Let it go…
This session my research internship students are working together to reflect on and write about what they are learning from their research experience. I am trying to stay out of it, but it is tough.
University lecturers think they know best. Most of the time we decide what will be learned, how it will be learned, and how we will determine whether it has been learned. Our students are often consumers of learning experiences that are designed for them, rather than active collaborators the design process. This session, I am letting it go. I am going to try to get out of the way and watch as students create a learning experience for themselves.
No rules, no guidelines.
Teacher watches students learn.
Giving back control.
Haiku inspiration from “What I learned writing a haiku every day for 100 days”
We had a brainstorming session in class this week. Students moved around question stations, adding ideas and gradually defining the task that they will undertake this session.
We had lots of good ideas about what we could write about.

Lots of creative ideas about formats we could use.

In thinking about the scope of the task, it was important to think about rules and guidelines that might be necessary.

Students talked about the pros and cons of different group structures.

And they thought about what makes for good group work experiences and what criteria they might use to assess each other.

I really enjoyed watching students move from station to station and building on the ideas that the previous group had left on the board. I found it REALLY difficult not to put in my two cents worth.
In workshop next week, we want to jump straight in and start working on projects/rubrics, so before then students need to decide on the group structure. They are using a dedicated Slack channel to brainstorm and come to a consensus.
I’m excited to see what they come up with.

