Enhance Engagement With Ownership

The end of the school year can be hectic and exasperating.  As the warmer weather hits, students interest can wane.

To combat that this year, I have tried something different.  Instead of leading my students through geography lessons and telling them what to do, I threw it on their shoulders.  I told them what they needed to learn over the next few weeks.  I told them I wanted them to create something that demonstrated what they learned.  I then asked them what it was going to look like over the next few weeks.

I urged them to reflect on their past experiences, and they brainstormed as a class while I scribed on the board.

• They came up with the following:
• They would work in groups.
• They would choose the groups.
• They would choose a focus from my suggestions.
• They would choose their project.
• They wanted a process to guide them
• They wanted to be given resources.
• They wanted to be able to use additional resources.

I added that I wanted them to address the “Who cares?  Why should anyone outside of people there want to / need to know about it.”  I pushed it further that they include some sense of what other people could do to address any struggles or issues that people related to their topic may face.

They responded positively, some nodding silently while I described my addition as if it made perfect sense.  The projects they are choosing to create are interesting and varied.

I also presented a teacher’s dilemma:  How will the teacher know who knows what?  They all admitted being in groups when some members did nothing and they all received the same grade.  After debating options, they concluded that, although they did not want some sort of individual assessment, it would be efficient to take a quiz on their topic.

They basically designed an investigation that I pretty much could have thrown together myself.  By trusting the students and allowing them to take ownership of the learning process, I hope their learning experience will be enhanced in both understanding and quality.  I also hope that they will be more engaged over the next few weeks than they might have been.

If you have had positive experiences with allowing students to design their own learning or if this post has generated some ideas of your own, please share them in the comments. I'd love to hear about them.

Scroll over the yellow circles below to see what different groups are working on in this class.