Angela Duckworth, is a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania and the founder and CEO of the education nonprofit Character Lab – a nonprofit whose mission is to advance the science and practice of character development-. She is also the Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. Angela has received awards for her contributions to K-12 education, including a Beyond Z Award from the KIPP Foundation. Her first book, “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance,” debuted in May 2016 as an immediate New York Times bestseller.
How do I make sure students are getting schoolwork done during distance learning?
A good teacher worries about her students. The question is, what specifically should we be worrying about?
When schools first shut down, many educators worried about getting students access to basic needs, like meals, and technology resources, like laptops.
Assuming those needs are met, what should we worry about now?
A lot of teachers are now concerned that students aren’t getting enough work done. That’s understandable, but a recent conversation with Ron Berger makes me think that this concern is slightly off-target. Ron is the chief academic officer of the nonprofit EL Education. When I asked him this question, he suggested we redirect our concern toward what students are learning.
Wait, isn’t “work done” the same as “learning”?
Not exactly. The aim of education is for students to learn things they didn’t know before. Worksheets, online assignments, and other forms of schoolwork are designed to facilitate learning—but they are the means, not the end, of education.
Instead, Ron recommends setting clear and specific learning goals, then giving students more autonomy in charting and tracking their progress toward those goals:
We can be clear with students about what we hope they will learn, and ask them to keep track of their learning, collect evidence of it, and share it with others. We can structure ways for students to share their learning with classmates, teachers, or (if possible) with family, through presenting it verbally or posting work online or in their home and reflecting on it.
In other words, the name of the game is learning, not compliance.
If, for example, your learning goal is to understand the scientific method, your first thought might be to make a worksheet and check its completion. Or instead, you can simply name that goal, give students models for how they might accomplish that goal, and schedule a “virtual science fair” where each student presents what they’ve learned, and how they decided to learn it, to their classmates and, if appropriate, family members, too.
One reason I love this shift in priorities is that it helps students practice both self-control and creativity. Another is that this approach sends the message to students that they are leaders, not followers, in their own learning. A good teacher worries about his students; a great teacher makes sure those worries are well-placed.
Stay tuned and follow our blog series on education and #skills21 in times of coronavirus. Read the first entry of these series here. Download the Future is now and keep an eye out for our news!
Note: This post was originally published on EdWeek.org on April 27, 2020 and is being republished with the permission of the author.
Leave a Reply