Removing the Learning Ceiling

It is the beginning of the school year. You have a fresh batch of students eager to begin an exciting project that you plan will take several days of class to complete. Over the next few days, your students will apply their new learning and creative energy to produce an intellectual masterpiece of elementary school proportions. As the teacher, you also feel a sense of anticipation of the moments to come: students poring over nonfiction books from the library to identify relevant facts, art supplies littering the counter, and all the sounds of children joyfully engaged in learning.

The second day of class arrives, and the students are once again absorbed in their studies - except one. We’ll call him Sam. Rising out of the quiet din of the classroom comes Sam’s voice at full volume chatting about a topic you know is clearly unrelated to this project on ecosystems. In some ways, you expected things to go this way after being thoroughly warned by your students’ teacher from last year: “...and you’ll have to keep an eye on Sam. He’s a big distraction to himself and anyone near him…”

From across the room, you call out Sam’s name to redirect him back to his project. As you continue moving about the classroom, you once again hear him conversing with his neighbors, but his volume is now significantly lower than before. You give Sam a firm look that goes unnoticed by him until you once again say his name in a quiet, stern tone. It is then that you notice that Sam’s desk does not have any materials on it associated with the ecosystem project. “Sam, please begin working on your project. You’re wasting a lot of time this morning!”

A few minutes later, Sam’s voice is once again sounding above the classroom hum, and you feel that you are quickly approaching the end of your patience. You quickly breeze over to Sam’s desk to demand an explanation. After your last warning, Sam is not only chatting away with his neighbors, but he still has not begun his work! In fact, the only thing on his desk is a large book he brought from home and some other odds and ends. “Sam, it seems like you are running into some problems getting started with your project today. What’s going on?”

Sam looks at you with a confused expression and appears to have nothing to add. In those few brief moments, you realize this may be your chance to prevent having a year with Sam like his previous teacher. You realize that now is your chance to really make your message to him clear about being responsible in getting one’s work done, not chatting with and distracting neighbors, only reading books once all other work is finished, etc. Throughout the ensuing monologue, Sam looks at you as one defeated, yet you have been teaching long enough to realize that you will probably be back at his desk addressing a similar infraction in just a few minutes. Before you turn and leave, you ask him about the location of his project materials, assuming that a student like Sam probably forgot everything at home. However, Sam replies, “It’s all in my backpack.”

You immediately send Sam to his backpack to grab his things while you wonder what the rest of the week is going to look like for him and the students around him. Perhaps a project like this was not a good choice for this class? Maybe something less adventurous like sticking to the workbook pages would have been a better plan, at least for a student like Sam. Your thoughts are interrupted by Sam’s immediate return to the classroom, toting not the raw materials for his assignment but a finished product that surpasses the standards you held for the group. Expecting to further reprimand Sam for who-knows-what-else, you now find yourself speechless.

After some further inquiry later on, you discover several important things about Sam as a learner. He loves using his hands to create things and often has several projects going at home. Presently, he is wildly enthusiastic about anything related to wildlife and nature. At home, he devours nonfiction books, absorbs information from wildlife documentaries, and decorates his bedroom with snake skins, feathers, and unique rock samples found in the woods behind his grandparents’ house.

You also learn that it is not uncommon for Sam to become heavily invested in a topic, learning as much as he can in any way available to him. Nature is just his latest fascination. In the past few months, he has become immersed in topics like weather, the Roman Empire, and the periodic table of elements. When something sparks his interest, he learns quickly, talks about it constantly, and begins planning careers where he can continue exploring his ideas for years to come.

Sam represents a kind of student that we as educators are often quick to label as disruptive or disengaged. However, could it be that the classroom structures we idealize may actually be the primary problem? What if Sam’s teachers had been able to recognize the information described above rather than narrowing in on his disruptive classroom behavior? Throughout his years of school, Sam has likely come to believe the narrative of himself that defines him as a ‘difficult student’ rather than the intellectually engaged student he actually is (Piirto, 2007). In fact, it is likely that Sam’s aptitude to learn is years beyond that of his classmates, yet he continues to plod along with the group without ever experiencing a challenge at school. Beyond being aware that students like Sam are likely to be found in our classrooms, what can we do to ensure they are appropriately challenged? Investing in this work will not only benefit the Sams in your room but all of the others as well.

As you consider the learning that takes place in your classroom, consider how you might restructure activities in a way that removes the learning ceiling preventing your students from going as far as they can. Unfortunately, the activities we give students too often place a limit on what can be learned (Karnes & Bean, 2015). For example, a math worksheet with ten problems will cap a student’s practice to ten questions. Once they are done, that’s it! A student like Sam will be finished in a mere matter of moments - and then be ready to engage in the various disruptive behaviors described above.

Furthermore, Sam would be missing out on valuable practice because there is nothing left to do. In the example of Sam’s ecosystem project, he finished all the requirements of his work at home the night before and now had a significant chunk of class time left with no teacher-sanctioned opportunities to continue learning. Again, solving this problem requires a teacher to ask, “How can I restructure this assignment in a way that will not limit student learning?” Thinking through an answer could keep Sam dutifully learning for the rest of the week rather than causing disruptions in the back corner.

There are many variations of this practice for a teacher to consider in their planning. Some additional options to consider include:

• Build extension opportunities directly into assignments rather than leaving them as an afterthought to consider ‘on the spot’. For example, include instructions at the bottom of an assignment describing the various activities students could do when finished with the main task. Ideally, these are meaningful supplements to the final product rather than just busy work.
• Incorporate ‘passion projects’ into your classroom. These are long-term projects that encourage students to explore areas of interest within the classroom setting after they have completed their other work. These provide an excellent opportunity to channel otherwise disruptive behavior into a productive time of highly-engaged learning. This also allows the teacher to build a better understanding of their students’ interests and academic capabilities.
• Rather than expecting all students to complete the same task in the same way, offer some options up front that will allow them to choose between different levels of complexity. The teacher, of course, maintains the final authority in leading students towards options that will best meet the educational need. Ultimately, students who are prepared to engage in higher-order thinking will be able to go more deeply while still ensuring that everyone can ultimately achieve the same learning objectives.

All of these options do require some additional time in planning, yet, when viewed in light of the time otherwise lost redirecting off-task, disengaged students, the academic and behavioral benefits become clear. As teachers, it may be in everyone’s best interest for us to consider how our classrooms may become more responsive to students because Sam is not an exception. We are likely to encounter many students like him in our careers. Maintaining a goal of merely keeping students busy will not only limit what our students have opportunity to learn, but it can also position students like Sam to become the classroom troublemakers (Karnes & Bean, 2015). By choosing to instead remove the learning ceiling, we can both change that narrative and create classrooms where all students (and teachers) can thrive.

References

Karnes, F. A., & Bean, S. M. (Eds.). (2015). Methods and materials for teaching the gifted. (Fourth ed.). Prufrock Press, Inc.

Piirto, J. (2007). Talented children and adults: Their development and education (3rd ed.). Prufrock Press.

Photo by Mahdiye JV on Unsplash