“How do you get them to do this?” Fernando is asking.  He has stopped by to visit my class during a period where study groups are going over homework.  What was most striking for him was the transition from a brief introduction to the whole class to them working in small groups;  as soon as I said “Let’s go”, they moved purposefully to their groups and dove right into the task.  After I had made the rounds stamping in their work and handing out answer keys, Fernando and I wandered around the room, checking out how the groups were attacking the problem set.

At one point, we came to a table with four students engaged in an animated conversation about a football game they had seen last night.  When we reached them, I asked, “So, three of you finished the problems, and one didn’t.  How are you working to bring Chris up to speed?”

Tommy answers, “We were thinking of going over the things that the three of us got wrong compared to the answer key, and while we’re doing that Chris could start on the first problem by himself.  Then we’d talk him through the places where any of us messed up so he’d know what to watch out for.”

“Good plan.  And Chris, do you think you can finish this on your own tonight?”

“Definitely.  I just flat out ran out of time last night.”

“Okay.  Sounds good,” I say, and Fernando and I move on.

“I noticed you didn’t call them on being off-task,” Fernando says with a smile.  The issue of how a working relationship with students can be done with fewer power struggles is one that is important to him.

“Yes, I intentionally didn’t bring up the obvious fact that they were off task and should start working.  For these four, that would be unnecessary;  it would feel like nagging.  With other students, I might have to sit down, ask more specific questions about what they need to do and provide guidance, even start the process with them before moving on.”

“But how do you get them to be this independent?”

“Fernando, it’s going to be tougher in your classes, of course.  You’re working with freshmen, and I have juniors and seniors, so we’re living on different planets as far as maturity goes.  But I know this level of independent motivation is possible no matter what group of students you are working with.  

“The truth is, once you’ve done the groundwork, this isn’t even all that hard to do.  In fact, once this structure is in place, it’s much easier for me as a teacher, because I’ve greatly reduced how much I have to cajole or push them to work.  And discipline problems drop to just about nothing. 

“I can take credit for knowing my subject andthe sequence of new ideas.  I’m responsible for building the scaffolding so they know how to choose well for themselves.  I can even take credit for creating the classroom culture that allows this to happen.

“But where the rubber meets the road, where the meaningful stuff takes place, that happens here when they are doing this work with each other.  I know they learn from me when I’m explaining new material or showing them a demo that gets their attention.  But I can’t take credit for the deep, lasting learning that takes place here when they are exploring together, teaching each other, arguing about what these ideas mean.  And when they’re done, they have a true sense of pride in the fact that they did it.”