How Can Students Have Autonomy In School?
Students can be autonomous both inside and outside the classroom. In situations where it may be difficult to influence what happens outside of the classroom, teachers should strive to give students a voice in the classroom. Similarly, in situations where it is difficult to give students autonomy inside of the classroom because of state standards and required testing, teachers should work to give students control of other aspects of the school environment.
In situations where students cannot be given much autonomy in the classroom, Goodman (2009) suggests making student authority a “central and visible objective of school” (p. 23). This can be accomplished by having the students complete non-academic tasks such as serving as crossing guards, supervising hallway behavior, leading class meetings and other activities. In addition to giving the students autonomy and preparing them to make independent decisions, Goodman asserts that having these roles encourage belongingness and loyalty to the school and will help unite the student body. Furthermore, Goodman argues that, “as students do more of the controlling, the necessity to control them will be lessened” (p. 23). While these actions benefit individual students, they also help the greater school community.
There are also several ways for students to have autonomy within the classroom. As noted above, Reeve, Nix, & Hamm (2003) found that it is important for students to be given action choices, where students get to decide which activities, if any, to pursue. Rather than providing teacher determined options, the teacher should work with the students to create learning activities that will pique student interest. The teacher should create a democratic classroom model, where students are considered equal partners with the teacher. This will allow the students to feel comfortable voicing their suggestions and make them be a real part of the classroom. Moreover, when presenting students with different options, the teacher should make sure to establish expectations that allow the students to go beyond them and come up with extraordinary things. They should also help uninterested students find ways to learn different and obviously incorporate students’ opinions into projects (Vokoun & Bigelow, 2008).
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An Important Caveat
It should be noted that giving students autonomy does not mean that the teacher can sit back, relax, and let the students do whatever they want. It is crucial that the teacher monitor that the students are using the autonomy for learning purposes. As Reddiford (1993) notes, many students often choose activities that they find desirable and enjoyable. It is very easy for anyone to simple waste time doing meaningless activities that may not constitute real learning and do little to improve academic and critical thinking skills. This is where the teacher must step in and plan an important role in determining classroom activities.