How Teachers Can Help Students Become Independent Learners

Do you ever worry that students are too dependent, that they are not willing to take a risk or try something new or that they don’t seem to have good problem- solving skills? How can we help students become capable, confident, independent learners?

Children learn resilience, problem solving and other independent learning skills by experimenting in childhood. Free play, running, climbing high things, rough and tumble experiences and tip-toeing around dangerous things such as playing in rivers or streams and building tree houses with hammers and nails teach children to try new things and to take risks.

In the not so recent past, it was common for children to spend summer days and after school time outside, riding bikes around the neighborhood or playing games with friends. These were largely unsupervised activities, which taught children to try things, negotiate with others, solve their own problems and to learn to be independent.

Today, we protect children from unknown and potentially dangerous experiences. We supervise play and activities more closely. Play dates with activities orchestrated by parents have largely replaced the open activities where children once roamed more freely, where they had more chances to experiment and problem solve on their own.

How can we counteract the unintended result of our safety measures?  Of course, we do not want children to be unsafe, but we do want them to learn independence. How can we can teach children to be more independent?

Encourage curiosity. 

Children are naturally curious. Encourage them to ask questions and explore new ideas. Include elements of choice in the curriculum that allow children to choose topics they are interested. Give them time and structures that allow for independent learning. This might include encouraging free choice reading, giving options when writing reports and building in time for “Genius Blocks” or “Power Hour.”  Many children are not used to making choices, so you may need to teach them how to make good choices. The reward is engaged learners who are learning to engage deeply in topics and work that is meaningful to them.

Teach planning and working strategies.

Some students don’t apply independent learning strategies because they do not have good strategies.  Teach study skills. Help students learn to plan, monitor their work, use calendars or agendas and effectively plan their time. These are all life skills that independent workers use. Students love to feel grown -up or adult like, remind them that these skills will help them be successful as adults. In their future jobs, they may not have a boss who tells them what to do every minute of the day. They need to be able to take tasks, break them down, determine a to-do list and plan time to do the work. It is never to soon to start teaching students independent work skills.

Deemphasize Tests

In this era of extreme testing and evidence- based learning, it may seem counter-intuitive to decrease the emphasis on tests. However, tests encourage one way of thinking and one right answer. The emphasis often becomes getting the right answer on the test rather than on the actual learning. Rather than putting the focus on doing something so they can pass the test, put the focus on how they can use the information and how knowing it will help them in the future. Helping students to apply the knowledge on the test will actually increase their learning and help them make connections to the wider world, both of which are good independent learning skills.

Reward struggles.

We hear a lot about developing growth mindset. Students need to believe their knowledge and learning capacity are not fixed, and that they have the ability to always be growing and developing. Part of growing is often the struggle. Rather than being a negative thing, the struggles often show us where we have potential to grow.

Encourage students when they are struggling. Remind them that new things are often hard and take work. Share stories of people, including yourself or people that they know, who have overcome challenges. Remind them that struggles pay off with comments such as, “Last week this was really difficult for you, but you worked through it and now you understand it.”  This helps build pride of learning by pushing through new and unfamiliar things.

Allow failure.

This one also sounds counterintuitive.  Just the mention of the word failure is enough to make some students and their parents break out in hives.

The school office is full of parents who drop by to deliver a child’s forgotten homework so their child will not be given a failing grade. Who is taking ownership of the potential failure? This is also true of the parents who does a child’s homework or builds a bridge for a student’s science fair. The message is that failure is unacceptable. I will do the work for you so you don’t fail. This teaches students to be dependent rather than independent. We need to remind students and parents that learning is the student’s job. Send parent newsletters with guidelines of acceptable ways to help.

Here is another example. What is gained when a teacher proudly announces that 80% of her class got a passing grade on the pre-test?  If students are going to learn, shouldn’t they fail the pretest? If they already know the material, they need different instruction. Passing the pre-test should not be a point of pride. It means the learning needs to be more challenging.

We often see failure as an end result. How could you reframe failure as an opportunity to grow? When a student fails at something it is a chance to redirect their thinking. Why did you fail? What do you need to know or what do you need to differently next time?  How could you change your behaviors or plan of action to improve your results? Don’t treat failing as a moral failure. Treat is as a growth lesson.

Consider allowing students to re-do work so that they actually learn it. If many students fail, use it as an opportunity to rethink your instruction.

Deemphasize grades.

Many students are overly focused on grades. The attitude is often, “Just tell me what I need to know to get an A.” In reality, good learning is as much about the process of learning as the outcome. Focus on the process. Encourage the small steps towards a larger goal. Teach students to evaluate their progress.  Simple exit slips can ask students questions such as, “What is one new thing you learned today?” or “What are two things you will need to do tomorrow to improve your presentation?”

Celebrate growth rather than perfect scores. Encourage a community of learners who learn and grow together, rather than posting star charts with a “race- to- the -top” mentality. Stop focusing on number or letter grades and focus more on formative assessment. This doesn’t mean that you don’t hold high standards, it means that you hold high standards for learning, not just grades. Lastly, don’t hold out grades as a form of motivation or as a form of reward or punishment. Keep in mind that the goal is learning.

What could you do this week to help students become independent learners? 

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