Who Owns The Learning?

November's book outlines his Digital Farm Learning metaphor to advocate how teachers can seize the power of technology to empower students to take control of their own learning.  Below are some of my favorite quotes from the book and my take aways.

1.  “Unlearning is more difficult than learning something new, and one of our most important challenges is to let go of existing structures in order to build more effective ones”   The quote, early in the book, stuck with me during my entire reading.  Often teachers feel overwhelmed with everything that is already on their plates.  In order to move forward, we need to let go of some of the things we have always done.  

2.  "We typically blame students for being unmotivated and for under performing, but many of our students have very little autonomy and are rarely allowed to direct their own learning."  Looking in the mirror is a very scary thing.  As educators we must reflect on our practices actions when are students are not engaged.  If we do not, positive change is simply not possible.

3.  "As for mastery, many students have little opportunity to master subjects; the curriculum is covered and the class moves on."  This is challenging for many teachers. Districts have pacing guides and our state has testing dates; however, we have to remember that we teach students and not curriculum.  One practice that I had to abandon was my over reliance on whole group instruction.  At first,  I have to admit this was difficult.  While I had utilized small group guided instruction in guided reading, I had to learn how to apply this in other content areas.  I often look back at my early years of teaching and think how much time I wasted trying to apply a "one-size-fits-all" approach to learning in my classroom.

4.  "Rather than diminishing the role teachers, this shift makes the role even more critical to the educational process."  I have heard teachers who are working toward shifting their instruction to inquiry say that they feel "empty" or "guilty" because they are no longer the focus of the lesson.  We need to remember that the role of educators has not diminished.  In fact, it is even more vital.  In our world where answers to just about every question we can ask can be answered by Siri or Google, our role will move from the holders of knowledge to designers of learning where students interact with knowledge at higher thinking levels.  As we move off the stage, we can move from focusing on transferring knowledge to our students to providing students with more complex tasks that include critical thinking, problem solving, as well as time for targeted and individualized feedback.   

5.  "Students teaching students is a powerful method for building learning and driving creativity and innovation."  I have found peer collaboration as a powerful learning method in my own practices.  November advocates students creating video tutorials, podcasts, and blogs in which students can explain concepts with other students as the intended audience.  With the emergence of the flipped classroom model, how might the responsibility of video creation be shifted to students? (see www.mathtrain.tv)  However, the most important way for teachers to teach students innovation and creativity is for us as educators to embrace theses in our own learning.  

6.      "Beyond earning a grade, many of our students see no higher purpose in their work efforts."  Grades are often the only feedback our students get.  I can attest from my own experience as a mother and a teacher that often student work moves from the student to the teacher, back to the student, and then into the trashcan.  When we allow student work to have a larger, global, audience, it provides an authentic purpose and becomes more meaningful and relevant for our students.  This provides opportunities for autonomy, mastery, and purpose--the three most important predictors of high quality work as identified by Daniel Pink in his book Drive.   

7.  "In adopting a new educational model, superintendents and principals must lead the way."  As an aspiring administrator this is an important take away for me.  It will be important for me to continue to stay abreast with advances in technology and use them in my own practices.  If we truly want to inspire lifelong learning in our students, we must model it ourselves.  Additionally, I will need to continue my own professional development as well as continue to deepen my understanding of curriculum.  


My district offered a Who Owns the Learning series of workshops for district assistant principals this academic year.  At our first session, we collaborated with our colleagues to brainstorm what we would expect to see in a student centered classroom where students truly owned the learning.  Since then we have been walking classrooms and reflecting on our own practices  in order to create our vision in our schools.  

Who owns the learning in your classroom, school, and district?  

This post is part of my Book A Month Challenge