One (Baby) Step at a Time: The Promise of Incremental Change

I recently attended a presentation on Personalized Learning with a team of middle school teachers who instruct advanced learners through honors level courses.  We had great diversity in the group, with multiple grade levels and content areas represented. The focus of this session was on developing Independent Learners. We learned that truly Independent Learners have skills to problem-solve, think critically, manage time and resources, ask good questions, and make choices to further learning. Our team agreed that developing Independent Learners is a cause we can all support - and it is a meaningful cause in the context of our honors classes.

Early in our session, we concluded that our students are not often asked to operate as Independent Learners.  Much of the work in which we have students engage have predetermined "finish lines" with obstacles carefully removed.  To problem-solve in an authentic way, one must encounter authentic problems!  Our curriculum materials are generally designed to get students from A to B along the least complex and most time-efficient path possible.  This efficiency surely ensures the coverage of extensive content, but it does not support long-term retention. 

Skills of independence are developed through practice.  Students develop them by taking charge of their own learning, making substantive choices, reflecting on their work, and asking for help when it is really needed.  Creating an environment for this kind of growth requires teachers to clarify expectations in some areas and release control in others.  Learning paths diverge, and the teacher acts as a "mentor in the middle" providing support, guidance, and information as needed.  This is a significant shift and requires venturing beyond the comfort zone for all.


How do we hand over the reigns to eager (and some not-so eager) students, when so many of our units come with questions, resources, and processes ready to deliver?  And how do we make sure that, in handing over those reins, students don't gallop around or jump over something critical?

We start small!




I propose the "more of this" and "less of that" path to meaningful change.  When planning a unit or lesson or project, we aim to provide MORE:

• Choice
• Real-world application
• Collaboration
• Inquiry
• Student-directed work time

When planning a unit or lesson or project, we aim to provide LESS/FEWER:

• Assignments where the goal is for all students to have the same answers
• Activities where all students use the same resources and processes for learning
• Rote memorization
• Time spent practicing at the knowledge/comprehension levels
• Whole-group direct-instruction

Fast change is overwhelming for teachers and confusing to students. Slow change is empowering to teachers and exciting for students.  By working in the today and aiming for more and less, the student's experience is enriched starting now.  Teachers have time to read, think, talk and experiment while moving forward...one step at a time.

Serving the Silent Minority: The Visual/Spatial Learner

Traditionally, schools are brimming with words; lessons are delivered sequentially, and information is layered on one brick at a time. Education's verbal-sequential orientation originated during industrial age - when uniformity and efficiency were of the highest value.  

Now, originality and creativity are at a premium. Education is poised to make its greatest shift in generations. As we move away from extensive lecture and whole-class textbooks to more personalized and authentic work, there is one group of historically under-served learners who will greatly benefit: the rare and remarkable visual-spatial learner.

Visual-spatial thinkers learn by doing - by building, by experimenting, by manipulating, and by creating. They are systems thinkers who can, according to expert Dr. Linda Keger Silverman, “…orchestrate large amounts of information from different domains, but they often miss the details.” They don’t learn step-by-step, and they don't learn through rote exercises and repetition. Ironically, as these students begin to struggle, the first intervention is often to provide more rote practice and to break ideas down into even smaller and smaller pieces.

The visual-spatial learner's exceptional perceptual reasoning skills are often remarkably disparate from their verbal reasoning skills. This disparity, along with poor organizational and time-management skills, can lead to significant underachievement. Because much of school targets their weaknesses, visual-spatial learners can disengage, lose heart, and even drop out. Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison knew a thing or two about this.

So what can we do about it?  We can target the visual-spatial thinker's STRENGTHS and then use that success to breed more. Like a car that needs gas for a long trip ahead, so too do visual/spatial learners. By providing learning experiences where they EXCELL and LEAD, we are filling their hearts and minds (and tanks!) with self-efficacy, hope, and ambition. How do we do this?

• Design performance tasks which pose big-picture challenges
• Provide students with learning opportunities that will inspire and develop their natural talents (coding, engineering projects, visual arts, Lego League)
• Use the “hardest problem first” strategy, as visual-spatial learners generally do better with complexity than rote
• Provide academic choice so that students can tailor learning experiences to their own strengths and interests

Teaching visual-spatial learners, and developing all students' 21st Century Skills, requires us to let go. When we do so, we allow understanding to grow along non-linear paths. It is messy, and it is so worth it.