Purposeful, Valuable Learning: Foster Learners With Autonomy and Drive
The most basic of all human needs is the need to understand and be understood. The best way to understand people is to listen to them.
– Ralph G. Nichols
INTRO
This activity will assist your team in learning how to foster students with autonomy, drive, and endurance through instructional routines and school rituals.
OBJECTIVES
- Brainstorm things you can do at your school to transform the student experience schoolwide based on fostering learners with autonomy, drive, and endurance
- Brainstorm how these can be connected to Student Outcomes
Guiding Question
How do you create an environment where students enjoy learning because it feels purposeful and valuable to them?
Activity
How Many of Your Students Are Really Being Heard?
- Reflect and write down your thoughts on how you are engaging your students to share their experiences and what they need from schools.
- What groups of students at your school need to be listened to more?
- Generate 3 ideas about how you as a leader can engage these groups in the next 3 months.
Student Ownership of Learning
- Read this summary — based on Inflexion’s research on how to foster learners with autonomy, drive, and endurance.
- Focus specifically on Page 3 where you will see examples of the instructional routines and school rituals that support ownership of learning, sense of belonging, and social-emotional skills.
- Write down 3 things you can do at your school to transform the student experience schoolwide.
- These will be useful notes to keep as you work with your leadership team on making a plan.
- Reflect on how these can be connected to your site’s Student Outcomes as well as the ideas you generated about your students being heard.
TIPS
- If time permits, we recommend you complete this activity on your own and then also with your leadership team. However, you can complete it the first time with your team as well.
- The video and reading can also be completed individually by each member prior to the meeting to allow processing time, and so members can come to the meeting prepared with ideas to share.
Responses