The Power of Losing Control

From the desk of Monica…

Choice helps students. Really, it does.

I admit it. I am a control freak. If I could, I would control every part of my life, my circumstances, and my career. All of it. And as I get older, I realize that the quote from that 1990s racing movie, Days of Thunder is oh, so painfully true. “Control is an illusion, you infantile egomaniac. Nobody knows what is going to happen next…”

I used to feel as if I needed to control everything that happened in my classroom, too. But I am a lot older now in the profession and over the years I have come to understand that giving my kids choices doesn’t mean I have no control. Instead…purposeful, intentional student choice leads to more teacher control of the outcomes.  Allowing for autonomy and providing choice in the classroom helps kids.

A few years ago, I traveled to Tacoma, Washington to attend the Daily 5/Café conference hosted by The 2 Sisters. On the first day, I learned all about the heart of the Daily 5 structure in reading. It’s choice. The more these people talked about student choice as the key to keeping kids motivated and engaged in reading, the more uncomfortable I became. But, by the end of the workshop, I got it.

We don’t just give students the run of the classroom, or set them up to make choices they don’t know how to make. Successful student choice comes from consciously preparing, teaching, practicing, re-teaching, practicing, practicing, practicing, and teaching again.

Student choice in a classroom reading block can look like students choosing which “round” they do what reading activity when given clear direction on what must be done. It can look like students choosing where in the room they want to read, learning where they don’t like to be, and who they should not sit near, etc.It can look like students knowing how to choose “good fit” books based on their reading level, comprehension, and interest.

The key to helping students be successful with the freedom of choice is threefold – 1. Students must be taught how to make the choices, 2. Students must be given the chance to practice making choices with assistance before they are turned loose, and 3. Students have to have consistent and clear expectations and given ample feedback early on.

Coming back to my classroom after that workshop, I struggled with relinquishing control of what students would do and when. I had the opportunity to share what I had learned with a group of teacher friends at my school and we all started using the same structure for our literacy block at the same time. We met, planned, shared our control issues, worked out what was going wrong and how we could motivate students through choice without lowering our expectations for their work. What did we all learn? Choice is tough for teachers and choice helps students.

So how does a teacher make the first steps toward using the freedom of choice as a teaching tool? Check out these suggestions and tips:

• Teach students to choose their own good fit books for their book boxes.
• Put a variety of activities into tubs for students to choose during any sort of station time.
• Teach students to balance what is required with what they may choose.
• Allow students to explore their learning styles and use those learning styles in assessments.
• Give students the choice of two ways to complete an assignment. Consider learning styles, keep the assignment expectation the same and give students the opportunity to show their learning in ways besides paper-pencil.
• Give students 5 homework assignments per week and let them choose 3.

Choice is a key component in a classroom that is truly student-centered and promotes autonomy.   The paradox of allowing student choice is that for the teacher, we control more learning when we pass the control onto our students.