Feeling Intellectually Safe - My Students Reflect on Their Year

This week my students had the opportunity to reflect on their learning on two separate days. Yesterday, a team from the Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat came to film them as they reflected on how we learn in our classroom and today Nogah Kornberg came to interview them one-on-one about the impact of the work we have been doing with I-Think.

I can't even begin to describe what I learned over these two days. It was humbling to hear just how much they value what has happened in our classroom and in some ways  it was disturbing to realize just how far off the mark we are in providing safe, nurturing environments for learners in our schools - that so much of what we do with the belief that we are creating safe and nurturing environments actually impedes learning.

What startled the adults who were present, but also the class as they listened to one another. was how articulate this group of students was as they expressed very complex insights about the tools we have learned to use for creative problem solving and how collaborative the learning environment has become.

In the end, what it came down to for my students was that for the first time they feel intellectually safe and therefore able to take risks with their learning. They don't feel that they are in competition with one another. They can risk sharing their ideas and know they will be treated with respect. They can now be given feedback by their peers that is constructive, but not mean.  Everyone in this class has learned to value everyone else's ideas. In our class they don't have to constantly be figuring out what the answer is that the teacher wants and appearing foolish and incorrect in front of peers - all ideas are valued We merely explore and build them.  They don't feel that they are constantly being judged. They have come to love working with others because the learning becomes richer.  In this class there isn't just one piece of best work and one student who is the best - all students matter and can pursue their learning in ways that work for them. They don't feel judged. Because everyone is working on different projects they actually want to hear about what others are learning because it's interesting. Our class feels like a family.

This doesn't even begin to cover the depth of what was said over the two days and the profound impact it has had on me as I realize how much I have failed to create that kind of culture in previous years because I was unaware of how to do so. I can't say that I intentionally set out to have my students experience this kind of cultural shift, because frankly, I already thought I was creating a safe environment - and in some ways I was, just not to the extent that I have learned to do this year.

When I think of the goals of 21st century learning - a term I know makes some people's teeth grind - embedded in that phrase is a goal for transformation. I now feel that I have a handle on the toolkit teachers need for the transformation to occur. There are specific things teachers can do and specific ways that teachers can guide conversations that will lead to this kind of culture and I feel very, very glad that we took risks, changed practice and took our time as we figured it out.

The video of my students will be released this fall.