Managing student-led outcomes
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Level: Years 7-10
Schools: Otumoetai College, Epsom Girls' Grammar School, Tauranga Intermediate School, Tauranga Technology Centre, Balmoral School, Remuera Intermediate School.
Student creativity and innovation in Technology is exciting to see and justifiably celebrated. But developing a Technology programme that not only allows for student-led outcomes but expects them can be a challenge for many Technology teachers. This snapshot looks at some of the diverse strategies and approaches successfully used by Year 7-10 specialist Technology teachers to support their students in creating individual outcomes.
Resource Development and Facilitation Year 7-10 Technology Project Facilitator Selena Hinchco comments that she was impressed by the wide range of strategies used by the Technology teachers she has worked with over the past two years. "I was amazed by the variety of ways teachers managed, encouraged and in some cases insisted upon some form out individualised outcomes, and often on top of the day-to-day challenges of constrained timetables, large groups or brand new Year 7s".
What are student-led outcomes?
While Technology teachers have different definitions of what is meant by the term 'student-led outcome', they tend to agree that it doesn't always mean an individual outcome. A student-led outcome can be a Technological Outcome that is designed and created by a student alone, together with a partner, or as part of a group. The main criterion is that the Technological Outcome developed is student-directed, not teacher-directed. A student-led outcome definitely requires teacher-guidance, but it is ultimately a one-of-a-kind outcome that a student (or group of students) generates to meet their brief. This usually means that within one class there can be a broad range of different outcomes, which can be challenging for a teacher to manage. The strategies and approaches below highlight the numerous ways to encourage student-led outcomes.
Why?
Unlocking secrets of Food Technology
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Given that encouraging student-led outcomes is more demanding of a teacher, why go down this road? Steve Gilvear, Otumoetai College, believes that individual or group projects are not only challenging but also rewarding for both teachers and students. He finds that student-led outcomes create "a buzz of expectation" in his classroom because the whole class is excited to see how everybody's designs turn out, while keeping him from becoming bored with identical outcomes. Steve adds that the teaching opportunities become much wider when students are working on different projects – each has its own unique challenges which allow him to make the most of the teaching opportunities when and where they occur. Unsurprisingly, Steve finds that his students have much more "buy-in" when they take ownership of their own development and decisions, and this often means they are more inclined to work independently.
An innovative environment
To encourage student-led outcomes, the classroom environment and expectations need to be supportive of innovation, modifications, problem-solving and making mistakes. The New Zealand Curriculum (2007) states that 'Adaptation and innovation are at the heart of Technological Practice.' Teacher-directed outcomes, in which all students create identical outcomes, often do not provide the requisite adaptation or innovation that need to be present in a Technology classroom.
Teacher attitude is crucial in creating a classroom environment that encourages adaptation and innovation, and it involves letting go of control. Jo Young, Tauranga Intermediate School, maintains that to make the shift to student-led outcomes teachers have to accept that instead of having an image in their own head of the final outcome they must instead be open to the unknown. Wendy Slatter, Epsom Girls' Grammar School, observes that teachers need to relax – "Don't be regimented. Thinking 'I have to do this today!' doesn't get you very far. Chill! Have a big picture idea of where you are leading your students. Sometimes those 'sidetracked' discussions and research provide for good tech practice. Always allow extra time!"
Student-led outcomes will thrive in a Technology classroom where the teacher accepts, and even celebrates, mistakes as part of good Technological Practice. Heather Bonk, Tauranga Technology Centre, makes her role as teacher clear to her students – she tells them that she is just another member of their team and that she will help them get to where they want to go, but that she will not do it for them.
Planning the issue
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Many of the Technology teachers Selena worked with say that the issue (need/opportunity/problem/scenario/ situation) they propose to their students is a crucial step in achieving student-led outcomes. The issue needs to be broad enough to allow for a range of outcomes but not so extensive so that it becomes unmanageable for the teacher. Jo provides her students with broad, authentic scenarios but also ensures the issue has a clear focus, to help her manage the multiple outcomes in one class. She introduces this clear focus into scenarios in a variety of ways. The scenario 'Your class is making a trip to the snow and you need waterproof storage for something important to you' steers outcomes through guiding material choice. The scenario 'ICT is a big part of our lives – design and construct a holder for a piece of ICT Technology that can sit on your bedside table' limits the physical size of the developed outcomes.
Group work
Group work is another successful approach to managing student-led outcomes, and is an everyday occurrence at Tauranga Technology Centre where each student has a specific role of responsibility in their group. All three Technology teachers use the same four roles (production manager/ resource manager/ quality controller/ marketing manager) with their groups. This enables the teacher to call upon one lot of students, such as all the resource managers, and give them instructions or information to pass on to the rest of their group. Heather's students choose their own groups, "although I have the right to change them should they decide not to make the most of their time in Technology, – and they respect that – I rarely have to change groupings as they value the fact that I have given them choice." Each group has a different colour – red, blue, green or yellow – and many of the routines in the room revolve around this group colour coding. Each group has its own coloured containers, with colour-coded stationery such as rulers, scissors and glue sticks, "so they don't have to look around for frequently used items and can just get on with things." Each group also has a whiteboard marker in their colour and, when the class is working on the whiteboard together, the groups write their contribution in their colour. This leads to students monitoring themselves and other groups.
Jo often groups students doing similar projects to help her manage her student-led outcomes. Once each student has developed their ideas into a final concept, she identifies the similar aspects of their work to gather them into groups. When a class was developing outcomes for a day at the beach, for example, Jo brought together a clothing group (shorts, T-shirts, etc), a board group (skim board, skateboard, etc) and a hats group. This approach enables her to work with a number of students, rather than always with individuals, as the students in each group often have the same challenges.
Routines and conferencing
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Wendy has found that routines and high expectations can help manage student-led outcomes in the Food Technology environment. If, for example, her students don't complete their work plan and food order, then they don't cook. "If they haven't got it, then they know the step that needs to be done to get there and they can work independently on that."
Having regular meetings with individuals or groups is an essential strategy in ensuring student-led outcomes are successful. Wendy maintains a checklist to keep track of her student conferences which might just be about 'What have you done"' and 'Where are you going to next?' Wendy says that the student conferencing is essential for formative assessment, helps her students keep track of their own progress and also helps her stay up-to-date with what stage each student has reached in the technological process. Multi-materials Teachers Lauren Barclay, Balmoral School, and Jo Young agree that you can't stay in one place for long in a Technology classroom and that this encourages multiple outcomes. Both teachers are constantly moving around the room, scanning to see what's happening. If Lauren's students need a conference, they request time by writing their name on the whiteboard and she will come to them.
Using a generic student booklet (or template) is another approach to keeping track of what each student is doing, and can be a great way for a teacher to provide a planning scaffold for students as well an excellent tool for starting a conversation with a student – 'Where are you up to today?' However, Selena points out, while a generic booklet can scaffold learning for students it can sometimes limit their ideas and responses, and restrict them from creating their own meaning and planning structures. She suggests reviewing generic booklets often and encouraging students to amend them, or to use them only as a guide to their own planning format.
Kevin Meyer and Steve Gilvear, Otumoetai College, create a design tracking sheet for each class, to assist them in keeping track of what each student's individual outcome involves. Early in a unit, they analyse each student's planning and make their own sketch from the student's drawings – these copied sketches are kept on a single A3 sheet, which the teacher can refer to when conferencing, ordering materials or completing final assessments.
Teaching skills
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Different approaches to the teaching of skills are needed for students who are working individually or in small groups to develop their own outcome. Many teachers who are effectively encouraging student-led outcomes accept that their students will not leave their technological area familiar with every piece of equipment or machinery, or every possible skill. However, notes Selena, although students might leave with a narrower skill set, what they do take with them will be authentic and often more well-established than the skills learnt by groups of students creating identical outcomes. A common strategy she observed in classrooms was teachers training student 'experts' to teach others. Lorraine Herbert, Remuera Intermediate School, often teaches a student the skill one-to-one (such as putting in a zip) on the understanding that they will become the class expert for the others. While teaching them the skill, she also teaches them how to pass on this knowledge to their peers – 'Use small steps, get them to repeat the instructions back to you'.
Jo encourages her students to use the skills sessions to help them confirm their design ideas. She starts each unit with students brainstorming solutions to the issue – "I get the kids to brainstorm as a class. We get all sorts of ideas and they then develop some drawings of what they may want to do, as the ideas can be too complex". While each student's ideas are still only concepts, she introduces them to the skills they will need, including any specific skills that came up in the class brainstorm, such as making pockets. As a class they use this time to talk about time-frames and materials suitable for the job. She gets the students to draw up their final design and make a paper pattern after their skills development. "I have found that they can completely change their minds. They might do something more complex, as they were able to figure out how it could go together, or the opposite might occur and they have had difficulty so decide to keep it simple."
Encouraging student creativity
Tom Smith, Tauranga Technology Centre, supports his students' creativity by encouraging all the ideas that spill out from the students' discussions – "silly, sensible, incredible, amazing and plain ordinary". Then, using technological modelling, students develop their ideas further through sketching, modelling and trialling. Tom gives his students plenty of 'discovery play' time to explore their design ideas. "In the initial phases there needs to be a time for playing around, discovering what could be used and identifying some characteristics of specific material or ingredient choices. This is also a fantastic time for expanding literacy."
Summary
Technology for my Community
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There are many strategies and approaches to encourage student-led outcomes, many of which involve the teacher in taking on the role of a facilitator, a role that can be a challenge to move into. Selena describes a facilitator's task as "Creating a learning environment where students can construct learning for themselves, not always being the fount of all knowledge". However, she stresses that being a facilitator in the classroom does not mean abandoning more formal 'deliberate acts of teaching' – "It is about finding the balance that meets your students' needs."
Many of the teachers featured in this snapshot suggest that enhancing student-led outcomes in the classroom starts with taking small steps and with continuously challenging oneself. Selena suggests "maybe starting with using some of your non-contact time to observe in the classroom of a teacher you admire and who is successfully encouraging student-led outcomes. This person might be in your own teaching team or perhaps in another school. Try to spend time in their room at different stages of the students' Technological Practice and focus on identifying the strategies they use to manage individualised outcomes. Then trial, using those strategies or amended versions of them, with only one class or year group, adding new strategies or more classes over time".
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