After interviewing the students about how our inquiry learning is going (now that we are several months in), they shared what they found valuable as well as the routines and processes they didn't think were a good use of their time.
Turns out, there were some themes to what they had to say:
1) The visual tracking tools, which were originally used to teach the inquiry process, were no longer needed. The students said that while this organizer was helpful in the beginning, they now knew the process well and didn't see the purpose for using the tools.
2) The time management routines that had once been needed to support them were no longer really needed either. Now that most of them were managing their time responsibly, they felt it would be more productive for them to be more flexible in their planning and use of time. In fact, they actually said that this routine interfered with their learning progress at times.
It was important for us to act on this information they had shared. But, in keeping with our goal towards having a 'shared responsibility for learning,' we didn't make any changes based on what they had said in the interviews before talking to the students. And in the end, we decided together that these routines were no longer needed. Students were able to organize and take responsibility for their own learning without them.
It was amazing to listen as these 11 and 12 year-old students talked through their options for using these 'once useful tools' and then came to a consensus about the conditions that allowed for their best learning. As educators, we are always trying to figure out what our students need. Yet, unless we check with them about what it is we are doing and whether or not it's really helpful, we don't really know. They really are very capable and competent.
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