Supporting Learners in Becoming Independent

Observing my own teaching approach develop over the years, I have seen myself move from fast-paced, highly structured lessons, packed with varied teacher-led learning engagements to slower, freer lessons in which students explore ideas at their individual pace, continually reflect on their learning and find which approaches to learning best suit themselves. I’m still on a journey with this but I think I’m gaining a much better understanding of how better to support my students to be successful, independent, learners.

One key understanding I have come to is that, even though my students may relish the idea of freedom to learn, they do not necessarily posses the wherewithal to use the freedom effectively. They can actually find the freedom baffling and lose themselves under their own and others’ expectations. My job now is more weighted towards supporting students to work within their ‘zone of proximal development’ (Vygotsky, 1978) and to help them set their own level of challenge. I am learning to anticipate issues which may arise, particularly in students who have had little opportunity to develop agency. Some things which I have found aid in supporting students as agentic learners are:

• Being comfortable with struggle and failure
• Teacher and learner reflection
• Teacher-learner discussion and feedback

The first point, being comfortable with struggle, is as much something for the teacher as it is for the student. It is so easy to step in when I see my student making errors or getting frustrated when she/he doesn’t find an answer immediately. I have to deliberately hold back and allow my students to work through a problem at their own pace. Maths Professor Jo Boaler, draws upon the latest findings from neuroscience about the brain actually growing and creating new pathways through mistakes, as she promotes learning through struggle. For this to be most effective the teacher must create a classroom culture which supports mistakes and confusion as an important part of learning.

The tool which complements struggle and failure is reflection. This metacognitive tool is extremely powerful, both at an individual and group level. It is so important to be able to articulate the process of learning, to make connections with prior learning or with the larger conceptual framework, to critically analyse what led to success or failure. Again, this process of reflection is as much a tool for the teacher as for her students. Anecdotal record-taking is so valuable for the educator who strives to gain real insight into the learning that is taking place. The subject I teach is music, so it is very helpful for students to audio/video record themselves and refer directly to the recording in their written reflections or reflect within the recording itself. For any subject area, exploring audio/video recordings for reflections is worthwhile because it impels the learner to be concise and to-the-point and it encourages ways of demonstrating understanding beyond written form, perhaps using objects or physical movement. 

Entering into feedback discussions with students is often supported by the reflection. Reading my students’ reflections and giving them written/audio recorded feedback informs my own anecdotal record-taking. I can then use my given feedback as a starting point for talking and listening to the student, probing further into misconceptions, making suggestions for improvement and aiding students in planning next steps. What I am now going to commit to this year is one more step in the feedback loop - ensuring that students reflect on the feedback given. I have found that those students who are doing this instinctively are the ones making the most personal progress. Ensuring that all students are doing this as a regular habit is going to be one of my goals for the upcoming year.

These three tools are not quick fixes or magic bullets; rather, just like the aforementioned slower-paced lessons, they are slow-burn, long-term-use supports for the learning and teaching process and require a good amount of refinement to be truly effective. Building self-efficacy in students certainly is a challenge but is perhaps one of the most valuable gifts we can give as educators.

References:

(n.d). Mistakes Grow Your Brain. Retrieved from https//.youcubed.org/evidence/mistakes-grow-brain/

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.