Working Together to Foster S elf-Regulated L earning in Classrooms

1. Working Together to Foster Self-Regulated Learning in Classrooms Deborah Butler and Nancy Perry Faculty of Education University of British Columbia Changing Results for Young Readers Richmond, BC March 1, 2013

2. Agenda • What are our goals in fostering self-regulated learning in school? • Reflection: What goals might teachers set? • What can we do to support self-regulated learning in school? • Reflection: how might teachers structure tasks & support? • Reflection: what practices might teachers try? • Working together to support self-regulation: Emerging initiatives

3. What are our goals in fostering self-regulated learning in school?

4. What is Self-Regulation (SR)? SR involves: SR as the ability to control thoughts and actions to achieve personal goals and respond to environmental demands (Zimmerman, 2008)

5. What is Self-Regulated LEARNING? Understanding and managing emotions and motivation Knowledge about yourself as a learner, about tasks and strategies for completing them; knowing what you know, don’t know, and need to know Choosing and using effective strategies well matched to the demands of academic tasks Self-regulated learninginvolves managing engagement in order to learn from academic work (reading, writing, projects, assignments)

6. Putting it all Together:Self-Regulation as Strategic Activity • Self-regulation is strategic, goal-directed activity • I have a goal; I do something; Does it work?; I try again. • Self-regulation involves metacognition, emotion, motivation, and strategic action • All individuals self-regulate by managing their participation in activities (from very young learners to adults) • Self-regulation is implicated in a wide range of activities: • Sport & physical activity • Teaching • Academic work in schools • Individuals can take, and feel in control, over their participation in activities by deliberately and reflectively “self-regulating” performance

7. What can Self-Regulated Reading and Writing Look Like in a Primary Classroom? Imagine a grade 2/3 classroom in which students have been asked to complete a research project on an animal of their choice. They are asked to do research on their animal by selecting and reading resources, and to write, edit, and “publish” expository text (using the computer; working together) What would self-regulated reading and writing look like for these students? Adapted from Perry & Drummond, 2002

8. What Self-Regulated Learning Looks Like in Classroom Contexts Activity in Context Interpreting Demands & Defining Criteria History, Strengths, Challenges, Metacognition, Knowledge, Beliefs, Agency Emotions & Motivation Adjusting Cycles of Self-Regulated Activity Planning Monitoring Against Criteria Enacting Strategies

9. Reflection: Setting Goals • What goal(s) might teachers you are working with set for learners in their context?

10. What can we do to support self-regulated learning in school?

11. Design Tasks that Afford Opportunities for Self-Regulation Imagine a grade 2/3 classroom in which students are asked to complete a research project on an animal of their choice. They are asked to do research on their animal by selecting and reading resources, and to write, edit, and “publish” expository text (using the computer; working together) (Perry & Drummond, 2002) Imagine a Kindergarten/Grade 1 classroom in which across a series of lessons students read The Three Little Pigs (twice), sequence events in the story, write sentences to describe each event, consider the social and moral dimensions of the story, and then choose and write an alternative ending to the tale (Perry, Nordby, & VandeKamp, 2003)

12. Reflection • How do these example tasks create opportunities for self-regulated reading, learning, and writing?

13. Design Tasks to Promote Autonomy • Provide choices • What to work on • What materials to use • Where to work • Who to work with • Create opportunities to control challenge • Require self-assessment

14. But with support… • To make good choices • To control challenge given their goals, strengths and needs • To engage in cycles of self-regulation • to actively interpret tasks • to develop knowledge about and use effective learning, thinking, reading, writing processes • to self-assess and learn from feedback

15. The Three Little Pigs Goals/Objectives: • to engage with reading and writing as communicative and meaningful activities • to practice decoding and comprehension strategies while reading • to evaluate the pigs’ response to the wolf’s actions (promoting social and moral reasoning) Perry, Nordby, & VandeKamp, 2003 Perry, VandeKamp, Mercer, & Nordby, 2002

16. Task Description: The Three Little Pigs • Students read The Three Little Pigs (twice) • Practiced tracking, context clues, sounding out, making connections and predicting • Students discussed the story’s ending • “When someone is mean to us, should we be mean right back?” • Students sequenced pictures from story, wrote a sentence for each, and a new ending Perry, Nordby, & VandeKamp, 2003

17. The Three Little Pigs Perry, Nordby, & VandeKamp, 2003

18. The Three Little Pigs • The teacher … • supported students’ reading by … • monitoring children’s decision to track or not to track • prompting use and evaluation of decoding strategies • facilitated discussion through … • Pair share • Who thinks …? Who thinks …? Tell your partner why? • Is it OK to change your mind? Because you heard others’ ideas? • facilitated writing by … • checking students’ ideas for story endings before they began writing Perry, Nordby, & VandeKamp, 2003

19. Outcomes for Kindergarten to Grade 1 Learners? The book … was quite difficult for them to read. … We read it together. …. I read some and they read some. And they handled it and it was really neat to see them doing that. I found that, particularly during the discussion, there wasn’t anybody that wasn’t engaged, which is not always the case with my group. … I looked around and everybody was really into what we were doing.” (for 40 minutes) I thought, very naturally, a debate came out of it … They realized that some questions are really difficult to answer … It isn’t so black and white. So it was a really excellent discussion. Perry, VandeKamp, Mercer, & Nordby, 2002

20. Co-regulation • Co-regulation is a transitional phase whereby learners gradually appropriate SRL through, for example, … • Instrumental feedback • Metacognitive and/or motivational prompts • Co-regulation implies one participant in an interaction has more expertise than another. • teachers • peers • parents

21. Shared Regulation • Shared regulation describes what happens when peers collectively regulate activities. • It implies an even playing field among participants. • Can only occur when interdependence is required (i.e., students can’t achieve their goals without assistance from others). • Occurs in collaborative activities (e.g., play)

22. Socially Responsible Self-Regulation • Involves metacognition, motivation, and strategic action in the service of supporting others’ learning. • Self and other awareness • Desire to see others succeed • Ability to give and receive targeted instrumental help to complete tasks • E.g., adaptive help-seeking

23. Reflection • What might teachers try to ensure tasks afford opportunities for and support SRL, given the discussion so far?

24. What Can We Do to Support SRL? Activity in Context Interpreting Demands & Defining Criteria History, Strengths, Challenges, Metacognition, Knowledge, Beliefs, Agency Emotions & Motivation Adjusting Cycles of Self-Regulated Activity Planning Monitoring Against Criteria Enacting Strategies

25. Empowering Strategic Learners • If students are to take “control” over learning they have to be clear on what they are supposed to be doing • They need to learn how to: • Actively interpret and articulate expectations • Actively and reflectively self-direct learning with goals/criteria in mind • Self-monitor the success of their efforts and adjust performance accordingly

26. Strategic Questioning to Foster SRL • Interpreting Tasks • What is your job? • What is this assignment asking you to do? • How will you know if you’ve done a good job? • Choosing and Using Strategies • How will you approach this task (given what you are trying to do)? • What strategies have worked for you before? • Why don’t you show me what you can try? • I noticed you did this. Is that a strategy you are using? • What are you doing here that you can do again and again and again? • Monitoring/Adjusting • How are you doing? How do you know? • What criteria are you using here to judge your work? • What can you do differently to solve that problem?

27. Promoting the Full Cycle of SRL Grade 5/6: Writing Free Verse Poems • Goals taken up in a series of lessons, over time: • To support students to learn how to express their emotions and ideas in free verse poems • To promote students’ development of knowledge about Indigenous experiences • To foster empathy • To foster students’ self-regulated approaches to reading and writing • To create students’ sense of belonging in a learning community • To connect with an at-risk learner’s experiences Developed by Leyton Schnellert & Nicole Widdess (2002)

28. Class Profile Schnellert & Widdess (2002) • Class Composition • One student diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome • One at-risk First Nations Student • Five other students with IEPs • 22 ESL students • 5 level 1 • 2-3 level 2 • Time of Year (Spring) • Class Needs • First Nations Theme (links to Social Studies, Language Arts, Art, CAPP) • Community building • Writing skill development transfer between units

29. Lessons Supported Students to … • Interpret Tasks: What makes a good free verse poem? • Class reads examples • They generate criteria based on different samples • Generate content • Based on reading of poems and stories • Based on criteria for a good poem • Read and write strategically • Generate and build from criteria • Try, articulate, try, refine strategies over time • Self-monitor progress and self-assess Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

30. Part One • What makes a powerful free verse poem?

31. Example: Identifying qualities of a good free verse poem Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

32. Example: Whole class modeling & discussion Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

33. Example: Students working together to identify writing criteria Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

34. Example: Summarizing criteria as a whole class following on the small group activity Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

35. Part Two • Generating Content for Writing Free Verse Poems

36. Example: Review Criteria Constructed with Students Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

37. Example: A framework for generating content for a free verse poem (reflective of group generated criteria) Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

38. Example: Class generates content for poems on residential schools Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

39. Part Three • Reading and Writing Strategically

40. Example: Constructing strategies for writing free verse poems, building from experience (and linked to criteria) Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

41. Example: Constructing Strategies with Students Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

42. Example: Constructing Strategies with Students Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

43. Example: Travis’ drafts of his poem on residential schools Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

44. Example: Travis’ finished poem on residential schools Schnellert & Widdess (2002)

45. Another Example: Working From Criteria

46. Another Example: Self-Assessment & Strategy Revision

47. Common Features of SRL-Supportive Practices? • They connect and surface learners’ strengths, interests and experiences • They make discussion about reading, learning, and writing processes explicit • They integrate discussions about reading, learning, and writing processes with content instruction • They put responsibility on students to manage their learning • They require students to articulate their understandings about content & learning processes

48. Supporting SRL: Outcomes “I’m so used to teaching math using the strategies that I know. But I found that students were independently developing strategies that worked better for them.” • Teacher Reports of Student Gains: • independence & self-directedness • self-confidence & pride • a sense of control over learning • awareness of strategy usefulness “Kids not in the project were more helpless. They waited for someone to supply, not necessarily the answer, but ‘feed me, feed me, give me, give me’ instead of what can I do to help myself?” Butler & Schnellert, 2008

49. Reflection: Supporting SRL • What practices might teachers try to support SRL in their classrooms? • How might teachers judge if they are making a difference?

50. Emerging Initiatives & Resources