It's Their Journey, Not Ours!

How will we let our students arrive at their destination? 

Allowing our students to embark on their own learning journeys is essential if we are to truly engage the learners in the programs in which we teach. As each of our students is a very unique individual, so too is their learning journeys. I recently led a 2-day workshop at Greenfield Community School in Dubai and one of the major ideas that I presented was just how critical it is to make student learning outcomes explicit at the start of the units that we teach. 

I stressed that both the starting and end points of their learning journey relate directly to the student learning outcomes and used the picture below during my keynote presentation in Dubai to emphasize the fact that each and every student learning journey is a uniquely different experience. 

At the end of the unit, some students will arrive at their final destination in a sleek, decked-out car that has not only the basic requirements, but also all of the extras. Students who go above and beyond and are great thinkers doing more than required to show their knowledge and understanding of the key learning outcomes. Some students will arrive at their final destination in a beat-up, dirty car that is perhaps missing a wheel, hubcap or a windshield wiper. My point here is that the students demonstrate most of the student learning outcomes in a unit, but may miss one or two. Despite not being able to do it all, they have still understood most of the big ideas in the units that they teach and are therefore successful in their own right.

I used the photo of a group of people pushing the truck to represent the idea that some of our students will need as much help as possible in reaching the learning outcomes in the unit. This help comes not only from the teacher, but also their peers. Allowing students to peer teach and support one another adds a whole new dimension to the possibilities that exist in allowing every single student to achieve success in the programs we teach. The picture of the group of people pushing the truck represents a students being given support and guided by their peers and the teacher. What are your thoughts about getting students to peer teach in PE? How can we give more opportunities for our students to achieve success in our programs? Thanks for reading.