It will never work if we don't try

The 21st Century should have transformed the way that we approach teaching and learning by now. But in many cases, we have a long way to go. What best practice ‘looks like’ has evolved significantly since the ‘train them for the factory’ mentality of 20th Century Institutions, but many students are yet to experience what 21st Century learning looks like, sounds like, and even feels like.

While traditional 20th Century methods emphasise ‘chalk and talk’ and ‘guess what is in my head because I am the expert’ conformity, modern pedagogy is about empowering learners with critical thinking skills, creativity, collaboration, digital fluency and agency to choose and direct their own learning. Yet, there are still educators who, clinging to a fixed mindset of the past, are fearful that letting go of their ‘sage on stage’ position and allowing their students to think for themselves will lead to chaos, revolt and a stripping of mana. My mantra is this: "It will never work if we don’t try".

Thinking with a growth mindset is the only way through.

Why does a fixed mindset get in the way?

A fixed mindset is the belief that learners’ abilities, intelligence, and talents are fixed traits that cannot be developed. These students don’t learn like that. These children can’t think for themselves. These children don’t work well together. The only effective teaching is lecturing. Students won’t behave unless we make them do X. (etc).

BUT

If we don’t give students an opportunity to learn for themselves, think for themselves, work with each other and try new things, they simply never will. It will never work if we don’t try. Therefore, we have to try if we want it to work.

Risk-taking needs to apply to teachers as well as to students. Asking ‘what if’ and ‘I wonder what might happen when’ is the beginning of making meaningful change. Using the classroom more like a laboratory and looking for hypotheses, catalysts and experimental data is a shift in mindset which allows for more ‘play’ in the gears. Fixed mindset teachers may fear that allowing students to think for themselves will lead to mistakes and chaos in the classroom (and sometimes it does but this doesn’t mean pulling back and scaffolding more to try again). Having immersed myself in classes with just such chaos, it is a switch in thinking about ‘what learning looks like.’ Learning does not look like writing down what your teacher says. Learning looks like making mistakes, giving things a go, seeing if others have the missing skills to support you, supporting others and becoming brave to try new things with thinking and experimentation.

We underestimate student potential. Recently I gave some year 9 students an experiential learning opportunity to figure some things out. Research sources were provided alongside a ‘how to make an explainer video’ on Canva video link. I gave them a brief explanation of what an explainer video was and then pressed the ‘invisible launch button’. Some students struggled. Some were slow at first. Some teetered on the edge, as if on a cliff, and were afraid to click the links. But some flew. And then others worked out how to fly too…

With another class I have been ‘weaning them’ into it. Each time I launch a weekly quest (the whole week’s learning on a learning map (literally a road map made on Canva), I am taking away a bit of the scaffolding. Baby steps. Baby steps. But such important baby steps.

Students are often capable of so much more than they're given credit for. But, how can we know, if we never give them space to try?

The conformity over creativity conundrum is rife. I want students to listen and do what I say when I am giving them instructions. But I also want them to feel confident to ask questions and challenge the status quo. I want them to work out if there are gaps in my thinking and I want them to suggest new ways to show their learning. If I had a fixed mindset before designing tasks for them - i.e. I must give them a worksheet or a cloze activity with the answers because that is all they are capable of - then how could I know what great new things they might fill the gaps with? How will I know that they can’t make their own explainer video? How will I know that they can’t write, edit and record a podcast script if I don’t offer them the opportunity. We can always redirect, revisit the initial launch stage and tweak instructions to add more scaffolding - but the important thing is that we have to try. We have to try to give them an opportunity to try.

Teachers should be more like cats. Curious. Confidently trying new things and bouncing back cutely.

If we don’t try, we will never know.

Here are some simple things to start ‘future proofing’ learning experiences. (Things to try in order to know)…

1. Encourage Curiosity:

Provide a topic and get the students to ask the questions. Use a squid diagram for one question and one answer to spark a new question and a new answer. Rinse and repeat. Then launch a discovery experience where they find out the answers to the class questions.

2. Embrace Mistakes:

Mistakes can be re-labeled as learning opportunities in disguise. This goes for teaching as well as learning. I tried a strategy - it didn’t work. Now I know that the strategy didn’t work, I can adopt a different strategy. If that doesn’t work, I can try something else. Eventually, something will give. As I reflect on wins and losses in the learning design process, I can use my failures as markers of success for what DOES work. And what does work is not giving up. We have a duty to model resilience and a willingness to try new things. Students may even increase their resilience and confidence as they figure out that learning is lifelong and rewarding.

3. Foster Independent Thinking:

Instead of spoon-feeding information, teachers can guide students in researching, analysing, and forming their own conclusions. This empowers students to develop independent thinking skills. If we teach to a test, teach only for an assessment, or teach only in ‘one way’, what is the actual output we are addressing? Are we fostering a new generation of thinkers and innovators? Do we want the world to be better? If we do, we have to try.

4. Celebrate Diversity:

Every student is unique, and their strengths and interests vary. We can celebrate and harness this diversity and create an inclusive environment where different perspectives are valued and explored as new realms of cognition that could 'strengthen the pack’.

5. Provide Constructive Feedback:

A common complaint amongst teachers at the moment is that students only do things for credits. How can we change that mindset? What if we took grading out of the mix altogether? Feedback should focus on growth and improvement, not just grades. Constructive feedback helps students understand where they can improve and motivates them to take initiative in their learning journey. If you are operating a ‘launch and explore’ experiential learning class, then you are free to be giving daily commentary to students as learning happens because you are not anchored to the board.

As teachers let go of a fixed mindset and embrace a more growth-oriented approach, they open up a world of possibilities for their students. Some things I can’t change. I will never be tall - but I can wear big boots and feel taller for fun. In a rapidly changing world we need to adapt and think critically, be creative and try new things. We teachers need to adapt and adopt new ways of presenting learning for students to have a go. We have to ‘make the pie’ with them rather than ‘serving the pie’. And if we don’t give it a go - only one thing is certain - and that is that it will never work.