Introduction
In the first article of this series, Tina Grotzer, Emily Gonzalez, and Tessa Forshaw set a vision for Next Level Learners—ones who are agentive and self-directed, who focus on developing flexible expertise and know how to use their minds effectively. Next Level Learners are also integrated emotional, cognitive, and cultural beings who reflect upon their own cultural and contextual assumptions.
What are some practical steps that educators can take to nurture the growth of Next Level Learners? Teaching is complex and it takes time and effort to master the art of teaching. There is a Chinese idiom: 水滴石穿 (shui di shi chuan), about how the continuous dripping of water can wear through a material as strong and hard as a stone. It speaks to the power of continual effort at making the most challenging changes: if we change a little bit of what we do, small as a drop of water, over time, we will see the transformation of ourselves and our learners.
Here are the four things you can do today to bring your teaching to the next level.
- Put learners’ agency at the center of teaching
Putting learners’ agency at the center is one of the most powerful things that educators can do to encourage agentive learners. In an earlier piece in this series, Tina Grotzer described the characteristics of agentive learners who are self-driven, engage in progressive problem solving, and know how to use their minds effectively.