Recently I asked my Instagram followers what they wished their students knew before distance learning began, and there was an amazing number of responses about students not being able to read directions or turn in documents properly. This generation of digital natives may not be as tech savvy as we thought, right? Or is it just that we need to teach students to be independent learners?
Our scary new reality is that we may have to do this distance learning thing again, so I am going to plan to start the school year with an intense focus on the skills the students will need if we go remote again. I recently wrote about this on The Secondary English Coffee shop. That post was about building community and focusing on learning how to learn. Now I want to add some ideas for helping kids to get organized.
Teaching students to be independent learners is an awful lot like parenting. When are trying to get a four, eight, or fourteen year old to clean up their toys, take out the garbage, or make their lunch for school, it’s often easier and less stressful just to do it ourselves. There are fewer arguments and it takes a lot less time. However, what happens is that we continue to have to put the toys away, take out the garbage, and pack the lunches. More importantly, our kids aren’t learning those all-important life skills.
It’s no different with our students.
It takes some time but it’s worth it
Yes, it’s easier just to answer something for the 15th time rather that engage in the difficult job of teaching students to do it themselves. But, if we keep answering questions and providing help with things that they should be able to do on their own, we get frustrated with the situation – and students aren’t learning those all-important life skills.
So, this fall, there will be a focus on reducing the learned helplessness and showing kids how to help themselves. I am going to adopt the elementary teachers’ “Ask Three Before Me” method, and my students will be encouraged to check all of the places where I may have provided instructions.
I will make a clear distinction between not knowing the answer and not understanding the task, so students aren’t afraid to ask for help when they do need it. There’s a big difference between not knowing what to do and not knowing how to do it.
Be firm and consistent
For this to work, it’s vital that I remain firm and consistent with this. If they ask me what they need to do for a task or when an assignment is due, I can’t answer them. I’ll just point to my lovely poster and ask, “Did you…?” If they have, I’m all about the helping.
First of all, I’m going to be very careful in my approach. No one likes to be told they have to do something, especially teens. However, if you show them why doing it will help them, they are more likely to buy in.
And, it’s always best if you give them a reason beyond school. Ask them to imagine when they are in the workplace: who will be a more valuable employee? The one who can figure things out on their own, or the one who has to ask the boss about everything?
If you would like this poster, you can grab it here.
Independent learners can follow directions
This is true. However, I know that an inability to do what I asked them to do might actually be my fault. Why is that? Well, I realized when looking for a post on Google Classroom, that my organizational skills on there are not great. The titles of my posts, or the random announcements I added, would make it difficult for anyone to find something.
If my instructions are buried, then it’s going to be hard for my students to complete them.
Once I realized that my Google Classroom was a mess, I started deleting things that didn’t need to be there any more, and being wiser about my titles and assignments. I started posting once a week with a title like this: Week of May 18 -22. Then, all of the work for that week was placed in that assignment. Each doc that I upload is numbered if there is an order I want them to follow and/or has the day of the week that I want it completed.
Since I got myself better organized, I’ve had fewer questions and problems with kids handing things in. There will always be some, no matter what I do, but when I’m clear, I’m at least taking away that obstacle.
What about you? Do you have any great tips for teaching kids to be independent learners? Let us know in the comments. And, if you’d like more classroom management tips, check out this post on managing talk in your classroom. If you’d like to learn about my digital course on classroom management & engagement, you can check it out here.