Todd Stanley 
Table of Contents
For years I have been telling teachers and writing books espousing the idea that if you make your learning engaging enough through student driven learning and authentic choice, they will be motivated to learn. I had done this for many years in the classroom, I’d like to think to pretty good success. Students with a history of not seeming to care about school seemed to do well in my class which was mostly project-based learning.
And yet here I was, standing in front of the classroom of nine students, none of them looking like they were happy to be here or caring what I had to say. This was the last stop for these high school students before dropping out. Pretty much everyone had given up on their learning whether it be their teachers, their parents, or themselves. But not Mr. Spickler. Mr. Spickler was supposed to be their science and math teacher, being assigned these kids with humongous learning gaps and trying to get them at least to a point where they can limp across the finish line of school.
A Life Coach Approach to Student Driven Learning
It may not be in first place, it might not be to the roar of the crowd, but best case scenario they would at least get a participation trophy. No, Mr. Spickler was more of their life coach. His job was to get them across this finish line, even if he had to carry them. He clearly cared for these kids who didn’t seem to care about anything. He texted or called kids when they didn’t come to school (which was often). Mr. Spickler encouraged them to want better for themselves than they wanted.
“I just want them to learn something,” he said when I came to his classroom, responding to an email he had sent me about doing some project-based learning. “It doesn’t have to be science or math. I simply want them to care about learning anything.”
“Challenge accepted,” I said to myself, wanting to put my skills to this ultimate test.
Mr. Spickler and I devised a high interest project; teach someone about anything you want to, your final product being a YouTube video that people could watch to learn what you were teaching. After all, these students all watched YouTube, some of them for hours, learning how to do something like play Minecraft or put on makeup. We gave them the choice of teaching anything; how to cook something, how to skateboard, how to drive a car, how to skip school without getting caught. We put no limit on their ideas (as long as they were not constructing a bomb).
Using Student Driven Learning to Engage Students
The most important aspect of the project was we didn’t want it to look or feel like school. These students were turned off of school. They would run from anything that resembled it. We very purposefully downplayed anything like grades or products and instead encouraged them step-by-step. There were no penalties for turning in things late or missing a deadline, there was just further encouragement.
If this were a Hollywood movie or a Chicken Soup for the Soul chapter, it would be just about this time I would write how this project changed the lives of these students with each and every one of them turning in a spectacular project, with some of their videos even going viral. But alas, this is real life. We got a few of the kids to turn in their projects. One taught how to clean dishes, another on how to play Call of Duty.
They were not the best, but it was more of an effort than they typically would give. I’d be lying if I said we weren’t a little disappointed. I thought for sure that students when given something that truly interested them, would jump at the chance. Unfortunately, many of these kids had already had the love of learning beaten out of them from years of schools where they didn’t have any choice or topics they felt were relevant to them.
Reflecting on the Student Driven Learning Experiment
We also introduced this project toward the end of the school year, after several months of these students not turning in work and not caring about their grades. They had already developed the habit and we were unable to break it.
The good news is that Mr. Spickler and myself are not to be deterred. We had a reflection session after the project was completed, talking about what we could have done better and how we will do things differently for next year. We concluded that we will introduce project-based learning earlier to students so that they are familiar with it. Mr. Spekler and I will offer more student choice throughout the year so that doesn’t take them by surprise when they finally get that opportunity. The two of us pledged to develop a few of these high-interest projects that students can try throughout the year to find something of interest and relevance to themselves.
Choice Leads to Motivation
I stand by my assertion that student choice leads to greater students motivation. The lesson for me is that this cannot simply be assigned or demanded, it must be created in the culture of the classroom. Even with these students who no longer seemed to care about school, their caring about learning never goes away.
We just need to find ways to tap into this and give them a safe space where they feel they can express this. After all, for many of these students, school has become a place where learning has come to die. How do we reignite this love of learning and show them this classroom is a place where they can demonstrate this passion?
Further Reading on Student Driven Learning
If you want to learn more about strategies and ideas for motivating students, you can check out my new book “How the Hell Do We Motivate These Students?”, published by First Educational Resources.
EdCircuit Staff