A Framework for Student-Led Learning

When I was in elementary school, my social studies curriculum focused on the history of Upstate New York, where I grew up, from third through fifth grade.  As an adult, I still love exploring the geography carved by receding glaciers, reading stories of the North Woods, and learning about the cultures of the people native to that region. While I’m certain that my teachers did their utmost to engage the imagination of my elementary school self, I’d bet that my continued interest in those topics has a lot more to do with my authentic connections to my home state than to three years spent coloring in pictures of corn, beans, and squash and building dioramas of a longhouses and cabins. 

Certainly no one ever inquired whether or not I was interested in the history of Upstate New York; indeed, at no stage of my education was I ever asked what I was interested in learning. From elementary school through high school, I took the classes I was assigned, the curriculum of which was determined by a combination of state, district, and teacher input. Now, thirty-five years after my high school graduation , students all over America, at all grade levels, and whether in classroom or homeschool settings, still do not have much, if any, choice when it comes to what they learn. 

Unfortunately, given the landscape of modern education, classroom teachers would balk at the idea of crafting a project or unit of study that allows for any level of student choice, and they should! 

Class size in both public and private schools is on the rise, and most public and independent schools do not encourage a significant level of individualization based on student interest. Across the board, there exists very real pressure on teachers to deliver the same content to students at the same time as though, magically, all students will achieve mastery at the same pace. 

In spite of the very real obstacles, making room for a student choice and student voice, or what is often called “student-led” or “student-driven” learning, in the classroom is more vital than ever. Student-led learning is the answer to a number of post-pandemic problems in schools. Post -COVID-19 anxiety and depression levels are significantly higher for children and adolescents than were recorded pre-pandemic, and numerous studies show that providing opportunities for student-driven learning increases student investment in education and improves student outcomes. The cross-curricular, experiential nature of student-led learning also builds social-emotional, executive functioning, and problem-solving skills, all of which will support our children’s development into resilient, well-organized, problem-solvers prepared to meet the challenges of adulthood. 

 Is it possible to create individualized, student-led learning experiences that include all of your classroom students in the decision-making process from the planning stage to assessment? 

It is.

Won’t planning and executing that type of learning experience take too much time away from other instructional goals or make it harder to meet state standards?

It won’t.

Over the course of my three decades in the classroom, I developed an easy-to-implement, repeatable structure that expands and deepens knowledge, develops specific skill sets, and improves both executive functioning and interpersonal skills by using student interests as the keystone of their learning. 

For optimal experience, I encourage you to incorporate student-led learning experiences into your plans for December, January, March, and/or close to the end of the school year when students have acquired background knowledge through content, built skills to hone, and developed a positive classroom culture.

Whether your students want to learn more about the history of air travel, how lidar works, or how to dominate in the game of pickleball, you can utilize this framework to build a unit of study that guides all of your students through the same process of determining what they will choose to learn, considering why they want to learn it, planning the best path forward, predicting the obstacles they might encounter, and stating what outcomes they hope to realize.  

To build your own unschooling project, first determine a project length that makes sense for your subject and students. For middle schoolers, I found five to ten weeks to be the sweet spot. High schoolers can benefit from more extended experiences.  

During the first few days to week, guide your students through the process of determining what to study and goal setting based on what they hope their outcomes/learning might look like. Once their goals are set, work with your students to create a master plan to move them through the doing and tracking of their learning. At this stage, students at all levels benefit from direct instruction on backward planning, prioritization, prediction, cognitive flexibility, and metacognition as they structure the work of the project. 

In the second stage of the project, you should allow your students  time to put their plan into action, record their learning, and gather feedback along the way. 

The third stage of the project should engage students in a reflection on their process and their progress, after which they will determine how to share their learning. 

Finally, your students should prepare and give a presentation. Once the entire project has been completed, your students can reflect as individuals and as a class not only on what they learned about the topics they chose, but also on what they learned about themselves as learners.

Student-led learning equips our students with the tools they need to become self-aware, critical thinkers and lifelong learners with the confidence, creativity, and organizational strategies needed to empower them to make positive change not only in their own lives, but also in the world around them. 

If you are interested in exploring an existing project that employs the framework outlined above, the curriculum guide of my “Student-Led Learning Project” at www.curriculumfix.com includes all of the materials required to guide your students through each step of the framework and provides teachers with directions for implementation, slides to support instruction, grading rubrics, and parent handouts.