Responsible Student Learning
Module Seven

Dona Cruikshank - Course Designer
E-Mail:dona@ontarioeast.net

Reflecting on A New Learning Style

Last October when you started this Internet course, most of you began a new experience: distance learning. As with our students, for some of us it has been an exciting and valuable journey, while for others of us, the lack of face-to-face interaction or other priorities led to a waning interest. Probably a lot of you are somewhere in between. For our last module together, I thought we might benefit most from looking at the remaining topics in a reflective mode.

The original plan was for three more topics: Habits of Mind, KWHL, Student-Led Conferencing. All three of these topics add to students being responsible for their own learning. In this course, you were the students and you were responsible for your own learning. How did you do?

Habits of the Mind

I would hope that every teacher has highly developed his/her habits of mind, and if not, it is never too late. At no time before in our profession has it been as important to use and teach habits of mind. We are teaching students to develop skills for a world we can’t begin to envision. The jobs they will have, the environment they will live in, and the dramatic possibilities in health and longevity, we can just begin to imagine. What we can give them is the gift of curiosity, self-reliance and skills for thinking, learning and problem-solving.

Marzano (1992) defines habits of mind as mental habits individuals can develop to render their thinking and learning more self-regulated. These mental habits include:

· Being aware of your own thinking
· Planning
· Being aware of necessary resources
· Being sensitive to feedback
· Evaluating the effectiveness of your actions

(Marzano, R. (1992). A different kind of classroom. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development)

Questions you want your students to use when looking at situations include:

1. How do you know what you know? What's the evidence? Is it credible?
2. What point of view are you hearing, seeing, reading? Who is the author? Where is she/he standing? What are his/her intentions?
3. How are things connected to each other? How does "it" fit in? Where have you heard or seen this before?
4. What if...? Supposing that...? Can you imagine alternatives? How might things be otherwise?
5. What significance does it have? Why is this important? Who cares?

(From http://nuevaschool.org/~debbie/hom/habits.html)

These are the same questions that you should be using when developing learning situations for your students and for yourself.

KWHL

This learning strategy and graphic organizer is so basic that it could be overlooked as a simple worksheet, but it is also a powerful way for students to start with their prior knowledge, plan and reflect on their learning, and develop possible solutions and future inquiry.

K - Stands for helping students recall what they KNOW about the subject (prior knowledge).

W - Stands for helping students determine what they WANT to learn.

H - Stands for HOW we can learn or discover what we want to learn ( sources where information on the topic can be found).

L - Stands for helping students identify what they have LEARNED from their inquiry.

It works really well as a graphic organizer:

Student-Led Conferencing

An entire course could be given on Student-Led Conferencing and all of its benefits and strategies.

The best way to start with Student-Led Conferencing is to do just that...involve your students in sharing their own goals and successes, and their shortcomings with their parents or guardians.

If you want to see students being responsible for their own learning, this is the setting where it is best evidenced. There are many websites and publications on this topic. Best advice is to let it start small and let it grow with your students as your partners in the process.

Your Activity for this Module and Course Completion

You may choose to use one of the strategies above with your students to see how these additional techniques will lead your students to become more responsible for their own learning.

Being a responsible learner can be taught, but it is mostly a habit of mind. Now is the time for you to reflect on whether you have taken responsibility for your own learning in this Internet course.

Some of you may have kept journals or portfolios as you progressed through the course. Others were faithful in reflecting electronically after each module. Look back over your notes, evidence, or memories of this course and use the questions of Habits of Mind or KWHL to reflect on your personal growth in this course.

Learning is personal and individual; it is what you take away when the teaching is done. What you do with this experience will be the evidence of the value of your experience.

Thank you to all of those who have persevered through the modules. Congratulations to those of you who persevered with your students when it would have been easier to quit and return to the "sage on the stage" mode of teaching. Good luck to all of you in a career that gets more difficult with each year, but is still the most creative and fulfilling profession: shaping the future.

Reminder: Don’t forget your course project for the end of the month!

When searching the web, it’s great to know which search engine will give the best results. The following site, provides a quick and easy to use list:

"http://nuevaschool.org/~debbie/library/research/adviceengine.html"


Additional Resources

provided by: Tara A. Demers - "4" Project

Brooks, J. G., & Brooks, M. G. (1993). Considering the possibilities. In search of understanding: The case for constructivist classrooms (15-22). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

McCaslin, M., & Good, T. L. (1993). Classroom management and motivated student learning. In Tomlinson, T. M., Motivating students to learn: Overcoming barriers to high achievement (pp. 245-261). Berkeley, CA: McCutchan Publishing Corporation.

Treffinger, D. (1978). Guidelines for encouraging independence and self-direction among gifted students. Journal of Creative Behavior, 12(1), 14-20.

Understanding Learning Styles / Multiple Intelligences

Gardner, H. (1997). Reflections on multiple intelligences: Myths and messages. Phi Delta Kappan, 78(5), 200-207.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). What is a differentiated classroom?. The Differentiated Classroom (pp. 1-8). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). Elements of differentiation. The Differentiated Classroom (pp. 9-16). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). Rethinking how we do school-and for whom. The Differentiated Classroom (pp. 17-24). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Tomlinson, C. A. (1999). Learning environments that support differentiated instruction. The Differentiated Classroom (pp. 25-35). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Wolffe, R., Robinson, H., & Grant, J. M. (1998). Creating multiple procedures from multiple intelligences. Catalyst for Change, 28(1), 15-16.