With a Task, They Will Discover

Fourth period. Each student on a chromebook. Round 3 of introducing students to the KidBlog website. Tired of talking.

Flickr Image Credit

When all of the sudden it dawns on me, "Why am I the one stepping students through each step? I bet if I give them a small task, they will discover how to maneuver the site, teach each other, and do it faster than if I were talking them through it." Thus the release of responsibility began.

Introducing students to our blogging site for creating our genius hour reflection blogs (another post coming soon) was the perfect opportunity to let go of some control. As long as the task was manageable and I encouraged students to talk with each other, in some classes I actually had to remind them several times, students would be able to learn on their own. And, this would deepen their understanding in such a way that they would be less likely to forget how to maneauver the site.

Here was the task(s):

1. Change your display name to your first name only
2. Title your blog
3. Change your avatar
4. Post a new post titled "Test" with the text "How are you?"
5. Visit the class blog
6. Comment on one of your peer's post with the text "Great"
7. Think about why we would use tags on our posts

Needless to say my students handled it wonderfully. Once they started to talk with each other, they started flying

through the tasks. Once their time limit was up, I asked volunteers to verbally step us through the tasks so if anyone had not completed them, they would have an opportunity. This resulted in students who were proud of themselves, a renewed sense of our classroom community, and a break for me.

The point is...setting students up with a task that forces them to discover the learning will give students the opportunity to think critically and work together. I need to do this more often with tech and you should try it to.