Empowering Students

Empowering Students!

We’re getting close to the end of the year! Yay! We want the students to have more fun in learning, so we add the fun projects, but how do we do this while continuing to challenge their thinking as well? How do we reflect on the learning that took place with a bit of excitement even though we are all tired? “How do I do this?” you might ask, well the answer is stepping back and letting the students take ownership of their work; you have a variety of learning experiences, in which students are engaged, and you are facilitating the learning that is taking place in your classroom.

The more you let student voices be heard and choices are made,                              the more that students will take responsibility for their learning.

As teachers, we are actively teaching and providing students with opportunities to demonstrate what is learned. There are moments in our classroom when we have to understand it’s time to stop teaching and become “The Facilitator”. It’s not just about providing opportunities to demonstrate what was learned by administering a writing assignment or an assessment. It’s about the students taking ownership, shining through a project of their choice where their talents and creativity shine.

“Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I may remember.                           Involve me and I learn.” ~Benjamin Franklin

Here are some project ideas:
In Language Arts I have students pick a genre of their choice and write a story of their own. If a student does not want to write a story of their own, I have them pick a story we read in class and ask them to change the ending of the story (making a small piece of their own).

In Social Studies, we discuss California history targeting a different comprehension strategy each day to understand that in research we have to summarize, form opinions for credible resources, evaluate the source to know if the information was sufficient or if we need to go beyond the current reading. Then students decide what display (PowerPoint Presentation, video, poster board, constructing a California Mission, or an idea of their own) they would like to add as they present their research to the class.

In Science I have students work on an AVID one-pager (a page in which they summarize, question, add art that helped them visualize the concept and still add their own touch that took them beyond the learning, for example adding a poem or a song) or maybe a student will come up with an experiment that sums up his/her learning.

In Math, I have students work collaboratively creating math problems. They take all the concepts learned and choose 2 or more to write a multi-step problem using a Read-Draw-Write. Students work together writing the word problem and make sure they are able to solve it before passing it on for peers to solve it.

Becoming “The Facilitator” is rewarding because it’s exciting to watch them take over and make it very clear learning took place. The engagement and collaboration taking place remind us of the first month of the school year, teaching them “Teamwork makes the Dream Work!”


Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much!
Hilda Sanchez