Kate Baker on Giving Students' Meaningful Choice

At #CEL13 (the conference for English leaders at #NCTE13 in Boston), I had the pleasure of moderating a presentation by Gordon Hultberg @pradlfan about student choice. I didn't know her at the time, but Kate Baker @Ktbkr4 attended and on January 4, when I had almost forgotten the session, she blogged her thoughtful and detailed responses to that conversation. Such is the power of connected educators who revisit conferences through blogging and Twitter and keep the conversation going. (Kind of like blended learning: discuss in class and continue the conversation online after school.)

Click Kate Baker's blog  or see my comments below in red

How often do we give students choice and how are teachers' own personal preferences represented in the choices we allow?
Good point, Kate! I allow limited choices to students that are within preset parameters: "choose essay prompt A or B." Do we ever give students authentic choices?: "By unit's end, design a project, paper, or presentation that demonstrates deep learning." What kind of rubric would we need for that? 
The session prompted participants to examine the ways in which we offer choice to our students: the texts they read, the assignments they complete, scoring, grades, participation.... The list goes on to encompass all facets of our classroom activities and procedures.
Even setting up classroom rules? How students should conduct themselves during discussions? Will students eventually be running the school? Would that necessarily be bad? (I digress.)

Aptly named, this session forced me to reflect on the choices I provide for my students and how I can transform the decision making process.  When I reflect on the choices I offered students during the first years of my career, I usually provided them with options that I would have wanted as a student, but here in lies the problem: I was providing the choices I wanted. I was not really walking in their shoes; I imagined myself as I WAS as a student.  My intentions with providing choice were sincere, but who I am now is much different from the student I was 20 years ago, and who I was then is much different from who my students are today.
How often do teachers really "walk in their shoes" instead of projecting the teacher's preferences? Such is the power of conferences with thoughtful presenters and open-minded educators.
In the past 2 years, attempting to offer my students choices that are not biased or preconceived, I offer a "Show Me" option instead of an assessment I design for unit tests. Students "show me" that they know the material by synthesizing their knowledge and skills into some kind of product. I want to see that they can be an expert in their own right. The students have complete choice to show me that they know the material, and I grade it using an OSU rubric (Outstanding, Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory). Oh, okay, you answered my question about a rubric.
Instead of taking a test on the Trojan war, one of my students last year chose to write a multi-scene screenplay of the Apple of Discord episode. Her writing was captivating and she showed me she knew the origins of the Trojan War without ever selecting A,B,C, or D on a multiple choice test.
What a progressive vision of assessment! Not just in theory, but in classroom practice! I'm in awe (I mean, I'm inspired to try this with my second semester seniors for their last assessment).

Much like Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the more we control internal and external factors, the more opportunity we have for choice and the more power we have in choosing for ourselves and others.
As we move up Maslow's hierarchy, we constantly make choices at every level and our circle of loci expands. If our needs aren't met, we won't move up the hierarchy and seek that opportunity for risk.
Students' lives are controlled by teachers and schools even after school, except students can choose when to do homework or how thoroughly. Kate's vision proposes giving students authentic, real decision making powers to promote more responsibility, more risk taking, more creativity, and more sense of individual agency. What a vision! (check out the graphic)


Did you make this, Kate Baker? Please retweet!

Kate Baker did make this graphic. (I did a google image search.) Kate, you inspire so many teachers. This needs to be re-tweeted until it goes viral!

Lessons learned:

• To thoughtfully engage after conferences extends conversations beyond the moment
• Student choice is not a simplistic concept, but has the power to transform our students' sense of personal agency and ownership of their learning
• Teachers everywhere should experiment with choice in their own classrooms and then report back on Twitter (with the hash tag #studentchoice) and in blogs.

Thank you to Gordon Hultberg for presenting in Boston and thank you to Kate Baker for continuing the worthwhile conversation beyond the conference. It just goes to show you, it's not always the size of the audience but quality of attendees that matters.

 

Comments welcomed here or also on Kate Baker's blog