Empower by John Spencer and A.J Juliani![]() This book comes from our staff resource library (located in the main library) and was just published last year. My interest was piqued by this book as I am currently making some changes in my classroom in an effort to improve my students ownership of their tasks. Like many of you, I have a number of students who are very good at following the instructions and giving the teacher what they want to hear in order to achieve the grade that they want. But, increasingly, I feel they are lacking those competencies and skills they need to move beyond school! Empower is a handbook of strategies and ideas to support teachers to make the learning student-centred and to empower students to take control of their own learning pathway. How does this fit with our vision?![]() This year we are focusing on two things; Engagement and Well-Being. As a school we are exploring strategies to make the work interesting for our students and help them to be more engaged at school. But what are our measures for engagement? If I were to look around my Year 12s class, they would all be working away quietly on their devices and when I walk around they would all make sure to have appropriate things on their screens. But all I can measure by this standard is compliance. They are making sure to be seen to be doing what they think I want them to do. But how many of them are really engaged in the actual task? How many of them really believe in what they are doing? If I asked them; how many would feel that they really benefit from doing what they are doing in my classroom? Spencer and Juliani really push for students to move from being consumers of information purely for the purpose of regurgitating the information and becoming creators of their own meaning and understanding.
![]() 1. Our job isn't to prepare students for 'something', it's to help them prepare themselves for 'anything'. The future is a big wide place and it will be a very different place to the future that we left school for. We are doing our students a disservice if we are not setting them up to be capable and successful for their future. 2. Self-Management isn't something that we can wait for the students to have in order to be able to empower our students. Instead, it is something that we need to actively teach our students so that we can empower their learning. 3. Empowering students to own their learning means taking risks (and encouraging students to take risks) in a risk-averse environment. NCEA and NZC reporting systems don't encourage risk taking. Our students are driven and motivated. But they seem to be motivated by success - rather than learning - so they are not keen to try something new. We are driven by annual reports and goal setting, so we are not risk takers either. But, if we want to produce students who are able to own and manage their own learning beyond school.... risk-taking is an essential skill. 4. The real world is messy. Real processes out there in the real world do not follow straight forward algorithms that always apply the same way every time. Even a checkout operator needs to be able to manage complex customer requests and problem-solve. Yet, our very orderly classrooms and nicely planned lessons don't reflect very many working environments. 5. No man is an island. Very little meaningful human activity happens in isolation. Even though most of the time we are the only teacher in the room, our students experience 4 or 5 different teachers on any day. We already know that we are able to get more traction with our students if we work in a cohesive way. Same for our students. They need to develop the skills to be able to effectively work alongside and with each other. Only got time to read one chapter?Chapter 12 is where the nuts and bolts of this book really are. It is basically just a big list of strategies to try and activities that could begin to empower student learning in your classroom. It is written in a way that is not subject specific and would allow you to choose and entry point that works for you. How does this book challenge traditional ideas and practice?![]() Spencer and Juliani's whole message through this book is that empowered and engaging learning is risky and messy. It doesn't look like the well order classroom of yesteryear and it can't be teacher-led. Instead, it means taking the power out of the hands of the teacher and making us the facilitators of their learning experiences. Chapter 9 in particular is pretty challenging. The premise starts with the idea that failing and failure are two different things and that the balance in the school system is too far one way. Our students often experience failure, and it is pretty devastating for them. They don't have much of a come back from it and it makes them feel pretty bad about themselves. However, failing is a mindset. There is a future focused, hopeful tone to the word failing. If something goes wrong, we can get it right the next time. We can learn from that mistake and get it better the next time around! Failing is a learning experience. Failure is a shut door. So, are you are interested in making student learning an empowered experience in your classroom? I would definitely recommend this book as a starting point for strategies to get you going.
There are a few staff making inroads with their classes at the moment and it is certainly a direction that the global education sector is heading. If you want to be ahead of the game, this is a great place to start.
2 Comments
DUNCAN
31/5/2018 03:07:47 pm
Will be swapping this as soon as I wrap up my reading. These are great hacks for time poor teachers. Thank you Amy-lee
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Lisa
26/6/2018 05:27:10 pm
Thanks Amy-Lee, we were discussing Learner Agency in our PLG this afternoon, so this is really useful. I'd be interested in reading chapter 12.
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AboutThe role of the SCT is to support teaching staff to do their jobs to the best of their ability. With some education and a few sticks, we are able to create the means for teaching and learning. In this blog, I hope to provide you with a few sticks to help you on the way. Archives
May 2019
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