One of the primary pursuits with Project 180 has been providing paths for student ownership. In year one I took grades of the table, so kids could take greater responsibility for and ownership of their learning, which has led to our current select-and-support approach to capturing learning, “My Learning, My Story.” Kids are senior partners in that they have a great deal of seniority (say) in naming their learning at the end. Their learning.

But that’s not the only place I try to provide paths. I try to present paths in our work as well, and I have found a great deal of promise in the word, “my.”

Your is a teacher word. My is a student word. “Your” still sounds like it’s mine to give. Your learning. “My” sounds like it’s their own. My Learning. Yes, semantics to the nth, I suppose, but words matter, and so I use them as if they do matter. I believe the transfer of ownership begins with perception (I say transfer because I don’t think kids feel like they own their learning). And so, I believe when kids say the word “my” in connection with their learning, the transfer begins, and if they say it enough, then perception changes, and that transforms how they see their learning. Their learning.

This semester, I am still chasing this necessary better to my kids’ experiences in my classroom. Here are two paths that we are going to explore as we begin our journey.

My writing. My Process. My kids will do this today. I want them to really consider and capture their present process with writing. I have no idea what they will discover or share, but I am deeply interested in what they find as they explore this path. And I don’t think it will be a particularly easy hike. I think they will struggle with this a bit. In truth, I hope they do struggle some. I think this is an important path, and in the necessary struggle they may discover some agency as writers. We will see. I will share some of their discoveries with you, as well as next steps with this approach.

For reading, I have asked kids to select their own paths.

Interestingly, despite my efforts here and in my verbal instruction on the screencast to establish that they indeed had choice, a fair number still emailed me asking permission to read this or that (seeking transfer). I responded with, “Your reading. Your choice.” Which I hope they repeated (even if only subconsciously) as “My reading, My choice.”

Transfer. Translate. Transform. That is my hope. That is the why behind my.

Happy Thursday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.