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Here’s How to Build Learning Skills Now

In last week’s blog we explored the importance of designing this summer’s learning experiences to stimulate and nurture the curiosity of students to build a drive to learn that can sustain them well beyond the coming year. Research and experience point to powerful long-term benefits of students remaining curious and persisting in their quest to make sense of the world they encounter. There is yet another dimension of building future learning success to which we need to give attention. While curiosity gives students a drive to learn, they also need skills and strategies to engage efficiently and effectively in the learning process, including when they are not in a formal setting and instructional support is not present. The combination of sustained curiosity and skills to learn in response to varied challenges is crucial to lifelong learning success. As we engage students in learning this summer, we would do well to keep in mind the importance of building skills for learning beyond being receptive to instruction and responding to specific learning expectations. Fortunately, building these skills does not require significantly more time and resources. There are several steps we can take while supporting the learning students need for a successful start in the fall. Here are five actions we can take immediately:

Support students to set goals for their learning and participate in identifying steps they will take and activities in which they will engage to reach their goals. Obviously, the goals need to be aligned with identified standards and progress benchmarks, but as much as practical the goals need to reflect the commitment of students rather than goals we assign to them.
Monitor the level of challenge with which students are presented to ensure that success is possible with appropriate focus and effort and not so easy as to not generate new learning. Known as the Zone of Proximal Development, the best learning outcomes tend to be generated within this range.
Coach students to reflect as they struggle, make progress, encounter setbacks, and grow. The practice of reflection is among the most powerful learning strategies available. As students become increasingly skilled at reflection, they become increasingly independent learners.
Focus feedback and recognition on the effectiveness of learning strategies and aligned learning effort. Help students to understand that the use of effective strategies and smart effort positions them to learn concepts and skills that are increasingly difficult. Meanwhile, they will be building confidence in their learning and tolerance for unsuccessful initial attempts to learn.
Whenever possible, frame learning in the context of the value and purpose it represents. Purpose is a powerful driver of learning. The more we can connect learning and the value it can offer, the more students will come to value learning and the more likely they are to choose to continue to learn, even when we are not present.

While we want students to learn content and build skills needed for the fall, we also need to give attention to building the capacity and drive to continue learning beyond what is needed immediately. By building learning skills and nurturing curiosity in our students we can give them the tools necessary to be skilled, independent learners who can succeed in a world that is increasingly complex and dependent on a citizenry of learners.

June 14, 2021

The Gift: Developing a Curious State of Mind

Educators across the country share the concern that too many students fell behind in their learning progress over the past year. Addressing this concern is important, but we need to be thoughtful about the strategies we use and the learning experiences we present to students. In our drive to have students demonstrate proficiency and meet expectations, we also need to attend to building strong relationships with learning and a drive to learn. Having students catch up now only to fall behind again in the future accomplishes little. Fortunately, there is a powerful way to build learning momentum and instill the drive to learn without adding significant time and effort to our work this summer and beyond. The answer sounds simple but powerful in its results. Multiple research studies and decades of professional experience testify to its potential to propel learning and lead to lifelong success. That powerful factor is curiosity. Humans are naturally curious. However, the environment students experience in school often discounts and even stifles curiosity in favor of pre-staged experiences, predetermined processes, pre-answered questions, and predicable outcomes. Consequently, students often do not see schools as places where curiosity is valued and appreciated. A recent study conducted by Pediatric Research found that curiosity is a key factor in predicting the learning achievement of students regardless of socio-economic background. However, for students from lower socio-economic backgrounds, the impact was even more powerful. Students from lower-socio economic backgrounds with high levels of curiosity were found to perform at the same levels of students from more advantaged backgrounds, thus erasing the too frequent presence of an achievement gap. Curiosity is a key driver of learning regardless of age. When we tap the curiosity of our students as part of the learning process, they learn more easily, they remember what they learn longer, and often learn at a deeper level. Further, as students become habitually curious, they become more independent in their learning as they search for information and answers important to them. How can we stimulate and reinforce the curiosity of our students? Here are six steps to consider:

Make the learning environment safe and respectful. Curiosity grows best when students feel safe. Curiosity is often demonstrated in the questions students ask and students need to feel safe enough to risk asking.
Ask interesting, open-ended questions. We can give students reasons to be curious if we present them with conundrums and inquiries that connect to their experiences and interests. We also need to be patient and take a coaching stance rather than default to providing immediate answers.
Be curious about students and their interests and obsessions. Our interest and questions can show respect for and validate what is important to our students. Our questions and interest also model our curiosity.
Treat mistakes as opportunities to discover and learn. Mistakes can have many causes. Helping students to understand and work through their mistakes can build confidence and perseverance, two key contributors to remaining curious.
Teach students to be observant. Being aware and noticing are two of the most important sources of curiosity. Coach students to notice their environment and pay attention to what may be interesting, mysterious, and worth exploring.
Reinforce with students how their curiosity can benefit them. Share with students how curiosity has led to important inventions and discoveries. Highlight historical figures whose questions, imagination, designing, and creating led to a life of success and satisfaction.

Obviously, there are many more ways we can stimulate and reinforce the curiosity in our students. However, our patience, attention, and encouragement when we encounter curiosity in our students can give them confidence to pursue what interests them and become lifelong learners. This summer is a great time to launch our students on this journey. Research: Hassinger-Das, B., & Hirsh-Pasek, K. (2018). Appetite for knowledge: curiosity and children’s academic achievement. Pediatric Research, 84, 323-324. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41390-018-0099-4

June 07, 2021

Designing a New Normal for Learning

Much has been written and discussed about the importance of not returning education to the “old normal” as we exit the pandemic. Obviously, what we mean by “normal” encompasses many dimensions, including culture, structures, routines, and practices. Our goal is to capture all that we can from our experiences over the past year and apply what has been learned in ways that make the “new normal” richer, more inclusive, and more effective for students and learning. Our challenge is to give students experiences that accelerate their learning, build their learning skills, and prepare them for success in a rapidly evolving workplace and to enjoy a rewarding and satisfying life. Unfortunately, for most students, pre-pandemic school experiences fell short of meeting this challenge. Now, as we think about what lies ahead, we have an opportunity to make changes that deliver on this promise and create a new normal for learning. We might ask: What criteria or indicators will define or identify learning experiences, programs, and opportunities that will deliver what we seek? As we consider the best uses of the new federal support funds, what outcomes should we prioritize and monitor? What indicators of learning in our classes point to the type of learning that will serve our students well for a lifetime? Here are seven design elements to consider:

Build learning skills and motivation to learn. It’s no longer enough for students to absorb what is presented to them. The world is changing quickly and learning will be a lifelong pursuit. Knowing how to learn will be crucial. Not all learning will come from a professional who provides organized, sequenced, easy-to-follow instruction. The ability to learn independently will be a differentiator. In addition, we need to instill in students the motivation to learn, including the curiosity and confidence to pursue what may not yet have been discovered.
Nurture ownership of new skills and knowledge. Traditionally, students have often seen learning as something they do in response to adult expectations and to avoid unpleasant consequences. The learning experiences we offer need to position students to see value and take pride in what they learn. Learning increasingly needs to be something learners do in response to goals and purposes they own.
Place the learner at the center of experiences. Instruction and other learning activities must begin where the students are, not where we would like them to be, or the curriculum imagines them to be. Learning needs to be responsive to the readiness and needs of learners, not part of a standardized routine, pre-set schedule, or a predetermined pace. The guiding questions need to be, “What is this learner ready to learn?” and “What do they need to move to the next level?”
Nurture goal setting and “way finding” skills. Goal setting and the skills and habits necessary to reach them have long been important life skills. However, in the workplaces where our students will build and spend their careers, knowing where they are going and charting the way to reach their destinations will become even more important to success and satisfaction.
Build commitment to consistent quality in learning and work. As freelance, contract, and other flexible work roles become an ever-larger part of the workplace landscape, delivering consistent quality will be essential. No longer can we assume that students will work in environments where supervisors will monitor work to ensure that it meets quality standards. Long-term success will likely be determined by the level and consistency of quality present in products and services workers deliver.
Provide opportunities to use new learning to generate new solutions, applications, and ideas. It’s no longer enough for learners to apply what they learn in predictable and predetermined contexts. Learning that prepares students for their future needs to include a generative component that reveals how they can enhance and add to the value of what they learn.
Grow personal and professional networks. Work is increasingly a social activity. New ideas, innovation, and novel solutions are increasingly the products of teams. Connections, relationships, and networks open doors to resources, supports, and opportunities that will be crucial for success. Learning experiences must build networking strategies and skills if we hope to prepare students to compete and succeed and enjoy a rich life.

The future of work is changing rapidly. The pandemic has accelerated emerging trends and stimulated others that promise to transform work as previous generations knew it. We must commit today to give students the experiences and build the skills necessary for success and satisfaction regardless of the life path they choose. Adapted from Key Criteria for Learning Innovation, The Institute for Personalized Learning.

May 17, 2021

Lift Summer Learning While Lightening the Instructional Load

Summer learning activities, especially those for students who struggled or whose learning lagged over the past year, present multiple challenges. The students will likely be experiencing the effects of what was a frustrating and less-than-successful year. Consequently, enthusiasm for learning may wane. They are also giving up a significant portion of their summer to engage in what they may not see as fun. As adults, we too may feel the exhaustion of a difficult and less-than-satisfying year. We may not be looking forward to spending more weeks teaching when we feel the need for rest and rejuvenation. Still, building and supporting the learning of these students are crucial and urgent tasks. We need to do all that we can to have students be prepared to succeed when school begins again in the fall. If they are left to fall farther behind learning expectations now, the consequences will likely be long-term; maybe even lifelong. Yet, there is little reason to expect that repetition of what was less than successful during the year will be more successful in the summer. We need to find strategies and approaches that can offer better learning hope for students and a measure of leverage, support, and relief for our instructional efforts. Simply pressing harder will not be enough. Sometimes, the solutions to problems we face emerge when we look at the problem from another perspective. For example, trying to convince someone to shift their thinking can be more successful when we stop arguing and start listening. Our dilemma for summer learning may also be eased by thinking about the challenge from a different perspective. We know that learning is a social activity. Relationships matter. Yet, most students spent the past year learning in relative isolation. We know that engaging with peers can lessen feelings of anxiety and lead students to take learning risks with and learn from others. We also know that students sometimes feel more open and at ease with adults other than the teacher in the classroom who holds authority and requires accountability from them. We can engage these learning “levers” in a variety of ways to shift our practice and provide instructional variety, offer new support options, and support new learning. Here are four potential strategies from which you can draw to craft your approach. First, consider forming study teams within your class. We know that when students study and learn together, their learning often accelerates. Unfortunately, for most students this strategy becomes routine only when they are in college and need to rely on each other to learn complex content. At first, you may need to spend time helping students to form productive groups and learn how to leverage each other’s learning. If students experienced learning pods during the past year, they may have a base of experience on which you can build. Regardless, the payoff can be significant as students study, problem-solve, complete tasks and even engage in some assessments together. Equally important, you will be teaching students a strategy that can support their learning for a lifetime. Second, consider pairing your students with others who are older or younger for cross-age tutoring, practice, and reinforcement. If you are teaching older students who need to practice and solidify skills that were introduced in earlier grades, explaining and practicing the skills with younger students can be a powerful learning experience and confidence builder. If you are teaching younger students who need motivation and encouragement, having older students give attention and support to their learning can provide a strong motivational boost. Third, consider recruiting students who may be interested in teaching as a career to work with students who need attention and support. We do not have to limit our recruitment to older students. They just need to be interested in service and possess adequate academic skills to support the learning of your students. When these students form relationships and share their enthusiasm, the impact can be substantial. You will be providing your students with learning support while also providing experience to and feeding the vision of potential future educators. Fourth, consider enlisting the support of retired adults from the community. Many retired adults spent the past year in isolation and feeling purposeless. They are also among the population most likely to be vaccinated. The opportunity to engage with young people and support their learning can be compelling. Students, too, may value these relationships. Local senior centers and adult living communities are good places to contact. The adults may need some guidance, but even if they spend their time listening to students read and hearing students explain processes for solving math problems, the benefits will be far more than worth the effort. The past year has been trying like few others. It has been exhausting. However, renewal can take a variety of forms. Sometimes, making changes to our routine and trying new approaches can provide us with the energy and renewed motivation to carry us through—and even help us to thrive.

May 10, 2021

What Is the Role for Homework Now?

Just about everyone feels the pressure to accelerate learning in the final weeks and days of the school year. Too many students have fallen behind, and we feel the urgent need to catch them up. Of course, we can focus on key concepts and skills and let less crucial aspects of the curriculum go for now to save time and energy for learning crucial content. We are also working hard to reestablish and renew relationships, sustain a supportive environment for learning, and create an emotionally safe space for students who need to finish transitioning to in-person school. In this context, it can be tempting to turn to increased homework to fill gaps and reduce reinforcement and practice time while we are face to face with students. While on the surface relying on homework to “take up some of the slack” may seem worthwhile, it may be a less effective strategy than we assume. While there is little research on what impact homework had on remote learning during the pandemic, there is significant research on its effectiveness as a strategy associated with in-person learning. The findings point to limited learning benefits and some significant downsides that should give us pause, especially now. In short, if homework is designed and positioned correctly, it can increase student motivation to learn, but poorly designed and positioned homework can lead to decreased interest and commitment. Let’s examine some of the potential downsides of relying heavily on homework, especially now. First, the greatest learning benefits come from the homework students complete, not from the amount of homework assigned. The key is to design homework students can and will complete. Attention must be given to how realistic, interesting, useful, and doable homework will be from the students’ perspective. We may think what we’re asking students to do is valuable, realistic, and achievable, but if students can’t or don’t do the work, learning will not be the result. Second, when homework involves practicing new concepts and skills while students are still uncertain, confused, or hold misconceptions regarding what to practice, homework can actually work against learning. We risk having students repeat errors and increase their confusion while doing homework intended to support their learning. When this is this case, more assigned homework will cause more learning damage. And when students practice and reinforce misconceptions, it takes even longer to correct problem areas and more effort for students to relearn correctly. Third, too much homework can diminish its benefits. Once students reach a point where the work has reinforced their learning and created confidence, more practice has not been shown to increase achievement. As a general guideline for high school students, homework requiring about an hour to an hour and a half per night is optimal. For middle school students, the greatest benefits are found in homework requiring less than an hour. For elementary students, if homework is assigned at all, it’s best for the time required for completion to be even less. To be clear, the optimal times reflect total homework time, not the time required per class. Collaboration among teachers and administrators is crucial to avoid overloading students with homework and diminishing any benefits. Fourth, homework can have a different impact on students depending on their home circumstances and learning skills. Students who have adequate background knowledge to successfully engage in the work often find homework an easy task. But students without this advantage can find the time necessary to complete homework is as much as double what’s required for more advantaged students. Further, when homework requires access to resources not provided by the school, expectations for homework completion at home may not be realistic. The implications of these disparities grow and become more serious when homework is scored and used for grades. Students who actually give more effort and invest more time in completing homework can be penalized—while classmates with support and access to resources are rewarded with better grades. These homework practices can actually increase achievement gaps and inequities. Homework, if carefully designed and thoughtfully assigned, can reinforce learning and provide opportunities for practice and application. However, we need to be attentive to the potential risks and downsides it presents. If homework is going to be among the instructional strategies on which we rely as we finish the year, we need to employ it judiciously and in limited amounts.

May 10, 2021

Overcoming a Crisis in Confidence

The coming weeks are a crucial time for learning. We want students whose learning has lagged over the past months to catch up. The end of the year will soon be here and expectations for learning growth for many students have not been met. Special efforts are underway to accelerate learning and ensure that students gain the skills and learn the content they will need when school opens again in the fall. For many, this summer will be a time for classes and study rather than leisure and relaxation. Yet, aiming our focus on instruction and content coverage alone will not be a recipe for success. Regardless of how diligently we teach, students must be ready to learn. They are a key piece of the success puzzle. Certainly, many students who have been learning remotely are ready to return to in-person learning and engage in whatever learning lies ahead. At the same time, a large group of students have found learning during this past year to be more difficult than in previous ones. They struggled to focus and had difficulty sustaining learning efforts, especially when they felt stuck. Too often they did not have the learning support that used to sustain them when they struggled. Their grades have fallen and, in some cases, they face the possibility of failing. As adults, we can see that the learning conditions they’ve faced have likely contributed heavily, if not fully, to the situations in which these students find themselves. For students, the situation is not necessarily as clear. As a result, many have come to doubt their learning potential and skills. What used to come fairly easily no longer does. What has been lost is their confidence. With loss of confidence comes greater reluctance to take learning risks. Why try if failure is the likely outcome? Learning persistence also dissipates with loss of confidence. Why continue to struggle if I do not believe I will succeed? It can be less painful to be chided for not trying than to be exposed as not capable. What these students face is as much a crisis in confidence as a crisis in learning. What can we do to help students rebuild their confidence and move past this crucial learning barrier? Here are seven strategies to tap:

Demonstrate confidence in our students. If we are convinced that our students will succeed and we consistently communicate our belief in them and their capacity to be successful, our confidence will “rub off.” It is much easier to take risks when important people around us are confident that we will succeed.
Focus on small successes. Confidence grows with successful experiences. Learning activities at which students can succeed can get them started. We can also design these activities to tell us what students know and may be ready to learn next.
Set goals with students. Conversations about goals can offer great opportunities to share our confidence and challenge students to reach higher. If students feel as though they are part of the goalsetting process, they are also more likely to take ownership and make greater efforts to succeed. As goals are met, we can reinforce with students their capability and potential.
Coach students to recall and recount their successes. Confidence grows as we feel successful. Self-talk plays a key role in how successful students feel. By coaching students to remember and relive their successes, they can counter negative, confidence-undermining narratives. Of course, they occasionally need us to point out and remind them of their successes and areas of strength.
Discourage students from comparing themselves and their performance with others. Comparisons to others who may be moving faster or doing better can undermine confidence even though another student may be in a very different situation. What matters most is for the student to concentrate on his or her own learning and progress. It is also the only element students can control.
Remind students that effort and occasional struggle are an important part of learning. In fact, learning that comes easy is often forgotten just as easily. When students have to concentrate and make multiple attempts, we can remind them that they are experiencing a natural part of the learning process.
Enlist students in keeping track of their progress. When students submit assignments, turn in tests, and complete assessments solely for our attention and recording, it can be easy for them not to be aware of their progress. Yet, documenting and tracking progress can be highly motivating and confidence-building. We can design monitoring tools and strategies that position students to monitor their progress, in addition to our records. This information also can be helpful when progress begins to slow, and students need additional coaching and nudging to get back on track.

Of course, confidence is a personal experience. Its presence or absence can be due to multiple causes. Consequently, a confidence-building strategy for one student may not be effective for another. We need to tap our knowledge of our students and our relationships with them, select the right time, and choose the best strategy. The right combination can have a powerful impact.

April 26, 2021

Share Your Tips & Stories

Share your story and the tips you have for getting through this challenging time. It can remind a fellow school leader of something they forgot, or your example can make a difficult task much easier and allow them to get more done in less time. We may publish your comments.

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Time for Renewing Relationships and Making New Connections

It may seem strange to be thinking about relationships and connections at this time of the year, but this is not a normal year. It’s true that the end of the school year is not that far away. Normally, our focus might be on sustaining the momentum we have built with students over the course of many months together. We might be planning special events and breaks in routines to create excitement and build motivation for the final push. Yet, this is a time when many students are returning from months of remote and hybrid learning. They are navigating changing learning environments. They may be meeting classmates in person for the first time all year. Many students are nervous about once again learning in the physical presence of others. Some are likely wondering whether they will fit in, if they will still be friends with classmates from the past, and if their learning is on pace to be successful as they return to in-person learning. These are issues that we should not ignore in our efforts to address areas and aspects of academic learning that have lagged for many students. We are not likely to achieve success with students if they are not feeling comfortable with peers, confident in their relationships, and assured of our care and support for them. As much as we might be tempted to press forward in our efforts to address missing skills and shore up areas of weakness, we need to make it a priority to address emotional needs and build connections with and among our students if we hope to have a successful ending to the year. Here are five ideas and activities you can use to create the conditions and culture your students need to do their best learning now. If your students are returning to in-person learning after being physically separated, use icebreakers to initiate personal conversations and share stories. The icebreakers might involve recounting experiences while remote learning, sharing hopes and concerns regarding the return to face-to-face classes, discussing plans for new activities and opportunities that lie ahead, or other topics that will build connections among students. As students learn more about each other, friendships will form and renew, and feelings of connectedness will emerge. Importantly, creating time for and facilitation of these activities will also communicate to students that their feelings and experiences matter to you. Take time to connect personally with each student. It may be a warm greeting upon entry to the classroom, a comment about something they shared during an icebreaker, or something positive you have noticed. The key is to communicate that you notice and care about the student as a person. The more you notice and communicate your interest and support, the more comfortable and connected your students will feel. In the coming weeks, carve out time to engage in conversations with your students about their transitioning experience as it unfolds. Your interest in their experiences will further communicate that you care. Equally important, you may learn about challenges and barriers students are facing that you may not have been aware of or considered. Alternatively, you can receive feedback on what is working well and might be expanded to successfully move the process along. Be alert for students who do not share or who make superficial contributions. It may be that there is more to learn from these students, but they are reluctant to speak in a group setting. A brief follow-up check-in may be what is needed. Look for opportunities to give students responsibilities and opportunities to lead activities within the classroom. Whether taking digital notes to share with the class, being a timekeeper for small group discussions, summarizing a discussion, or other activities, the more students share in the operation of the class, the more ownership and connectedness they are likely to experience. Feeling needed, having responsibilities, and being a part of something larger than ourselves can be highly motivating and build strong connections. Be alert to the activities, engagements, and successes of students beyond the classroom and let students know you notice. The pandemic may still be limiting some opportunities for students, so the more you notice and comment on, the more meaning your attention will carry. Sending a short note, text, or email or making a brief verbal comment is all it takes. You will be communicating that you notice and you care. There are few messages that are more powerful.

April 19, 2021

Do’s and Don’ts for Finishing the Year Successfully

We are reaching the time of year when the end will soon be in sight. Meanwhile, for many students this a time of transition back to in-person learning after many months, or even a year, of remote learning. These factors and others will add complexity to lives and learning in the coming weeks. We need to be conscious of how the experiences of students may influence their perceptions and behavior in the transition back and respond with sensitivity and patience. We also may feel pressure to “catch students up” in the weeks that remain, wanting to avoid feelings of guilt if students have not been exposed to the full grade level or course curriculum. Time may feel short and pressure may be intense to make full use of what remains of the year. We need to use the time wisely, but we also need to realize that learning is what matters most. Our priorities need to reflect what we can do with the time and resources available so we don’t become overwhelmed and panic. To help us think about how we can negotiate our way through the coming weeks, here are some do’s and don’ts to consider. Don’t:

Ignore the emotional and psychological injuries and scars experienced by students. Just because students are happy to be back in classrooms does not mean the pain and distraction of family members they have lost, family conflict they experienced, and other myriad issues now are gone. They may be pushed down or set aside for now, but the feelings will resurface and need to be addressed eventually. We need to stay alert for signs of trauma and the needs of some students for attention and support.
Assume that everything remaining in the curriculum must be covered. In a normal year we may be able to engage students with the full scope of the curriculum. However, this is not a normal year. We may feel as though we must “cover” the full curriculum if we are to meet expectations of us, but what matters most is not coverage. It is learning. In the weeks remaining, our time and the time of our students will best be spent focusing on what they know and what is essential for them to learn.
Underestimate your role in helping students find their way in learning and life. Students need to feel stability, support, and care, especially now. When we provide a calm, engaging, and purposeful environment, we give students assurance that they can focus on learning. When we give students opportunities to explore, investigate, problem-solve, set goals, and take risks, we offer the autonomy and ownership students need to grow toward independence and “way finding.”
Give in to resentment or resort to blaming. Like our students, our lives were disrupted, we experienced loss, and we were deprived of celebrations and connectedness. This could be a time when our emotions turn dark, and we look for who to blame for our loss and resent the sadness we experienced. However, our energy and attention will benefit us far more if allocated toward what we can do going forward. How can we make the future better? What have we learned that we can take with us? What can we do to improve the lives of others?
Assume that life will return to the “old normal.” We and our students have experienced much in the past months. Our students are not the same and neither are we. Expecting life to be what it was prior to the pandemic will likely lead to disappointment. Now is the time to focus on what we can create. We can build on what we have learned, retain what is valuable from the past, and create a future that is worthy of becoming our normal.

Do:

Share your confidence in your students and their ability to thrive beyond the pandemic. Students need to know that we are there for them, especially now. So much has happened that brought uncertainty and confusion into their lives. They need to feel our belief in them, our reassurance and support, and the stability it creates in their lives.
Focus on purposeful content and useful skills. We can connect what students are asked to learn with the purpose their learning will serve. We can give students opportunities to apply their learning where practical and support them to use their new learning to develop new insights. Where possible we can encourage and support students to use what they learn to create and share with others. Learning is most fun and satisfying when it leads to something meaningful and opens doors to creativity.
Reinforce with students the value and importance of what they have learned, including what is not in the curriculum and will not be on a formal test. Our students learned many skills and developed an array of habits that helped them to survive, and even thrive, during the pandemic. However, many of the most crucial things they learned will not show up on a test or be included in an academic grade. Organization, prioritizing, managing time, solving resource problems, and mastering technology tools are just a few examples. We need to honor and reinforce these skills and habits as key tools for future success.
Take time to build community and nurture a culture of inclusion, connectedness, and acceptance. It has been said that “we all have experienced the same storm, but we were not all in the same boat.” Some students will need more time and space to deal with their experiences and feelings of loss. Others may be ready to move forward with less support. We need to be there to respond and support and to marshal the support of peers to help everyone succeed.
Give students time to make the transition. Some of our students may resist too much direction and close supervision. They have experienced levels of flexibility and autonomy that they value and may not want to give up without reason. Other students may struggle with non-stop school for the entire day, when they have been free to move around and take breaks in other learning settings. We need to be thoughtful about expectations, restrictions, routines, and consequences as students return to learning in the physical presence of others.

April 19, 2021

Pose Four Questions to Improve User Experiences for Learners

Successful enterprises are committed to ensuring their clients and customers have positive user experiences when they interact or access services. They know that the more positive and satisfying the experience, the more committed the client or customer is likely to be when they seek similar services in the future. Schools have traditionally not spent much time or energy focused on providing high quality, satisfying user experiences for students. The assumption has often been that learning is a necessary task and what is to be learned has already been determined. The experience will not always be pleasant and satisfying. The priority has been on providing high quality instruction, not satisfying user experiences. Of course, prior to the pandemic, most students had not been exposed to formal learning contexts other than face-to-face. They had little context for judging one learning experience from another beyond variances among teachers and instructional styles. The pandemic has exposed students to multiple contexts while continuing to feature variations among teacher styles and approaches. It is also true that students are not yet mature and may not always be able to judge the experiences that are in their best interests. However, multiple studies have shown that students can be relatively accurate judges of what is good teaching and what makes a positive user experience for them. Now is a good time to consider exploring what makes a good user experience from the learners’ perspectives. Since adjustments will be necessary even without user input, why not include the perspectives of learners as we design the new normal for learning? We can collect information through focus groups, interactive surveys, one-on-one interviews, and in a number of other ways. However, students need to be convinced that we are ready to listen and consider what they have to offer. Perfunctory questionnaires and sessions where adults do most of the talking or become defensive will not unearth the information needed. Regardless of the specific format you choose, here are four questions you can pose to get the conversation started:

If you were a customer of this school rather than a student, what advice or guidance would you offer to make your experience here more positive and satisfying? Be ready for responses that have little to do with the curriculum. You may not even receive much initial input on instruction. Students are likely to begin with social and environmental issues. Listen closely and note what you hear. Follow up with prompts to address classroom and learning experiences and educator practices and relationships.
What did you learn from the multiple settings for learning (face-to-face, hybrid, remote) this past year that you believe is important as we plan for next year? Again, you may need to use some prompts and probes to help students reflect on and recollect what they experienced that is important. Urging students to compare and contrast their different experiences may help them to discern what is notable and should be retained.
What was your best learning experience from the past year? What happened, when did it happen, and what made it special? Students may find this question easier to answer, but the responses may initially be superficial. If so, be ready to narrow the question and allow time for students to reflect.
If you were to describe to another student who does not attend this school what is best about being a student here, what would you tell them? Placing this question in the context of advising another student can make it more concrete and real. In many cases, students have likely given similar advice to friends, relatives, and neighbors who are not enrolled in your school, so they may be ready with ideas and answers without much probing.

Once you have collected this information, you may need to synthesize it and look for trends and themes that surface across responses. Also, look for important ideas and suggestions that may not have been offered by multiple students, but represent important ideas and opportunities. Consider how you can take as much as practical from what students have offered to implement in the fall. The more you can apply, the more credibility your students will give to your efforts to listen and improve their user experience. Of course, you may want to point out or highlight any changes so they make the connection between what they said and what they see and experience as school starts again.

April 12, 2021

Four Crucial Conversations We Need to Have With Students

Adults are busy making plans and designing programs to support students as they transition to what will become the new normal for their learning. In the near term, assessing student progress, planning strategic interventions, and positioning students for academic success in the fall may need to take precedence over some other activities. Certainly, these preparations are important, but we must be careful not to discount or ignore the importance of engaging students so they can understand and make sense of what is happening to and around them. Students will be making decisions too. They will decide whether to give their commitment and energy in response to the expectations we present and activities we plan. They will decide whether they feel safe and connected. If we fail to engage them in ways that build reassurance and confidence, much of the planning we do will have little impact. In the coming weeks, there are at least four conversations we need to have with students. Each of the conversations can help students to gain a healthy and useful perspective on what lies ahead and provide reassurance that they will be safe and can succeed. First, we need to engage students in conversations about their learning and help them to build their learning path. We know that many students found learning during the pandemic to be challenging. Disruptions, transitions, and shifting conditions made learning focus and consistency difficult to maintain. Consequently, we need to have thoughtful conversations with students about the status of their learning. Appearing to blame and punish students for lack of progress and threats of retention and remediation risk making the situation worse. So many students experienced so much loss over the past year. Adding the burden of “catching up” risks unwarranted feelings of guilt that will undermine motivation and confidence at a time when students most need to commit to their learning and focus their energy. Rather, we need to work with students to focus on the next levels and most crucial areas for learning now and begin to build a path forward with students to guide their learning and provide support to help them see success as within reach. Second, we need to spend focused time with students helping them to identify and appreciate skills and knowledge they have gained that may not be measured; learning that was “off the books.” Survival and success for many students during the pandemic required them to learn and perfect skills to support themselves during remote learning and other settings. Skills such as resilience helped students to bounce back and keep trying, even when they were discouraged. Organization, prioritizing, problem-solving, and other aspects of self-management helped students to keep their learning going even when their teacher was not present and other students were not immediately available to consult. Knowledge of how to use technology tools and applications grew significantly. These skills may not be on the standardized or diagnostic assessments students will be asked to take in coming weeks, but if valued, recognized, and reinforced as students transition between learning environments, these skills can be accelerators for future learning success. Third, we need to engage our students in conversations about transitioning to the new normal. Students across the nation spent much of the past year in learning environments where norms and other behavioral expectations were not the same as they would have experienced in a traditional classroom. They likely experienced greater freedom of movement, more choices regarding the use of their time, and more control over their attention and activities. Classroom procedures were also modified and consequences for unacceptable behavior were adjusted from what might have been experienced during in-person instruction. We need to help students to understand how learning activities and expectations will be different and why. We may need to be flexible to allow students time to adjust, but we also need to be aware of traditional in-class expectations that we may need to adjust or abandon. Crucial to this conversation is our listening to how students are perceiving and responding to the transition. Some students may find the experience to be more traumatic than we expect. Fourth, we must have conversations with students about their physical and psychological safety. Most students understand that the disruptions and restrictions of the past year were due to physical safety concerns. As students return to in-person learning, we need to discuss with them how their learning environment is being kept safe. Some steps are obvious. Physical distancing, learning cohorts, masks, and open windows all communicate responses to the potential dangers of the virus. However, we also need to talk with students about how these measures help keep them safe, even though some practices may be awkward and uncomfortable. We also need to help students to feel safe emotionally and psychologically. Many students will feel anxious about engaging with others and renewing friendships or making new friends. We need to help students to feel connected and included in the classroom. They need to feel noticed and respected. This is a crucial time to design activities and structure routines that build a culture of safety and inclusiveness. Obviously, there is much to be done to prepare for the coming summer and opening of a new school year. However, we need to prioritize engaging students in important conversations about their experiences, fears, and plans if we hope to gain their commitment and build toward their success.

April 05, 2021

The Master Teacher Blog