Voice and Choice - Dissecting ISTE Standard for Student "Empowered Learner"

ISTE Student Standard #1- Empowered Learner: Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences.

The idea of centers is nothing new in education. In fact, if you are an elementary teacher centers/stations are probably a part of your day, every day. They allow you to work with small groups, they allow for embedded movement and centers/stations can be a great way to differentiate. But how often do we let students choose which center/station to learn a concept from? Or even yet, how often do we help students learn which ways they learn best through giving voice and choice of how they learn and feedback to help them think through what works best for them? For most teachers, this isn’t our natural way to teach but with the advent of this thing called the internet, we no longer have to be the imparter of all things known as knowledge in the classroom. Beyond that, we shouldn’t take that role on a regular basis. We should be growing our students into lifelong learners that know how to learn. Is this missing from your classroom?

For more years than less, teachers have spent 7 hours a day teaching all students in their classroom the exact same information knowing that some kids would get it quickly, some kids would eventually get it and some kids would never get it. We learned to teach to the middle. We hope that the quicker learners will help the slower learners as we work the classroom helping the average to slower learners and we have this predictable bell curve every year of what signifies our blood, sweat, and tears in trying to make a difference in this world.

Because of the closeness of information availability, our students no longer have to be completely dependent on the teacher to know the subject matter. The ubiquitousness of technology gives both the educator and the student the ability to consider the educational process differently. Platforms like YouTube and Khan Academy create opportunities for students to learn anytime, anywhere, and pretty much anything. Some students are doing just that. But how do we empower all students to be more involved in their learning path?

This is where giving them voice and choice in their learning process could make a difference. It’s not going to come naturally to them. One would think that when you say “Ok, kiddos you can choose how you want to learn this concept today - here are 3 choices” that they would be like, “finally!” But students are conditioned to learn the way we have taught them all these years. Tell me what I need to know so I can regurgitate it back to you to prove that I was listening in class. I’m not saying teachers don’t try to differentiate the way they instruct but let’s be real, most classes follow a predictable pattern of instruction that would look familiar to anyone walking in the door.

How do we change this? Options. It will take time on your part to create these options but what if students walked into class and there were 3 different stations in the room and they were given a rubric that let them know what they needed to learn that day. Let’s say the lesson was for third graders to learn about Electrical Circuits. You walked into the room and you see:

• Area 1 in the classroom is set up with 9-volt batteries, alligator clips, and a section of Christmas tree lights with one light available. (high tech)
• Area 2 set up with a video cued and ready to go in front of a group of desks. (low tech)
• Area 3 there is a small area in the front of the room where the teacher is waiting to lead a lesson on circuits. (no tech)

In the above case, you are creating voice and choice and have high tech, low tech, and no tech options all in the same lesson. But how can you empower your learners in other ways? 

What are ways you can look at ISTE Student Standard #1 "Students leverage technology to take an active role in choosing, achieving and demonstrating competency in their learning goals, informed by the learning sciences" in your classroom (yes, even a high school classroom) that would allow you to feel like you were introducing or even helping student master the concept of knowing what it means to be an empowered learner? If you are unsure, click on the link in the first line of this post and look at the breakdown of Standard 1, then create an opportunity. 

Other ideas for creating "Empowered Learner" opportunities in the classroom:

5 Easy Peasy Options for Tech Integration

There are some ways to integrate technology in your classroom that adds value to your learning environment and pretty much can be a go to no matter what the lesson plan. Here are my favorites no matter what grade level you might teach:

1. Research.
   
    Allowing students to find information on a topic by themselves allows them to delve deeper into areas that appeal to them. It also allows them to be in charge of the path of their learning no matter how "locked down" the requirements for the lesson are. Most school systems have access to online research databases that are grade-based helpful. Teaching students how to curate all the information on the internet is no easy task but placing good research options in their path helps. Using digital encyclopedias and search engines like http://kiddle.co for younger students can help. 
   
   
   Showing older students how to use the Google search engine tools (http://mashable.com/2011/11/24/google-search-infographic/#0vBxYjxrxsqb)as well as how to use your library's digital learning databases are important steps to preparing our students to learn how to find quality information with ease.
2. Mind mapping.
   
    This article talks about the benefits of mind mapping: http://mindmapsunleashed.com/the-mind-mapping-concept-and-how-you-benefit-from-this. There are many free or almost free websites and apps that allow students the beauty of gathering their thoughts on a topic in a systematic way. Apps like Popplet and Simple Mind+ and websites like www.mindmeister.com allow students the ability to creatively make connections to ideas, discern important points, as well as map outlines for papers. Mind mapping has also often shown a benefit to recall as well.
   
   
3. Collaboration.
   
    My favorite way to collaborate is using GAFE (Google Apps for Education), specifically Google Docs so that students can collaborate on writing projects through the use of multiple users on one document or even just allowing collaboration on a document by the adding of comments for reflection. There are also options like Padlet, Google hangouts, Skype, blogging, and the discussion boards of your school's LMS options that either allow students the ability to connect with each other or the world beyond the four walls of their classroom. 
   
   
4. Whiteboard options.
   
   For years teachers have used whiteboards for quick formative assessment to see if daily learning objectives have been met. Today, we have websites and apps like A Web Whiteboard, Explain Everything, ShowMe, and EduCreations that can be used to give students personal access to content. Digital whiteboard options also are a great tool to allow students to use at the end of a class to show their learning for the day as well. Finish your lesson, tell the students to open their Digital Whiteboard and say "create a file that shows me the top three things you learned today in class," or "Create a math problem using the formula we used today and solve the problem." The possibilities are endless. 
5. Studying aids.
   
    Technology is a great way to aid students in studying. Digital flashcard makers like Quizlet and word cloud creators like Wordle are a great way for students to reinforce spelling and vocabulary terms. Khan Academy, ck12.org, and other online options as simple as youtube offer your students additional support in studying for exams or refreshers for homework. 
   
   
   The options for integrating technology into the classroom are endless and the creative ability to what a teacher hopes to accomplish is turning more dreams into reality every day. Technology often affords the teacher extra time to have more one on one opportunities with their students as well as supporting the learning environment in very concrete substantive ways that didn't exist a decade ago. The above 5 options could easily be adapted and adopted in any classroom to reap the benefits of technology in our schools and to equip our students for the world beyond their academic life.