By Rachelle Dené Poth,

Over the past two school years, educators, students, and their families have experienced learning and living in new ways. There have been many challenges that we have all faced in education. For some educators, it was a necessary push to take risks, try new ideas or bring different technologies into their classrooms. Although those school years may not have gone as we had planned and we may not have covered as much of the content as we had hoped or had opportunities that we wanted for our students, learning still happened. 

In many conversations, teachers are starting to shift from what has been a focus on “learning loss” and instead focus on reflecting on the skills that students gained by learning in different yet challenging ways. Some skills such as digital citizenship, how to collaborate and build relationships when not in the classroom together, and essential technology skills. Teachers learned a lot about themselves and the importance of reflecting on their practice. We learned in new ways and now, we have to continue to provide more authentic and meaningful learning experiences for all students. 

Learning in New Ways

If we want to bring about changes for our students, we have to take some risks in our classroom and be open to new ideas, especially from students. It is important for our own professional growth that we continue to stretch ourselves and embrace new, and perhaps non-traditional methods of instruction. We need to foster student agency by promoting student choice and voice in learning. 

It took some time for me to make changes in my classroom, but once I did, I noticed an increase in student engagement, the development of SEL skills, and a shift from students as consumers, to being creators and innovators. Students should have learning experiences that push them to drive their learning, problem-solve, create and reflect on the learning process itself. And just like for educators, this can be a risk for students and it can feel uncomfortable. Having the power to decide one’s learning journey provides many benefits, but it can be an adjustment to shift from having a specific end product to being the one to decide what the end product will be.

Promoting Student Agency

There are many ways to promote student agency in the classroom. Whether we try different teaching methods or bring in digital tools, we can amplify student learning potential. Leveraging a digital tool that connects students with real-world learning opportunities and expands their global awareness, for example, can transform the student learning experience. Using methods in our classrooms that foster social-emotional learning (SEL) skills, benefit students now and in the future, as these are the skills in demand.  When students experience learning that is meaningful, purposeful, and relevant to their lives, it boosts student engagement and amplifies their learning potential, to better prepare students for their future careers.

Strategies and Tools

Because technology can and will change, it’s important that we focus on strategies first, and then find tools that help to facilitate these strategies whether in or outside of the classroom space. And when considering strategies, having goals in mind as to the skills we hope to help students develop. When thinking about the 21st-century skills or the skills in demand based on the Job Skills Outlook from the World Economic Forum, we know that the skills of collaboration, communication, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving are a few of the skills our students need. What are some activities and methods that will help students to develop these skills? Here are three ideas to get started:

1. Stations:

My first risk was making a shift to using station rotations in my classroom. Without any experience, I decided to dive right in and make my classroom a more student-centered and even student-led space. Using the activities and some digital tools that we commonly used in class and working together at the same pace, I divided these into 4 or 5 stations in my classroom. Students worked together and it enabled me to interact with each student more. Rather than being the sole provider of content, I was the facilitator of learning. Although at first, it was a big change, felt uncomfortable not being fully in control for the whole class, the impact was quickly noticed. Students developed SEL skills, became leaders in the classroom, and developed confidence in learning and it fostered a supportive learning community. Students felt connected to their peers and enjoyed the different ways they were engaging with the content.

2. Project-based learning (PBL):

PBL is a method that I thought I was using however I was just assigning projects, which were a finite learning experience for students. When doing authentic PBL, students decide on their focus and it also gives students a chance to work at their own pace through learning that can happen anywhere. With PBL, my students built their skills of collaboration and communication by working with classmates and connecting globally with a class in Argentina. Beyond building their Spanish language skills, students explored topics of interest and developed social awareness about global issues, which led to a much more powerful learning experience. By leveraging tools like Microsoft Teams, Flip, Buncee, Wakelet, and others, students were engaged in a more meaningful and personalized learning experience which promoted student agency in learning. In addition to these benefits, students built their skills using technology by being able to collaborate, communicate, create, problem-solve, and connect during this experience. Engaging in PBL connects students with more authentic and real-world learning experiences. 

3. Student-led lessons:

A few years ago, as part of the review at the beginning of the school year, I decided to have students become the teachers. Working in pairs, students had a topic and then had to come up with a way to teach it to their partner. After the first lesson, the roles would switch and the other student would teach the lesson. It was open for students to select a topic or two and they could use anything to create their review lesson.  Students came up with great ideas which used some traditional activities such as creating a worksheet or making flashcards and others relied on the many digital tools available. Some students used Buncee, Formative, Nearpod, and Padlet to design their lessons. There are methods that I am using in my classroom today because of what I learned from students. This “teacher for a day” activity was a risk but with many benefits for learning the content and developing essential SEL skills as well as fostering student agency in learning.

Rewards for Learning

Trying new methods or digital tools, or taking a different role in the classroom may be uncomfortable at first, however, there are so many benefits for students and for teachers. Taking risks and facing challenges along the way is a great model to set for students. In using these three methods, teachers can shift to being the facilitator and enjoy opportunities to collaborate and co-learn with students. 

As we prepare our students, we need to provide opportunities for students to work at their own pace and explore ideas based on their specific interests and needs.

About the Author:

Rachelle Dené is a Spanish and STEAM: What’s nExT in Emerging Technology Teacher at Riverview High School in Oakmont, PA. Rachelle is also an attorney with a Juris Doctor degree from Duquesne University School of Law and a Master’s in Instructional Technology. Rachelle is an ISTE Certified Educator and serves as the past president of the ISTE Teacher Education Network. She was named one of 30 K-12 IT Influencers to follow in 2021.

She is the author of seven books including ‘In Other Words: Quotes That Push Our Thinking,” “Unconventional Ways to Thrive in EDU”, “The Future is Now: Looking Back to Move Ahead,” “Chart A New Course: A Guide to Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow’s World, “True Story: Lessons That One Kid Taught Us” and her newest book “Things I Wish […] Knew” is now available at bit.ly/thingsiwishedu.

Follow Rachelle on Twitter @Rdene915 and on Instagram @Rdene915. Rachelle has a podcast, ThriveinEDU available at https://anchor.fm/rdene915

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Guest post by Laura Steinbrink, @SteinbrinkLaura

posted in education

Ever find yourself looking for a quick activity that has value for your learners but doesn’t require a lot of prep or extra work on your part? I think most educators find themselves in this position occasionally, whether it is an activity to kick off the class period, the learning session, or the conference workshop. A powerful but often overlooked tool in our arsenal is the quickwrite. Some of you are already thinking, that’s great, but I don’t teach English. I know, but the quickwrite is a flexible tool that all subjects, except maybe physical education (PE) and fitness/conditioning, can use daily, weekly, or periodically. Here are a few ways to make use of it regardless of the learning management system (LMS) that your district uses. While most of those listed on the graphic I created for a recent AVID presentation are self-explanatory, there are a few that will benefit from a closer look.

WHO’S GONNA PICK YOU UP WHEN YOU FALL?

BELL RINGER & PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

All three of these can be rolled up into one fabulous quickwrite activity. When used as a bell ringer, simply give students a prompt that they must respond to in a short amount of time (that’s the “quick” part of the “quickwrite”) in a sentence or more, depending on the age group of students. When students are writing, they are thinking. By using quick writes in the classroom, we provide students with opportunities to write to learn, to show what they know, to process information, and to stimulate their thinking. A bell ringer quickwrite can be used to access or assess prior knowledge before starting a new unit. You, the teacher, are in charge of what students write and think about during this activity, so using it to see what your students already know about the new unit is a great way to get double the value out of this powerful learning activity.

WHO’S GONNA HANG IT UP WHEN YOU CALL?

BRAIN DUMP

Brain dump, also called “free recall,” is a cognitive strategy based on decades of research that can take 5 minutes or less of class time and requires minimum prep by you, the teacher. It is a great way to implement retrieval practice, a strategy for helping students get out or “retrieve” the information they are receiving from instruction. The more students retrieve the information, the better chances it has for transferring from short-term to long-term memory. There are several ways to use this at different stages of the lesson. This quickwrite can be a “stop and jot” where you simply stop the lesson or activity after a few minutes and have students jot down everything they can remember up to that point. Continue your lesson or activity after the allotted time for the quickwrite. When using this type of quickwrite at the beginning of the lesson, have students write down as much as they can remember within a short time frame about what was covered, learned, discussed, or practiced in class yesterday. Adding in spacing or the passage of time between what is learned and retrieving that learning does increase the impact on student learning. If you want to use this type of quickwrite as an exit ticket, then simply have students write down everything they can remember from what you covered during the class period or lesson. This should be done individually, and it should not be graded. For the added benefit of students practicing academic conversations, allow partners to share their quickwrites with each other occasionally in order to provide timely feedback for students. (Click here for more information about retrieval practice and brain dumps).

WHO’S GONNA PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR DREAMS?

NONLINGUISTIC REPRESENTATION

A great way to use quick writes is to combine them with the power of nonlinguistic representation. Give students an image and minimal directions so that students have multiple correct responses and must make multiple decisions over what they write. This type of assignment ups the level of student engagement because they are able to make personal choices about what they write or how they write. The teacher can provide the image and have students generate text, or teachers can provide text that students then use to express ideas in a way that goes beyond the use of words. Students may express ideas about the text through diagrams, pictures, 3D models, movement, demonstrations, role-plays, simulations, or mental images. Math problems can be represented by cartoon characters instead of numbers, for example. Any time there are multiple ways to respond to or solve the problem there is more depth or critical thinking involved for the learner. According to an article by Robert Marzano via the ASCD website, there are five points to keep in mind about nonlinguistic representations:

• come in many forms
• must identify crucial information
• students should explain their representations
• nonlinguistic representations can take a lot of time
• students should revise their representations when necessary

Marzano further points out that nonlinguistic representations are a powerful technique and fresh approach that is available to classroom teachers that have a positive effect on student learning as well as provide diversity in the way students process information.

YOU CAN’T GO ON, THINKING NOTHING’S WRONG, BUT NOW

QUICK NOTES

This may seem different from a pure quick write, but quick notes can function as one. There are many ways to do this in the classroom, and it can be a great way to start class by preparing students to “get their thinking on.” To help students start the notetaking process, give them a choice from a few pre-printed or digital generic graphic organizers. By generic, I am referring to one that does not have explicit directions or labels that might direct how a student uses the organizer. If those are all you have, then just make a copy and delete the labels or directions prior to making copies for the students or delete them digitally before placing the organizer in your class Learning Management System (LMS) for students to access. Provide either printed material or digital content for the students to take notes over, and explain to them what you want them to look for and the amount of time they have to do that. Since this is quick, you will want to keep the time you give students to complete it on the short end. Instruct students to use the organizer how they see fit, giving them autonomy over their notetaking process. When students become adept at taking quick notes (or notes in general), the graphic organizer may not be needed, but at first, it serves as a scaffold to help students get started. A blank piece of paper or digital document can be intimidating, but the graphic organizer immediately helps students begin planning where to put their information, and can also help them determine how much information to include, depending on the shapes present on the graphic organizer.

Graphic organizers also tap into the power of dual coding, which is when text and images related to the text are combined to help the brain encode the information in two ways. It helps make the learning sticky. The shapes on the graphic organizer can act as the image for each chunk of text placed within them, helping students move that information from their short-term memory to their long-term memory. If quick notes become your routine for starting class, students can work on the same article or chapter for several days in a row, like a jigsaw activity but completed by the same student over a span of a few days. Day one can cover section 1, day 2 section or paragraph 2, etc. This concept can be similar to a close reading, where students look for different things each time they read. With this activity, they might look for the same things but over different parts of the text each day. What students focus on and for how long they have for taking notes is within the control of the teacher. How students take their notes should be within the control of the student.

WHO’S GONNA DRIVE YOU HOME TONIGHT?

LISTICLES

Listicles have become an established genre of online writing. A listicle is an article written in list format. Each list item typically includes a few sentences or multiple paragraphs, and a listicle is meant to either educate or entertain readers, such as The Top 10 Songs of 2022, or a more informational one, like 5 Steps to Building Classroom Culture. Assignments for listicles can fit any subject or content area, and most grade levels. It is a great way to: do a quick write or longer research project, assess/access prior knowledge, have a fun or more engaging exit ticket, and the list of classroom applications for the listicle goes on and on. For example, if you are working with new vocabulary words, have students create a listicle of the Top 3 or Top 5 Vocabulary Words (or come up with a more creative title). Students can choose from their list and create an informative listicle over their chosen vocabulary words. To also qualify as a quick write, be sure to require only the number of words that students could list, define, and use in a sentence within the amount of time you plan to give them for the quick write. Listicles can also be used in summarizing content, and if used for a quick write, again be conscious of the amount of content you expect within the time constraints. (Click here for more information or ideas on how to use listicles in your classroom).

There are many more ways to utilize quickwrites in your classroom, but I hope these ideas help you get started using this powerful tool with your students.

HEADINGS ARE PARTIAL LYRICS FROM DRIVE BY THE CARS.

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Previously written and posted on EverFi

While we cannot predict with certainty the types of jobs that will exist in the future, we know that today’s students will need a variety of SEL skills, whether referred to as “21st-century skills” or “future-ready” skills, they need to be flexible to adapt with change. 

The Importance of SEL in the Classroom

As we have seen and experienced, there has been an increased focus on the mental health and wellness of our students and ourselves. Dealing with the changes in our schools and in the world, we’ve all had to make adjustments and develop or enhance our social-emotional skills to work through the challenges that we faced in our personal and professional lives. The way that we handled these challenges and worked through stress was important as we are modeling for our students. What are the best ways to provide all students with ​authentic, ​​​unique,​​ and innovative learning experiences that will foster the development of these essential skills? How can we prepare students for jobs which may not exist yet in our ever-changing world?

To best prepare students for the future, we need to help them develop the essential SEL strategies that will enable them to adapt as they work through potential challenges they may encounter in the future. With learning and preparing for the future comes additional challenges and stress related to the work we do. To prepare students, we need to design experiences that will best support them on their journey and this means helping them to become future-ready by developing essential social-emotional learning (SEL) skills.

What are social-emotional skills and why do they matter?

Social-emotional learning or SEL has five competencies: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, and relationship skills. SEL matters because there is a direct correlation between social-emotional learning and the skills that students will need for future employment. Being “future-ready” means possessing the essentials like collaboration, communication, decision-making, problem-solving, and teamwork, which are a few of the future-ready skills listed by the World Economic Forum. 

Research shows that by regularly addressing the five competencies of SEL in our curriculum, we will positively impact and see an increase in student academic performance. To learn more about SEL, I recommend that educators check out the resources available from CASEL, the Collaborative for Academic, and Social and Emotional Learning.

Teaching Social-Emotional Skills through the 5 Competencies

In our work, we need to promote the future readiness of our students, and the five SEL competencies directly correlate to the social-emotional skills students need. The five competencies are:

1. Self-awareness: Being self-aware helps students to understand where they are during the learning process and identify their skills and interests as they continue to learn and evolve as learners.
2. Self-management: Students develop the skills to deal with any emotions or stress experienced during the learning process. In building self-management skills, students focus on setting goals and dealing with any stress they experience. Through learning activities that are scaffolded or promote independent learning, students will see learning as a process, rather than a final product as they develop their own personalized work plan. Developing skills of self-management is essential for the future.
3. Social awareness: Students develop an understanding of others’ perspectives and different cultures. The development of compassion and empathy are important for students as they learn to interact with others and build interpersonal skills.
4. Relationship skills: As employers seek skills such as teamwork and leadership qualities, providing opportunities for students to build supportive relationships will help them to feel confident in asking for help and working as part of a team. Developing relationship skills will best prepare students for future workplace success.
5. Decision making: Students develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills, learn to process information, and find solutions. By providing students with learning activities that promote higher-order thinking and collaboration, for example, we will empower students to make decisions about their own personal growth and develop social-emotional skills that will transfer to whatever they decide to do when they leave our classrooms.

How to Implement SEL in the Classroom

Finding ways to bring SEL strategies in the classroom is not meant to be something extra or time-consuming. There are many ways to weave SEL activities into what you are already doing. Social-emotional learning programs can promote student engagement and help them to develop the essential SEL skills to best prepare them for the future.

1. Digital tools. There are digital tools that can help educators to create spaces for students to build self-awareness and self-management. Using tools that promote reflection or check-ins are good options for helping students to gauge their understanding and check their progress in learning.
2. Digital portfolios. Creating evidence of learning is important for students. Using a digital portfolio is an option that can help students develop self-awareness and self-management as they reflect on their growth and set new goals for their learning journey.
3. Collaborative spaces. Using online collaborative spaces is beneficial for fostering a sense of community, in particular, useful for when students are learning from home rather than in the classroom and good preparation for future work.
4. STEM activities. With the variety of options available, STEM can promote the development of SEL and empower students with new ways to create, innovate, iterate and reflect, all of which help to develop SEL skills. EVERFI has a variety of programs and resources that can provide students with access to learning about STEM careers, business planning, and career readiness.
5. Inquiry methods. Methods such as project-based learning (PBL) promote the development of SEL and self-efficacy through a student-directed, independent learning experience. We want to promote student agency and PBL helps students to work through challenges, decide how to balance their work and come up with their own workflow. PBL promotes critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving, and enhances the learning potential of each student as they design their own learning path. Students need more real-world experiences, where they can assess needs in their community and brainstorm ways to effect changes that will positively impact others beyond their classroom walls.

Benefits of SEL for the Future

With more social-emotional awareness, students will be better able to evaluate their skills and set goals for the steps they need to take in order to continue to grow as learners. As for long-term benefits, teaching SEL in the classroom positively impacts the future success of students whether in college or in the workplace. 

If we provide ways for students to learn and explore the world, they will build skills in communication, collaboration, problem-solving, resilience, and others that employers seek. Students will have the right skills, real-world awareness, and flexibility that will best prepare them for a constantly evolving world and changing work environments.

Rachelle Dené is a Spanish and STEAM: What’s nExT in Emerging Technology Teacher at Riverview High School in Oakmont, PA. Rachelle is also an attorney with a Juris Doctor degree from Duquesne University School of Law and a Master’s in Instructional Technology. Rachelle is an ISTE Certified Educator and serves as the past president of the ISTE Teacher Education Network. She was named one of 30 K-12 IT Influencers to follow in 2021.

She is the author of six books including ‘In Other Words: Quotes That Push Our Thinking,” “Unconventional Ways to Thrive in EDU”, “The Future is Now: Looking Back to Move Ahead,” “Chart A New Course: A Guide to Teaching Essential Skills for Tomorrow’s World, “True Story: Lessons That One Kid Taught Us” and her newest book “Your World Language Classroom: Strategies for In-person and Digital Instruction” is now available.

**Interested in writing a guest blog for my site? Would love to share your ideas! Submit your post here. Looking for a new book to read? Find these available at bit.ly/Pothbooks

************ Also check out my THRIVEinEDU Podcast Here!

Join my weekly show on Fridays at 6pm ET THRIVEinEDU on Facebook. Join the group here