I have to. I have to trust kids to accept the responsibility of their learning. I can’t talk about commitment and not walk commitment. So, I give them room in their responsibility, believing that responsibility–true responsibility–isn’t something someone else delivers but something that we discover–on our own. I am not a teacher of responsibility. Life has that handled. I offer opportunity. I provide possibility. I serve support. This is at the heart of the 180 experience. This is the room I create for kids as I seek to engage with them in authentic learning.

How did we get here, indeed? An oft cited concern to giving kids “room” is that if we don’t hold them accountable with penalties and rewards (basically grades), then they won’t do; they won’t learn. And that has just not been my experience. Kids will. No, they don’t do everything, but they didn’t before either. And everything they do or don’t for us doesn’t always matter as much as we’d like to believe. And that’s why I have made our daily tASKs (daily practice) choices. Kids choose to do it. Or they choose not to do it. It’s in their hands. I have offered them an opportunity. I have provided a possibility. And I am at the ready with support. That’s the room. And now that they are in that room, next is up to them. And I just have to trust their steps.

Trust I must. And so I do. Folly? I don’t think so. Not in the end, their end. And they will know best when they get there.

Happy Thursday, all.

Do. Reflect. Do Better.