Right off the bat, I want you to take a moment and figure out what the first thing is that pops into your mind when you hear this phrase: Student-driven learning. Have you heard of this before?
In case you haven't, I'll give you a little hint. I'll tell you what it's NOT. Student-driven learning is NOT turning students free all day to goof off, or waste their time and energy learning about "irrelevant" topics. Instead, student-driven learning looks like students writing their own "conclusion" to a lecture or topic given by the teacher. Think about those "pick your ending" chapter books you saw at the library when you were a pre-teen. Some kids pick the scary ending, some pick the happy ending, and some read all of the endings and decide which one they liked best. Some teachers are using a similar approach to classroom learning! Students get to have a hand in how the lesson will turn out, and what will be discussed. This can look different depending on the teacher, age group, and subject, but I'll give you an example. Let's say that a teacher gives a short, introductory lecture about different genres of literature to a 7th grade class. Once the introduction is over, instead of lecturing about all the different kinds of literature available, the teacher gives the students 15 minutes to think of their favorite books and figure out what genre they like. Students are also encouraged to research genres they've never read before, and try to find some that others haven't heard of yet. At the end of the 15 minutes, everyone comes back and shares the genres they've thought about and researched. A discussion could possibly follow about the differences among the genres and why writers choose different writing styles to express themselves. This simple student-driven exercise has several benefits for the students and the teacher:
Student-driven learning, when used correctly, has benefits for both students and teachers. Involving the students in constructing their own educational experience increases their preparedness for the "real world" and allows teachers to see what skills and knowledge need to be focused on to meet the goal of real-world competency for their students.
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AuthorHi! My name is Nicole, and I've been knitting since I was 9 years old. I love teaching myself new techniques, and sometimes making them up. I usually come up with ideas faster than I can knit them! And one day I thought, why not share it all with you! Archives
November 2016
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