Little Leaders Take the Lead

Can the youngest students truly lead their own learning? When we release learning to students, we make an intentional choice to empower them. We step back, so they can step up. Join Molly, Dr. Eve, and Janitta Davis, Pre-Kindergarten Teacher at A. B. Combs Magnet Elementary, as they explore the benefits and challenges of empowering the littlest learners to lead their own learning.

Transcript

Molly: [00:00:00] From Leader in Me Studios, I'm Molly Garcia. This is The Empowering Teacher for early learning.

Molly: When we release the learning to students, we make an intentional choice to empower them. We step back so they can step up. Letting go can come with some uneasy feelings. Especially with teachers of our youngest learners, you know, those thoughts that creep right in. I can get this done so much faster if I just did it myself.

Molly: Or, if I let go and let students do this, it might get a little chaotic in here. And that makes me nervous. Today, we are connecting with Janitta Davis, A. B. Combs preschool teacher, to help us work through these thoughts and the results we get when we lean into the paradigm of motivation. However, before I chat with Janitta, I'm here with Dr. Eve Miller, FranklinCovey's Director of Research. Eve, how can the Paradigm of Motivation help our youngest learners?

Eve: Oh, that's a great question, Molly. Neuroscience has [00:01:00] shown us that when students are actively involved in their learning, particularly through productive struggle, it leads to more profound and lasting learning. So when we challenge students, encourage them to push through difficulties, they're not just acquiring knowledge, they're actually changing their brains. The process involves strengthening neural pathways through a substance, stick with me here, called myelin, which acts like insulation around neural connections, making them faster and more efficient.

Molly: Okay, that is so interesting. So how does this impact learning in the classroom? You knew I was going to ask it, Eve.

Eve: Oh yes, yes. I expect you to. I want you to. Well, okay, so this is how it affects the classroom. When we allow students to engage in productive struggle, we're helping their brains build stronger connections. This means that they're not just learning, they're learning how to learn. It's about moving from rote [00:02:00] memorization to deep conceptual understanding.

Eve: And this kind of learning sticks. It's more resilient to forgetting and more adaptable to new situations.

Molly: That sounds incredibly valuable. So what are some of those practical ways educators can foster this type of learning?

Eve: Yeah. So one effective approach is to provide opportunities for students to encounter and work through challenges. So, what does this look like, right? So, this could be through complex problem solving, so there's not an easy solution there to the problem: Project-Based Learning, or even open-ended questions when put correctly, right, in the right way. The key to all of these is to support them in a way that encourages independence and critical thinking. We're guiding them, not giving them all the answers or simple ways to get to those answers.

Molly: Yes, we're not giving them the answers. We're [00:03:00] creating learning opportunities for them to get more and more comfortable with not knowing. And importantly, we're not leaving them to figure it out by themselves. Empowering students is supporting students.

Eve: Exactly! It's about creating an environment where they can safely engage in productive struggle, building stronger, more capable brains in the process.

Molly: Eve, thank you so much. This learning is so valuable. I'm excited to jump into conversation with Janitta Davis around practical ways to bring this research to life. 

Molly: Janitta, welcome to The Empowering Teacher Podcast for Early Learning.

Janitta: Hi, thanks for having me.

Molly: Yeah. I'm so excited to chat with you today. Because I think this idea of letting go in an early learning classroom, it can feel so uneasy for us. So in your experience, Janitta, as an early learning educator, what keeps us from letting go?

Janitta: Letting go is big. [00:04:00] That's a major step and that's a major process. When we see ourselves as educators, we are the expert. And when we step into our classroom, that's our comfort zone. So to let go in a space that you feel so comfortable about, that puts you in a very vulnerable state.

Janitta: Letting go takes work. It takes faith. When we think about letting go, that's when we relinquish control and allowing our students to take charge of their own learning experience You know, it's very important to provide that support and guidance, but it's also equally crucial to give our students the opportunity to explore their environment, make mistakes, develop that sense of self awareness, and build their independent skills. 

Molly: So let's dig into like, what does the work look like? What does it take to let go?

Janitta: Well, I think the first thing is being able to delegate tasks. As educators, we're in leadership roles, and we should often give our students an opportunity to lead. And is that setting your classroom expectations and going over [00:05:00] classroom routines, letting students be in charge of their learning, but also letting go means relying on your team. 

Janitta: Having a team or, as far as like, having a structural assistance in your room, being able to delegate those tasks. Focus on what is the goal? What is the goal that you would like to receive in the classroom? Open to new ideas, open to change and also being open to it may not work this way this time, but it doesn't mean that it's not going to work the next time. It's that accountability, that ability to keep going.

Janitta: We're training future leaders and they need to see us learn from our mistakes as well.

Molly: The opportunity to model what it looks like to let go. So talk to us about what steps or strategies you use that have been effective.

Janitta: So in the classroom, some steps that I've used to kind of let go is being open minded. Trust in the process, rather than the end results. What is my overall goal? What is the goal I'm trying to achieve in this moment or this situation? And it doesn't have to be a long-term goal.

Janitta: [00:06:00] It's not, oh, by the end of the year, I want them to be doing all of this independently. What are we doing at that moment? Next, I think it's also giving your students opportunity to be in charge of their learning. When they're in charge of their learning, what does that look like?

Janitta: They have an opportunity to learn from their mistakes. Giving feedback, taking on leadership roles in the classroom. Encouraging them to do morning routines, setting those classroom expectations. Is that through morning meeting? Having them lead morning meeting? Having students being in charge of classroom jobs? Within our preschool classroom, we have classroom jobs.

Janitta: And it's so funny because whenever a student's not here, we look at our substitute list. and we have our class leader that is kind of like our teacher of the day. They kind of help guide some of that. And I feel like students learn through modeling. They learn through repetition. 

Molly: You had shared, Janitta, around letting go and delegating and certainly delegating those opportunities to students. You also mentioned sometimes in a preschool or early-learning classroom, we have team [00:07:00] partners, or we have maybe a paraprofessional. How do we let go in that space?

Janitta: I think the important piece is understanding each team member's strength, and then also being able to clarify your priorities, provide context and guidance, identify what is the task that you're delegating, 

Molly: I love that, going back to that process and that daily goal. And when it comes to that leadership environment, how do you let go in that space?

Janitta: So, every day we start our tone for the day during morning meeting. And morning meeting, we go over our class leader and we talk about what is the job of the class leader. And then we go over the rest of our jobs throughout the day.

Janitta: Are you the line leader? You're the caboose or you're the door holder. Um, are you the light monitor and going over? Those rules, expectation of what those jobs consist of. And then also, you know, we have our, our substitute of like, you may not have an assigned job today, but how can you still show leadership?

Janitta: How can you show ownership to support your friends that have these class jobs? So, going over those, setting the rules and expectations. Um, I [00:08:00] kind of go back when I think of morning meeting and how we start our day off going through our 7 Habits. And we talk about each habit and we talk about what does it mean to Be Proactive and how can we Be Proactive at school and I chuckle whenever my students say, well, we're proactive.

Janitta: We stop. We think, can we do the right thing? And I said, well, what is the right thing? And just having them give me the examples and having some of those, you know, open-ended questions. And I said, well, you know, today I was like, we have a Big Rock and I have a picture of what our Big Rock is. And we'll go over our schedule.

Janitta: Our schedule is our Big Rocks. that goes that repetition piece of having the schedule, looking at what our Big Rock is. And then I say, you know, I wonder how we can Begin With the End in Mind. I said, we got to have a plan. I said, we have a lot to do today, but we need a plan to get this done and having them support that.

Janitta: And then being a part of the process with me, not just me coming up with the plan. Yes, I have lesson plans that I need to follow, but I also need to make sure that they're part of that plan as well.

Molly: Yes. You know what I'm hearing you say that letting go [00:09:00] isn't so much about telling. It's about leaning into curiosity and asking questions, right? Because they have the answers, right? We just have to give them the opportunity. Yeah. So let's talk about that. Yeah. Because with Leader in Me, we know it's about results.

Molly: So, when we choose to let go in the classroom, what results should our teachers anticipate?

Janitta: I think when we choose to let go as teachers, the first thing I think about, myself as an educator is, we have to Seek First to Understand how our students learn. unlocking their potential, when we unlock their potential, we're looking at effective teaching and effective learning, allowing our students more autonomy and control of their learning brings remarkable results in our classroom.

Janitta: When I think and reflect on my ability to let go, I'm truly able to observe my students take ownership, ownership in their learning and fostering their sense of responsibility and accountability, but also I, you know, I think it gives them a sense of belonging, [00:10:00] where they're a part of the planning, and they're a part of the process, we embrace their ideas, and we embrace student centered learning, and we focus on, on the shift of delivering information to.

Janitta: Fostering critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. This is where I feel like our students can gain a deeper understanding. and we as educators gain a deeper understanding of our students’ needs, their interests, their strengths, um, to just kind of be a part of this ever changing world that we're a part of.

Molly: Okay. There are two “drop the mic” moments that I am, like, holding on tight to. The one is this idea that when we let go, we allow an opportunity to have two learners in that classroom, right? The student and the teacher, and we gain a deeper understanding of our students.

Molly: That is so powerful because when we have a deeper understanding. Of them, we know where to help and where to support and where to guide and where to push. The other, yes, the other that I'm going to hang on to, [00:11:00] listeners, is this idea of when we let go and students own it, they belong. They get this sense of I belong here. I'm a part of this, this environment. I know that I'm seen and I know that I'm loved. 

Molly: Janitta, thank you for reminding us of the power of letting go. And of course, a big thank you to our listeners. Keep shining. You've got this.