#literacyforall #teachers #education

Everyone wins: The student does the work because they see that they have choice and autonomy in how they interpret the learning, while teacher is still able to assess the student’s skills and promote the higher order analytical thinking that should be the goal of any lesson.

4) Design activities that promote evidence-based argument: Tell students that they are free to think that the content / skill is boring or irrelevant, but they have to support their argument with evidence gained during the process of doing the activity, problem, etc.

3) That being said, reframe how you allow them to express their understanding: Teachers tend to write questions, activities, etc. with the end goal of convincing students that the content / skill is crucially important to their lives. What if you give them the option to argue that it’s not?

2) Think critically about your own purpose for teaching the content, concept, or skill: Just because you think it’s important to their education or life outcomes as a whole doesn’t make it so. You’re passing a value judgement. Its okay if that value doesn’t hold true for your students.

1) Reframe your thinking: It actually takes a lot of analytical work for a student to conclude that content, concepts, or skills aren’t relevant tot their lives. Asking them to articulate that thinking and reasoning is an assessable skill in itself.