, and Juliebeth, students at the Salem Academy Charter School, a trauma-sensitive demonstration school, speak passionately about the impact their trusted teachers have on their education and passion for learning.

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The disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic made many of us question our work, our values, and our priorities. It also laid to bare existing issues and inequities in education, health, and all they touch. While we should celebrate an improvement of public health conditions, with it comes a rush toward "normal." Do we want a normal that forgets all we learned about ourselves, our institutions, and inequities? This academic year, let's embrace opportunities to be together while processing how we should be forever changed by the pandemic. While a catchy term cannot capture "post-pandemic pedagogy," "flexibility" may be a useful place to start.

The pandemic emphasized what has always been true: students and faculty benefit from flexibility such as increased options, more ways to engage, and space for unanticipated issues and opportunities. The purpose of flexibility is not only to be compassionate (which is important) but also to make more roads lead to learning and to adapt to the unexpected. Flexibility should also apply to faculty: when building a flexible environment for students, also consider a flexible design that eases some faculty work. Most times, flexibility is less a matter of building more roads and more of removing barriers that do not achieve the purpose we thought they did. Related terms have included resilient pedagogy and relaxed pedagogy.

Flexibility is a mindset more than a list of tips, but these considerations may provide a place to start.

Prioritize people (including yourself).

Whether we are online or in-person, what matters most to students are interactions with instructors and peers. An EDUCAUSE study on student learning experiences in 2020 found, "[students'] most-positive experiences depended more on the number of opportunities for student-instructor interaction than on the type of learning environment itself. How instructors and students organized and spent class time, and the amount of feedback and direct interaction, mattered more than the use of technology" (Cohn, 2021). This supports the idea of a pedagogy of care, which emphasizes teaching the whole person rather than delivering content.

In prioritizing people over content, consider how to teach in a way that also cares for yourself. Psychology professor and faculty developer Lindsay Masland began a public discussion of ways student-centered pedagogy can be draining and faculty and how to avoid burning out. Some ideas discussed include setting boundaries around work time and simplifying grading.

Prioritize open space.

"Space" can be thought of in terms of time, content, projects, and tasks. After considering the course learning outcomes and which units, activities, assignments, projects, interactions, and tools consistently show the most results, can the rest be eliminated, reorganized, or integrated? Allowing more space in the course for the unexpected, for reflection and review are key to real, long-term learning. Even pauses within class time are key for learning. Faculty have long encouraged the practice of leaving an open week in a course for student-to-instructor conferences, review sessions, or to account for unexpected issues like canceled classes and inclement weather.

Use what you've got.

While it may be tempting to forget the energy and stress that went into a sudden shift to remote teaching, the shift likely resulted in good online resources and practices. What can you continue to use and tweak? How can these materials help create support to students, minimize student issues, and reduce your workload? OU faculty can work with an instructional designer to evaluate existing materials and use them to create a more flexible course as uncertain times continue.

If you regularly recorded live lectures and students accessed those recordings or commented on their value, this may be a good practice to continue. Before the pandemic, faculty have recorded their sessions as an additional learning resource, or even implemented options that allow students to choose whether to participate on campus, online, or asynchronously. Other examples might include online meetings with students, submitting assignments on Moodle, and increasing mobile-friendly options (Moore, 2020).

Plan for the long term.

Faculty who implemented Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and other flexible teaching practices before the pandemic fared better than others with fewer options. There is no end to what could be done to make one's course resilient and flexible from individual student needs to societal emergencies. Rather than implementing every teaching tip and checklist item, plan for one teaching goal or framework and how to progressively build toward it. UDL is a powerful, resilient learning framework that allows students more agency in how they engage with the course and demonstrate what they have learned. Flexible teaching approaches like UDL help students and faculty adapt to the unexpected.

Truthfully, we cannot plan for every need, situation, and opportunity, which is why a flexible mindset should be central to our teaching practices. Our flexibility may have its limits, but being willing to bend to those limits may make all the difference to our students and ourselves.

References and Resources
CETL's UDL Teaching Resource Collection
Beatty, B. (2019). Hybrid-flexible course design: Implementing student-directed hybrid classes. (1st ed.). EdTech Books.

Cohn, J. (2021, July 12). How to prepare for the next phase of hybrid teaching. Chronicle of Higher Education.

Moore, C. (2020 June 22). Now Is the Time to Embrace Mobile Learning. EDUCAUSE Review.

Thurston, T. N., Lundstrom, K., & González, C. (Eds.) (2021). Resilient pedagogy: Practical teaching strategies to overcome distance, disruption, and distraction Utah State University . See also the accompanying Resilient Pedagogy podcast.
Save and adapt a Google Doc version of this teaching tip.
About the Author

Written by Christina Moore, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Oakland University. Others may share and adapt under Creative Commons License CC BY-NC View all CETL Weekly Teaching Tips. Follow these and more on Facebook, Twitter LinkedIn

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The disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic made many of us question our work, our values, and our priorities. It also laid to bare existing issues and inequities in education, health, and all they touch. While we should celebrate an improvement of public health conditions, with it comes a rush toward "normal."

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The Importance Of Student Choice Across All Grade Levels

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The Importance Of Student Choice Across All Grade Levels

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In any environment that requires attendance, there's a significant risk of disengagement. Remove choice and you breed passivity or, worse, defiance.

Compulsory, free public education is one of America's greatest innovations-perhaps its most egalitarian principle-and it isn't going anywhere. But in schools and classrooms across the country, there's a powerful argument to provide more student choice across every grade level: to shake up inflexible social and academic schedules, reduce one-way learning, and place more responsibility firmly in the hands of students.

To some extent, the system itself-with its bell schedules, prescribed curriculum, and testing regimens-creates the habits that are hard to break. But purpose and motivation go hand-in-hand with volition, and when there's too much emphasis on control and compliance, notes a report by the Education Trust, it puts students in a position where they must "relinquish all power and decision making" and compels teachers to rely on power "to control bodies and minds instead of using their autonomy to invite learning." Within the realm of literacy alone, the research on choice provides a powerful illustration: According to a 2012 study, young kids who completed mandatory reading logs turned into desultory readers compared with students who logged their progress voluntarily. And another study, this time of eighth graders, revealed that when students shifted from assigned reading to choice reading, there was "increased reading volume, a reduction in students failing the state test, and changes in peer relationships, self-regulation, and conceptions of self."

Offering students choices-making it a regular dynamic in the school day-isn't a recipe for chaos. It goes almost without saying: Rules and boundaries are a necessary element in schools and classrooms, essential in many ways for keeping kids and adults safe and productive throughout the school day. But by centering choice, educators signal openness to negotiating the middle ground and offer students scaffolded opportunities to practice decision-making, explore their academic identity, and connect their learning to interests and passions. It can be a relatively small but consequential mindset shift-rather than assigning students partners, for example, you might let them choose whether to work alone or with a partner-that, ultimately, acknowledges and respects their humanity and recognizes the fundamental importance of agency.

"Want to know how to engage students, enthuse them, and bring out their best effort?" asks middle school teacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron in MindShift. "Give them a voice in their decisions. In a society that barely listens to each other, listen to your students. In a system that can be a flood of top down, let your classroom be one that allows voices to trickle up."

Here are eight ways to provide children with choices across the grade levels.

Choice in the Early Grades

Give a say via voting: Even at the preschool level, choice can be a powerful motivator. "At my school, we work to give students choices that hold some responsibility within the classroom," writes preschool teacher Oi Ling Hu, who introduces classroom voting early in the school year.

The process starts small-which book to pick for read-aloud, for example-before Hu moves on to bigger topics like which activities to do at the park or which route to take to walk there. The process imbues kids with "a sense of autonomy and responsibility," she says, which serves them well as they advance into upper grade levels. "We have seen that when children feel that they have a voice in how they learn... they do their best to practice self-control and self-regulation as they want to retain their ability to choose."

Prioritize choice time: In spite of competing curricular demands, kindergarten teacher Jessica Arrow follows the research by prioritizing a 30-minute choice time within her literacy block each morning and a 45-minute choice time to wrap up the day. During choice time, students visit thoughtfully designed centers-a math center, a book nook, a sensory table, for example-to play and learn in unstructured ways that are aligned with the curriculum. It's a favorite time of day for her kindergarten students, who get to exercise some degree of choice and independence in a day that's otherwise dominated by "teacher-directed activities and transitions," Arrow writes.

Build ownership with class jobs: When Justine Bruyère reflected on why her second-grade students felt little ownership over their assigned class jobs, she decided to try handing over some responsibility to them. "To foster autonomy, I could relinquish some control of the job chart-my students could identify needs in the classroom and take on roles of responsibility to address those needs," writes Bruyère. With Bruyère's guidance, the class brainstormed a new list of jobs and prioritized them, and then students applied to their favorites and Bruyère made the final matches. The process was hugely popular, garnered buy-in from kids, and gave them a better understanding of what it takes to run the classroom.

Choice in Middle and High School

Consider flexible seating: Middle school English teacher Laura Bradley was already experimenting with flexible seating when her district decided to invest in additional resources like chairs on wheels and wobble stools. Bradley soon discovered that choice was more crucial than new furniture: Some students worked perfectly well standing at bookshelves; others preferred carpet squares, kneeling or sitting at low tables, or folding into nooks created with bookshelves or tables pulled up to a wall.

What's important, she says-again, sounding a note about the balance between autonomy and authority-is to be clear about expectations with respect to how students set up, work, and clean up when they're done. "I can say that the benefits far outweigh any management issues that arise," Bradley writes. "Students respond positively to the freedom and responsibility they are given, and they work hard to keep those privileges."

Cocreate classroom norms: In Bobby Shaddox's seventh-grade social studies class, shared classroom norms-a set of about 10 attributes, like communicative, focused, and serene-is developed by the group at the beginning of the year to guide their behavior and learning.

"By having children themselves create the norms, you are creating a pathway toward belonging for every single child in that class, and they have a role in this learning community that they had a share in building," says Pamela Cantor, MD, founder and senior science adviser of Turnaround for Children, emphasizing the importance of academic identity. It's both a compelling civics lesson and a practice that can have a big impact on classroom management, says Shaddox: "The classes that go really well are the classes when I start off reflecting on the norms and using those norms to articulate how our class will run well."

Make academic choices meaningful: Education researcher and author Robert J. Marzano suggests narrowing academic choice down to focus on three key areas: choice in the tasks that students perform, choice in assessment, and choice in learning goals. "Choice in the classroom has been linked to increases in student effort, task performance, and subsequent learning," Marzano writes in his blog. "However, to reap these benefits, a teacher should create choices that are robust enough for students to feel that their decision has an impact on their learning."

For example, while an oral or written report is often the assigned format, students might instead have the option to use their mobile device to record video or audio reports. Or consider opening up assessment options to include different types of graded products-building models, drawing diagrams, or creating flowcharts-so that all kids, including those who are spatially gifted, have an opportunity to shine.

Upend assigned reading: After years of teaching a set list of novels with study guides, close readings, and a big test at the end, AP literature teacher Brian Sztabnik polled his students to examine what was working and where to improve. The results were eye-opening. "Many had not read a novel cover to cover in their three years of high school.... Many gave up on reading long ago," Sztabnik writes. "Often, when students have no agency over what they read, they stop enjoying it. And this ultimately kills their motivation." After examining the research, Sztabnik upended his approach and gave his students much more reading choice and responsibility. "My students' scores on standardized tests soared," he writes.

For all students, and students of color in particular, regular access to a rich, diverse selection of reading materials is particularly important, says Kimberly Parker, a former high school English teacher and cofounder of #DisruptTexts. "Often, black youth, especially those regarded as in need of remediation, have the least amount of choice in text selection," Parker writes for ASCD. "They are given regimented reading instruction, an abundance of standardized test preparation, and little, if any, time to read works that resonate with them. We know, however, that choice drives reading engagement, and black youth need to be able to choose what they want to read."

Offer recess, even in high school: Unstructured time for play is crucial at all ages. At Montpelier High School in Vermont, there's a daily 15-minute recess period during which everyone is expected to unplug from the school day and engage in a completely different and renewing activity of their choice. Students and faculty come up with the activities-options might include open gym, chess, free art, music jam, or rock climbing, for example-and everyone gets to pick what they'd like to do. "We really make a point to say, 'You have permission and you need to stop what you're doing and do something totally different, something that's mindful, challenging, something that creates community, something that creates generosity,'" says special educator Bill Laidlaw. "It's very powerful."

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The Importance of Student Choice Across All Grade Levels

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When students get to make decisions about their learning, it can be powerfully motivating.

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Consistency And Predictability | TREP-Educator

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Trauma responsive schools
Trauma informed schools

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 How To Build Relationships Virtually: The Ultimate Guide For Teachers

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 How To Build Relationships Virtually: The Ultimate Guide For Teachers

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https://www.albert.io/blog/building-relationships-teaching-remotely/

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How to Build Relationships Virtually: The Ultimate Guide | Albert Resources

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Want to learn how to build relationships when teaching virtually? This post reviews how to create virtual classroom rituals and build strong relationships.

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Using Flexible Learning Strategies To Foster Equitable And Inclusive Education Opportunities

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Using Flexible Learning Strategies To Foster Equitable And Inclusive Education Opportunities

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 Making The Shift From Student Engagement To Student Empowerment

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 Making The Shift From Student Engagement To Student Empowerment

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We often focus on student engagement, but student empowerment is a step further. Here, we focus on the seven shifts toward student empowerment.
Two years ago, I was a chaperone for my son's fourth-grade field trip to a hands-on pioneer museum. Students learned how to make homemade candles, how to chop wood, how to do some very basic woodworking, how to make bread, and how to quilt.

They were fully engaged in the learning. According to Schlecty's levels of engagement, nearly every student demonstrated both a high attention a high commitment to the learning.

However, I noticed little moments of frustration. When students learned about the peg process used in log cabin design, a girl asked if they still use the same process in modern log cabin construction. If so, had they adapted the process to be more earthquake-proof? Had they changed the peg design? Do they now use glue with the pegs? I reached for my phone to look it up and realized that they had banned devices when we first walked in. So the question hung in the air, unanswered.

At another point, a boy felt how hot the log had become after using a hand drill. His friend said it was because the wood was hotter on the inside just like our bodies are hotter on the inside. The first boy shook his head and said, "No, it's because things get hot when they move up against other things." They pulled me into the conversation and suddenly, we were discussing friction, movement, heat, and energy.

"Do bigger drills get hotter than smaller drills if they move at the same speed?" he asked.

But right at that moment, they called us over to a new task.

To be clear, the field trip was amazing. Students remained engaged nearly the entire time - physically, mentally, emotionally, and socially. The volunteers at this museum knew how to interact with the students and keep them fully interested in the content. However, after being highly engaged, the students wanted to move to a new level in their learning. They wanted to try little experiments, chase their questions, and make more decisions. In other words, they wanted to own the learning.

Unfortunately, we didn't have time for that. As I stood there watching students move quickly from task to task, I thought about all of those moments when I cut off learning right when it was becoming empowering because I viewed it as off-task or because I had something engaging I didn't want them to miss or because I thought we might run out of time.

We often talk about what it means to move from compliance to engagement. It's the idea of creating an environment where students want to learn rather than have to learn. This is that top level of engagement, where students are highly committed and highly focused. But I wonder how often we stop there, with committed and focused students who aren't getting the chance to own their learning.

If we want students to be creative, self-directed learners, we need to go beyond student engagement and into empowerment. They need to own the learning. My friend George describes this as a continuum based upon student agency.

Note that highly engaging environments often promote empowerment because they focus on student agency and ownership. The moment you add student ownership to student engagement, you have empowerment.

Some quick nuance here. Compliance isn't always a bad thing. When the fire drill goes off, I want students to comply. Engagement isn't a bad thing. Sometimes I want to engage students in learning something that they will find intriguing and interesting. After all, the highly engaging environment of the pioneer museum led the students to a place where they wanted to own their learning. But too often, students in school remain in a space between compliance and engagement, never getting the opportunity to own their learning.

We Need to Shift Toward Empowerment

So, the following are eight shifts that we need to consider as we shift from engagement to empowerment. You can check it out in this sketch-note animation video:
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#1: From giving choices to inspiring possibilities

When I first embraced student choice, I would create 3-4 options on each assignment. In some cases, I might even create a choice menu and tell them to pick a certain number of items. This was a small step toward increasing student agency and it increased their intrinsic motivation. However, students were still selecting my choices from my menu. In other words, we had lots of choice but very little freedom.

Eventually, we shifted toward student-generated options for larger projects. This began with things like Wonder Days, Geek Out Projects (our Genius Hour projects), themed blogs, and inquiry-based science projects. However, in emphasizing student ownership, I ran into a problem. Sometimes students didn't know what to choose. They lacked the prior knowledge to know where to begin.

At that point, I began to show examples, provide options, and add resources. I worried this would stifle creative risk-taking. However, it actually increased their self-efficacy and gave them a bigger picture of what was possible. This led to greater creative risk-taking.

For example, when creating visual writing prompts, I made them optional. In fact, I called them writing ideas instead of writing prompts because prompts require writing and ideas inspire writing. Instead of saying, "here are ten choices," I said, "It's your blog. Write what you want. But if you're looking for inspiration, here are tons of visual prompts you can use."

#2: From "making the subject interesting" to "tapping into student interests."

This is the shift from saying "you must learn this" to asking "what do you want to learn?" So, instead of saying, "how do I make _______ interesting?" you give students a chance to tap into their own curiosity. So, students might be into Minecraft or Legos or fashion or drama and you, as a teacher, have the opportunity to let them explore these areas of interest.

Initially, I scoffed at this idea of interest-driven learning because I thought these student interests were shallow. However, as students began blogging about video games, sports, fashion, and food, I realized that no subject is shallow if you're willing to take a deep dive. It's all about the lens you use. I noticed this when a student wanted to explore the history of cartoons in a blog and podcast. Cartoons? Really? What emerged was a deep exploration of culture, gender, and social norms. It blew me away. I saw the results of empowerment.

This sounds great in theory but teachers have standards and curriculum maps. My first thought is that many subjects have content-neutral standards. In language arts, students can explore their own interests while practicing the skills in the Common Core Standards. In other subjects, the standards still provide options for student interests. In science, students might explore forces and motion by studying roller coasters or self-driving cars. Two very different topics but the same standards. In social studies, students might explore various aspects of World War II from totally different angles while still pursuing the areas that they find fascinating.

A little nuance here: There's still a time and a place for teacher-directed topics. Sometimes students don't know what they will love until a teacher introduces it to them.

#3: From taking assessments assessing your own learning.

Go to a skate park or watch kids play Minecraft and you'll see tons of assessment going on. However, no one is waiting for a rubric and a score. They assess in the moment. Sure, they might go to a contest and get a score. They might seek out the advice of an expert. But, the key here is that they view assessment as something you do rather than something you take.

Here students embrace the idea that learning is an iterative process full of mistakes. It's what they do as they set goals, check their progress, and adjust their actions. But even though it's self-directed, it is interdependent rather than independent. They engage in self-reflection, peer assessment, and student-teacher conferences.

#4: From answering the teacher's questions to asking their own questions

Again, there is a time and a place to answer the teacher's questions. However, this is the idea that empowered students are curious about their world and they know how to explore their questions and find their own answers. It's the notion that students should be questioning answers as well as answering questions. This is the idea where they chase the inquiry process and take learning off-road.

#5: From uncritical consuming to critical consuming and creating

I often hear about the need to get students to move from consuming to creating and I see the validity in this argument. I've met way too many adults who don't engage in any real creative endeavors. They watch television in their spare time but never craft stories. They follow recipes but never learn to own the culinary process and truly make their own dishes.

But I actually think consuming matters. Chefs consume food. I mean, I guess we all consume food, right? So maybe that's a bad example. Musicians listen to music. Athletes watch sports. The key difference is that they are critical consumers. They analyze what they consume and they look for ideas and inspiration.

Here students move from critical consuming to inspiration to creativity, where they use the design process to launch their work to the world. In fact, students often work through stages from consuming to creating.
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#7: From rigid to adjustable systems

There's a fascinating story in The End of Average about what happened when the United States air force based their cockpit design on the average pilot. It sounded like a great idea but the "average" cockpit didn't fit anyone and our pilots continued to die. One-size-fits-all fits no one. However, instead of trying to customize each cockpit to custom-fit pilots, they shifted toward adjustable design, where pilots could change the configuration of the cockpits to fit their needs.

It has me thinking about "teaching toward the middle" in schools. We don't have a middle because we don't have average students. This is why we need to design flexible systems that students can adjust. Students are empowered to own the process. They can set their own pace, choose their own formats, and decide what resources they want to use.

Often, in schools, we focus on a tiered-approach to differentiated instruction. But the adjustable system is a shift from differentiated to personalized learning. Instead of putting students in leveled groups, teachers provide opportunities for students to self-adjust.

This isn't easy. Sometimes students need help with executive function. At the lower grades, students might struggle with setting their own pace or choosing their own resources. Again, there's a time and a place for leveled groups. But still, teachers can design adjustable systems and help students own the process of empowerment.

#7: It's a shift in mindset from compliance to self-direction

We want students to be creative, critical thinkers. We want them to rewrite the rules and to be original. In education, we throw around words like "lifelong learning" and "critical thinking citizens." But this begins with a mindset of self-direction. This isn't a rugged individualism, either. It's often collaborative. However, it's the idea that students feel a sense of ownership over their learning.

Self-direction is a blend of being a self-starter and a self-manager.

Self-starters know how to initiate learning. They don't wait for permission to learn. They simply go out and do it. But self-starting without self-management leads to unfinished work. Self-managers know how to finish work. They are able to manage projects, set goals, and check for progress. However, self-management without self-starting leads to complacency and lacks innovation. We want students to be both.

This Isn't Easy

These shifts are not always easy. The journey toward empowering students can feel confusing and even scary. But if you're waiting for permission, it might never happen. Sometimes, you just have to take the leap.

Empower Your Students with Voice and Choice

Want to get started with student ownership? Check out this page with free articles, videos, and resources. Also, check out the Empower Blueprint and Toolkit below.

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