Student Responses to the Quick Write: April
In April, I asked my students to complete a Quick Write that answered several questions that directly asked about their thoughts on autonomy.
The responses that I received were illuminating and helped clarify their thoughts on my inquiry project. It also showed me what activities my students enjoyed and did not enjoy throughout the semester. I will discuss aspects of some of these responses below.
- How do you define student autonomy?
- Describe an experience where you felt autonomous in this class.
- Describe a time where you didn’t feel autonomous in this class.
- Do you think it is important for students to have autonomy? Do you think students learn better when they are autonomous? Why?
The responses that I received were illuminating and helped clarify their thoughts on my inquiry project. It also showed me what activities my students enjoyed and did not enjoy throughout the semester. I will discuss aspects of some of these responses below.
Question #1: How do you define student autonomy?
Most students correctly understood that autonomy involved the idea of students working on their own to understand a topic. Furthermore, as described by response #6, autonomy involves giving students "power and control of their learning." It was important for me to see that my students understood this concept so that I could trust that they were able to answer the next questions that described their experiences.
Question #2: Describe an experience where you felt autonomous in this class.
As you can see, many of the students listed Galileo's mock trial as a time where they had a high level of autonomy. The author of response #2 wrote, "this was one of the funnest project and we got to interact during the entire project and we got to choose our role and decide what to say." Moreover, she "also felt in control because at the end of the trial we got to choose if he was guilty or not (even though in the real trial he was guilty)." I think that she really captured how the trial was autonomous - and I think her parenthetical remark demonstrates that even after two months, she had an understanding of what happened during Galileo's trial in 1633. Several other students felt autonomous when they were completing their presentations for the project on Martin Luther's 95 Theses. Other responses included activities that we completed throughout the semester. Response #1 describes the time where I gave students the opportunity to come up with questions for a test on the Age of Exploration. We then used these questions to review the material and I used many of their questions for the actual test.
Question #3: Describe a time where you didn’t feel autonomous in this class.
Several students noted that they did not feel autonomous when they were taking notes or completing worksheets. While these may be boring, they are sometimes necessary for students to record the information and use it in future projects. Response #4 was written by Antoinette, the girl who disliked working with other students. Her opinion towards group work did not really change over the year, even though she has gotten better at completing group assignments. This represents the dichotomy between students who enjoyed working with their peers and those who preferred to work alone.
Interestingly, response #7 has the opposite opinion from most of the other students. He did not feel autonomous when the students were completing presentations, but did feel autonomous when he was taking notes. I think that it is because this particular student, while very capable, is not confident in himself. Therefore, he prefers when things are made easy for him with traditional class activities. When he is guided and encouraged to step outside his comfort zone, I believe that this student is more than able to deliver a good presentation.
Question #4: Do you think it is important for students to have autonomy? Do you think students learn better when they are autonomous? Why?
Most of the students agreed that autonomy was important for student learning. As response #1 describes, since everyone learns differently, "it is easier to remember something that you made up or helped out with." Response #4 states that "students do learn better when feeling autonomous because when they feel in charge, then they feel confident and they want to learn more." Finally, response #5 claims that giving the students autonomy will help the students do better in school and allow them to be independent in college. It was interesting to read that because I was not aware that my freshmen students had started thinking about college. The above responses confirm some of the benefits of autonomy, as described in the literature review.
While the majority of the students supported having autonomy in the classroom, some of the responses expressed several reservations about giving students control over their learning. Although response #3 supports student autonomy, he wrote that he "does not think students learn better when their in control because they think their to good to listen" (sic). I thought that this was definitely true at some points. When the students were giving presentations, it was often difficult to keep the class quiet and they did not treat their classmates with respect. This therefore made it hard for the students to learn from their peers. Responses #5 and #8 confirm this and note that the students did not feel autonomous when other students were talking and disturbing them in class. In the future, I will work to have better classroom management to make sure that I can give all of my students the opportunity to learn without distractions from their classmates.
Most students correctly understood that autonomy involved the idea of students working on their own to understand a topic. Furthermore, as described by response #6, autonomy involves giving students "power and control of their learning." It was important for me to see that my students understood this concept so that I could trust that they were able to answer the next questions that described their experiences.
Question #2: Describe an experience where you felt autonomous in this class.
As you can see, many of the students listed Galileo's mock trial as a time where they had a high level of autonomy. The author of response #2 wrote, "this was one of the funnest project and we got to interact during the entire project and we got to choose our role and decide what to say." Moreover, she "also felt in control because at the end of the trial we got to choose if he was guilty or not (even though in the real trial he was guilty)." I think that she really captured how the trial was autonomous - and I think her parenthetical remark demonstrates that even after two months, she had an understanding of what happened during Galileo's trial in 1633. Several other students felt autonomous when they were completing their presentations for the project on Martin Luther's 95 Theses. Other responses included activities that we completed throughout the semester. Response #1 describes the time where I gave students the opportunity to come up with questions for a test on the Age of Exploration. We then used these questions to review the material and I used many of their questions for the actual test.
Question #3: Describe a time where you didn’t feel autonomous in this class.
Several students noted that they did not feel autonomous when they were taking notes or completing worksheets. While these may be boring, they are sometimes necessary for students to record the information and use it in future projects. Response #4 was written by Antoinette, the girl who disliked working with other students. Her opinion towards group work did not really change over the year, even though she has gotten better at completing group assignments. This represents the dichotomy between students who enjoyed working with their peers and those who preferred to work alone.
Interestingly, response #7 has the opposite opinion from most of the other students. He did not feel autonomous when the students were completing presentations, but did feel autonomous when he was taking notes. I think that it is because this particular student, while very capable, is not confident in himself. Therefore, he prefers when things are made easy for him with traditional class activities. When he is guided and encouraged to step outside his comfort zone, I believe that this student is more than able to deliver a good presentation.
Question #4: Do you think it is important for students to have autonomy? Do you think students learn better when they are autonomous? Why?
Most of the students agreed that autonomy was important for student learning. As response #1 describes, since everyone learns differently, "it is easier to remember something that you made up or helped out with." Response #4 states that "students do learn better when feeling autonomous because when they feel in charge, then they feel confident and they want to learn more." Finally, response #5 claims that giving the students autonomy will help the students do better in school and allow them to be independent in college. It was interesting to read that because I was not aware that my freshmen students had started thinking about college. The above responses confirm some of the benefits of autonomy, as described in the literature review.
While the majority of the students supported having autonomy in the classroom, some of the responses expressed several reservations about giving students control over their learning. Although response #3 supports student autonomy, he wrote that he "does not think students learn better when their in control because they think their to good to listen" (sic). I thought that this was definitely true at some points. When the students were giving presentations, it was often difficult to keep the class quiet and they did not treat their classmates with respect. This therefore made it hard for the students to learn from their peers. Responses #5 and #8 confirm this and note that the students did not feel autonomous when other students were talking and disturbing them in class. In the future, I will work to have better classroom management to make sure that I can give all of my students the opportunity to learn without distractions from their classmates.