Letting Go

Looking at the articles for this week were very eye opening and actually concerns of mine in teaching especially the article by Wiggins. I taught 2nd grade this past year and my students depended on me for a lot and even though I wanted them to be more autonomous, I couldn't quite figure out how to get that done. The closest my students came to being autonomous and generally creative was when we did our markets for economics. I gave them their requirements (paper goods only, $12, 10 items at least) and they came up with awesome ideas, buy one get one sales, lottery prizes, and more to get their classmates interested in their business because of what we learned. They took it and were actually able to apply it to make their businesses more appealing and I was extremely proud of them. They understood our vocabulary on a higher level. Also, many students were proud when they completely sold out of their goods in the first round of shopping. I was too!

This was truly the only time I "let go" during instructional time. I like having a certain order and method to our time even though I understand that's not always beneficial. I have to work harder to relinquish control to my students. Students need to be given the chance to learn on their own and apply what we learned in their way on their own time because they'll surprise us and themselves. Once again with our economics project I was pleasantly surprised! I remember one of my goals as a teacher was to create life long learners and after this first year of mine I know more than ever that can't truly happen unless I allow my students to take the reins once I've adequately equipped them with strategies and skills they can use throughout my class and in the real world. I need to give them ample opportunities to show what they know and expand on their thinking as well as what we learn in class. My instruction needs to become more explicit in the sense of making sure my students know why they're learning what they are and why it will be important to them. 

Wiggins, G. (2016). Great teaching means letting go. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/great-teaching-means-letting-go/