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What have we learned? We learned that kids learn a great deal by themselves.

can children learn how to read on their own?

To answer this question, we have delivered fully loaded tablets to two villages in Ethiopia, one per child, with no instruction or instructional material whatsoever. The tablets come with a solar panel, because there is no electricity in these villages. They contain modestly curated games, books, cartoons, movies—just to see what the kids will play with and whether they can figure out how to use them. We then monitor each tablet remotely, in this case by swapping SIM cards weekly (through a process affectionately known as sneakernet

If kids in Ethiopia learn to read without school, what does that say about kids in New York City who do not learn even with school?

children can learn a great deal by themselves. More than we give them credit for. Curiosity is natural, and all kids have it unless it is whipped out of them, often by school. Making things, discovering things, and sharing things are keys.

Having massive libraries of explicative material like modern-day encyclopedias or textbooks is fine. But such access may be much less significant than building a world in which ideas are shaped, discovered, and reinvented in the name of learning by doing and discovery.

flexible grouping

choices

identify consequences

own learning styles.

in positions of responsibility

recognition for doing so

clear rules and enforce them calmly

learn to function as members of a civilized society

Strategy 2: Treat Academic Struggle as Strength

show students that not everyone starts at the same point along the learning continuum or learns in the same way.

make academic struggle virtuous.

model asking difficult questions to which we don’t know the answers, and we publicly demonstrate our journey to answer those questions.

affirm positive risk taking

explore their undeveloped skills without fear of grade repercussions

we frequently help students see the growth they’ve made over time.

Strategy 3: Provide Multiple Pathways to Standards

We don’t limit students’ exposure to sophisticated thinking because they haven’t yet mastered the basics

invite individual students to acquire, process, and demonstrate knowledge in ways different from the majority of the class if that’s what they need to become proficient.

can teach a global lesson on a sophisticated concept for 15 minutes, and then allow students to process the information in groups tiered for different levels of readiness.

present an anchor activity for the whole class to do while we pull out subgroups for minilessons on basic or advanced material.

we should never let the test format get in the way of a student’s ability to reveal what he or she knows and is able to do

may give students five different choices for showing what they know

grade all the projects using a common scoring rubric that contains the universal standards for which we’re holding students accountable

Of course, if the test format is the assessment, we don’t allow students to opt for something else. For example, when we ask students to write a well-crafted persuasive essay, they can’t instead choose to write a persuasive dialogue or create a poster. Even then, however, we can differentiate the pace of instruction and be flexible about the time required for student mastery.

llow tweens to redo work and assessments until they master the content, and we give them full credit for doing so

Strategy 4: Give Formative Feedback

provide frequent formative feedback

Tween learning tends to be more multilayered and episodic than linear;

helping them compare what they did with what they were supposed to have done

short assignments

When we formally assess student writing, we focus on just one or two areas so that students can assimilate our feedback.

exit card

3-2-1 exit card format can yield rich information (Wormeli, 2005)

Strategy 5: Dare to Be Unconventional

transcend convention

substance and novelty

Shake me out of my self-absorption” age, being unconventional is key.