When I Empower, Do I Lose Control?

Are you inviting chaos in if you don’t take control of the classroom environment? Join Molly, Dr. Eve, and guest Kim Fisenne, Principal at Porter Ridge High School, as they talk about the real challenge of releasing control so that students can lead their own learning.

Transcript

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

I remember thinking during my first years of teaching that if I didn't take control of the classroom environment, then I was inviting chaos to the party. And with a 60-minute block of time to teach the multitude of ELA standards, I just couldn't let that happen.

Can you relate? The funny thing was, I knew that if I created more opportunities for students to lead discussions, they would feel more motivated and competent to engage in learning tasks. They would feel like they had an important role to play in the learning process. It's what I envision the day to day looking like in a secondary classroom.

And, still yet, I found myself taking full ownership for the teaching and learning in the classroom, from passing out papers to students, to teacher-led lectures, and handing out the problem and the solution to students. I promise our episode today is not about the teaching confessions of Molly, it's about the Paradigm of Motivation.

This mindset that we [00:01:00] empower our students to lead their own learning. To help us work our way through this lens, I'm interviewing Kim Fisenne, principal at Porter Ridge High School. To kick us off with our learning journey, I would love for our listeners to hear the research that supports the benefits we get when we step back and empower our students to step up in the classroom. Eve, take it away. 

Eve: Neuroscience has 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

Eve: The process involves strengthening neural pathways through a substance, stick with me here, called myelin, which acts as like insulation around neural connections, making them faster and more efficient.

Molly: Okay, that is so interesting. [00:02:00] 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 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 [00:03:00] to the problem, Project-Based Learning, or even open-ended questions when put correctly, right?

Eve: 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 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. This learning is so valuable. I'm excited to jump into conversation with Kim around practical ways to bring this research to life.

Molly: Kim, welcome to The Empowering Teacher Podcast for Secondary.

Kim: Thank you for having [00:04:00] me.

Molly: It is so great to have you with us today. Our episode is about the Paradigm of Motivation. It's where we empower students to lead their own learning and really the impact that it's having within our classrooms. So in your experience as a secondary educator, what actually keeps us from letting go?

Kim: So, deadlines, amount of work that we have to get through, and the depth of knowledge that students need to get to, along with, you know, in some courses standardized testing, making sure we're hitting all of those big points that are going to be tested, knowing that that impacts the school.

Kim: But I think really, the educator looking at, you know, when am I giving that unit test? What do I plan for the next day? I have to get through this today. And we say, well, I'm just going to continue to lecture so they have all the information instead of actually allowing the kids the time to digest it and talk about it and learn it, which is really what we're in the classroom for. 

Kim: We're not really in the classroom to get up there and, and talk. And if we continuously model things, but we never [00:05:00] let the kids go on their own, that's problematic. And so allowing that time and being able to restructure our plans for the next day, um, or the next week or whatever it is, I think is one of the, the major obstacles.

Molly: Let's jump into probably a question that is on our listeners’ mind right now. Definitely see the importance of doing that, but what does it actually take to let go in a secondary classroom?

Kim: I think that, definitely planning out what you need to do. What are your objectives? What are those essential questions that you want students to learn? And having those readily available to you, so that you yourself can stick to the important things in the lesson 

Kim: And then actually creating your activities. around the learning objectives rather than just, oh, this seems like an interesting activity. Does this activity really get the kids to a place where they have picked up on and learned that important item that I really want them to learn?

Kim: And how will I know that? What am I asking them to do that's going to show [00:06:00] me that all of them have learned it, not just the few kids who raise their hand? How can I evaluate that on a daily basis?

Molly: Let's talk practical. You said on a daily basis. So what are some of those strategies that you have seen to be effective?

Kim: One of the most important things is also allowing the students to really focus on that academic language in the classroom. And when I say that, I don't necessarily mean the vocabulary words for biology or the vocabulary words for math, it's all that language that goes along with it. 

Kim: So words like maximum and minimum, in many different subjects can mean different things. So how am I making sure that students know how to apply all of that and that they actually use that language in the classroom? The teacher is really the expert in the subject at the secondary level, and I know that they know all of that information.

Kim: But how do we get students to not only be able to hear it and understand it, but to be able to move that information around in their head? And then bring out an answer after they've done [00:07:00] something like evaluate or analyze or create all of those higher level things. To do that, we really have to make sure that we're setting that expectation for them to use that academic language.

Kim: I'll give an example. Uh, this is a number of years ago in a biology classroom. I went in and the teacher was talking about photosynthesis and cellular respiration. And she asked the student the question. The student gave a very teenager answer. Like, there was no science words used whatsoever. But the kid was right. the student had the right answer. but it didn't sound like a science, answer.

Kim:  And so the teacher said, That was really good. I like that, but who can use some of those words that we've been studying and give me that answer again? And another student answered that question and sounded a little bit more scientific than the first student. And then she said, Okay, that's great. You really did a good job. I heard you use this word. I heard you use that word.

Kim: Good job. Now, who can sound like a scientist? I want you to take the information those other two students gave, and I want you to really put in that academic language that we know, and a student raised their hand, [00:08:00] and beautiful answer, it could have come out of a textbook, but at that point, everybody in the class understood what was going on, because they've heard it stated a number of different ways, and they got to the point where the teacher said, that's the answer that we're looking for, and that's the level of language I want you to use.

Kim: The best way to get everybody engaged in the classroom, I think, is by using that Turn and Talk strategy And we all know teenagers love to talk. And you give 30 seconds and you walk around and lean and listen, just like elementary school teachers do when kids are reading and talking.

Kim: And you come away with a lot of things. You come away with a general gauge of how many kids in the classroom really do understand. And then you also come away with where are the misconceptions, right? Because especially teachers early on in their teacher career don't always know where those misconceptions are going to be. But you can hear it when the kids talk about it.

Kim: So I think it, it not only helps the kids to be able to use the academic language of the subject, of those essential questions you want, but it also gives you a really great opportunity to walk around the classroom and assess and see what's going on and how the learning is going.

Molly: Yeah, [00:09:00] I, I'm leaning into the 13 Trust Behaviors here, Kim. Clarify Expectations. When we clarify expectations, that contributes to the trusting environment in the classroom. Clarify the expectation of around the academic vocabulary, um, how we engage and interact with each other. The second piece that I'm hearing is to be intentional with engagement, right?

Molly: So not just these random activities, but the intentional engagement around The learning that needs to happen and how can you empower students so that all students are a part of the conversation. And when I think about those two things, those two strategies, what results should teachers expect if they lean into those and implement them within the classroom?

Kim: I think two big things, I see them increasing in the classroom. And one is student confidence, because if I sit in a classroom and I never answer, I always let somebody else answer, I'm not going to feel confident in what I know. But if I have the opportunity in a pretty safe environment, which is me and the kid next to me, to [00:10:00] say things, even if it's something I heard the kid next to me say, I'm going to start to increase my confidence.

Kim: And I think that's really important in terms of getting students to engage in the learning and really put themselves out there. And the other thing I think is by using that technique, I think the teacher will actually be able to get through more material in a shorter amount of time.

Kim: I know initially sometimes when teachers say, Well, I don't have time to have the kids turn and talk about everything. but that's where they're really doing the learning, And it, as long as you're keeping it to a small amount of time, you're not letting them talk for five minutes, that's a waste of time, but just, 30 seconds, a minute, depending on the question, you give them exactly what you want them to do, you know, three differences, or the most important thing, the most important, piece of data that we just looked at, or what's the, central idea of this paragraph.

Kim: As long as they know what it is they should be talking about, it should be a quick turn and talk. And then you get everybody at the same point, right? So, I think teachers can stick to their [00:11:00] lesson plans better. Because they're assessing as they move through. And they know, okay, they've got this. I'm going to move to the next point because the class has it. Or they don't. I need to back up and try something different. And then we can move forward, 

Molly: What's beautiful about that is when we empower students to be actively engaged in the learning, we truly have a better sense of where they are and what they need. Kim, thank you for just shining the light on what happens when we choose to embrace the Paradigm of Motivation and the impact that it's truly having in our classrooms.

Molly: And of course, to our listeners, remember you matter, you make a difference and you've got this.