Kevin & Julie Frederick

My classroom culture didn’t always reflect my philosophy of learning. Initially, my teaching methodologies dictated the classroom culture. During those early days I put expectations first. Were deadlines met? Formats followed? Personal responsibility taken? I wanted to prepare my students for the world outside the classroom, where mistakes can cost you your job. 

This is not to say I was an unpopular disciplinarian. Students genuinely liked the content of my courses and discovered that I was quite reasonable. As a lover of traditional literary genres as well as contemporary works delivered across a wide range of mediums, I encouraged students to think critically and engage with texts that mattered to them. Despite pure intentions, however, my methods were flawed. Students were not taking the intellectual risks that would propel their learning and make them better. They were scared of making mistakes!

Today, I retain the same high expectations of students and am as passionate as ever about the varieties of English and the vast array of texts our world exposes us to. But now I mindfully place thinking and learning at the center of my teaching. What a difference it makes!

Inspired by Project Zero/ Making Thinking Visible (MTV), I have worked slowly but surely over the years to implement thinking routines that engage and excite students with the process of learning. The goal is to create a classroom culture where students are unafraid to think out loud, free from worry about whether they are right or wrong. I have had to purposefully reframe the questions I pose and use what MTV calls “the language of learning.” I have also had to practice what I preach.

When appropriate I model the tasks I assign and actively encourage students to evaluate my learning. How can I improve? What did I do well? What can we learn? I notice how empowered students become when they see evaluation as a means toward improvement and assessment as a measure of growth. When thinking and learning frames and informs teaching; when the classroom culture supports learning as a process, then content delivery and assessment fall into place. 

When the school year comes to a close, I know I have been successful when students believe that failure (such a maligned word in our culture!) is an important throughway to discovery; that revision signals learning; that questioning indicates critical thinking; and not knowing reflects maturity. For me, fostering a classroom culture that encourages learning as a process is paramount not only to student growth but to professional happiness as well.

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