Engagement vs Empowerment and Making the Shift...

Out EdTech team has been having a lot of conversations around blogging lately. It is one of our big "asks" of our Vanguard Fellows (See Vanflections here.) and something that we preach about but haven't personally practiced lately (sharing the mess of our own work and our own journeys). Kudos to Krystal for her development in this area.

As I read through George Couros's post this morning, "Passive Learner" to "Active Creator," I made a connection to the white paper I'm reading A Vision for Personalized Learning in Georgia K-12 Schools by Anissa Lokey-Vega and Stephanee Stephens.

In the past, I would say to myself , "Bookmark that Karen and come back later and write about it." However, that "later" never materializes. So, in the spirit of asking our Vanguard Fellows to share and make visible for others the "mess" that is their exploration and learning in the classroom space, I'm going to share my "half-baked" connections and thinking, knowing it won't be perfect and well thought through. I can always come back later and post on the topic with more clarity.

I totally related to George and his "aha" about "doing more harm than good" for his students. Helping students learn IS more than entertaining and making sure they enjoy their time with you, which to me, is the distinction between engaging and empowering students. As a new teacher, I spent way too much time trying to entertain my students. It was what I remembered from most of my school experience, and what I thought I was supposed to it. It was exhausting work. My team and I jumped into Integrated Thematic Instruction and about killed ourselves trying to create engaging activities for our learners. I can definitely tell you who was doing most of the work in those classrooms!

I also remember the push-back from students when I would try some of the activities from the gifted magazine (gosh I can't recall the name at the moment - please share if you can - 1990s) where questions were posed or students were to explore and figure things out for themselves. They so wanted the sit-and-get and fun (and pretty) activities. (And, to be fair, some of those activities made me a little frightened at times because I didn't KNOW the answers.)


George makes the distinction that "empowerment" helps students figure out what they can do for themselves rather than what you can do for them through "engagement." Kind of like parenting, isn't it? There was nothing harder to me than letting my kids go off and find their own way... 

Shouldn't we equip our students with the same skill set? (And now, I'm watching it all unfold again with grandchildren...)

So, how do we get there? We are talking a lot about personalized learning in our district. We know that it can and will take many shapes. Thinking about empowerment. Not only does it require a shift on the part of the teacher, but "yes, and" (Thanks Sara Wilkie) the student also has to make the shift from "passive" to "active." (And, let's not leave the parents out of the equation either.) In A Vision for Personalized Learning in Georgia K-12 Schools, the case is made for "Prioritized Executive Function" as a "pre-requisite for the other 8 essential conditions for personalized learning. Lokey-Vega and Stephens state that learner agency must be activated first.

Thinking back to the 90's, my ITI and Differentiated Instruction experiences, I recall Habits of Mind. This book (at that time in its infancy and spiral bound) was plopped in my hands as a teacher here and ended up in my closet. I didn't quite know what to do with it and there was so little time
(Shocker!) Well, the "habits" have stuck and are even further developed... and now I'm hopeful that I can make better use of them! They just may become the core of what we do!

So stoked about where we're headed! Hope you're exploring the educational landscape too! Share what you find! Building together is much more fun!