Educational Leadership - September 2010

Cambourne lists eight conditions of literacy development—and responsibility is one of them. Cambourne points out that students become responsible, independent learners when they make their own decisions about “when, how, and what ‘bits’ to learn in any learning task. Learners who lose the ability to make decisions are disempowered.” 1

I realized that I had been assuming responsibility in other areas of my students’ learning as well. For example, in whole-group instruction, I was deciding what students should read, what type of assessment they should have, and what they should write about. I believed I was a good teacher because I was working really, really hard. In fact, I was working too hard—often a lot harder than my students were.

My first attempt at having students assume responsibility for their own learning was enormously fun for me. I purposely overplayed my new laissez-faire attitude and simply said to them, “During these nine weeks, you’re to do a reading and writing project.” They waited for the directions, pens poised, looking around for handouts containing specific instructions.

“So what do you want us to do?” they asked after a moment, at once perplexed and irritated.

“I want you to read and write—you decide what that will be,” I said casually, allowing them talk-time to make sense of what was happening. Then, together, we brainstormed lists of topics, books, and writing ideas, filling both whiteboards on the wall. Each student eventually came up with a plan for what he or she would read, write, and present to the class

Too many students have had so little
experience making academic choices that
they don’t know how to decide.

(see fig. 2, p. 70). It was a true responsibility breakthrough for all of us.

The next few weeks provided all the data I needed to know that this concept was the yellow brick road to authentic learning. Students were not just engaged—they were absolutely devoted to their projects. They stretched their intellects, abilities, and curiosity. To encourage organization and discourage procrastination, I required students to turn in a weekly progress report, telling me how they were faring. They could also schedule conferences as needed before or after school or during lunch.

In addition, we devoted one period

FIGURE 1. Questions for the Due Date
Extension Form

each week to this project, and students had to decide how best to use their time—at the library, meeting with me, working with a partner, writing, or reading. Sharing their work with the rest of the class was an added bonus. When their projects were completed, copies of their written pieces were placed in the class library for other students to read.

Sample projects included

; Reading Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice and Kieran Scott’s Kiss and Tell

(today students might compare Pride
and Prejudice with Stephenie Meyer’s
Twilight); writing a comparison of the
two novels, with an emphasis
on how the notion of love has
changed in the past 200 years.

; Reading Harold Kushner’s When Good Things Happen to Bad People; writing an analysis of Kushner’s philosophy and an autobiographical piece about a difficult time in one’s life.

; Reading the annual The Best American Short Stories; writing an analysis of the characteristics of good short stories as well as an original short story.

; Reading Alex Haley’s The Autobiography of Malcolm X; writing a summary of the major points and an analysis of how Malcolm X influenced the civil rights movement.