Student Led Learning in Upper Elementary

This is my first year teaching in upper elementary. One of the things that I have really worked on is implementing student-led learning in my classroom. It is definitely an area that I am constantly reflecting on because I definitely see a lot of growth from my students when they lead the learning. It also helps make learning relevant to students.

Since it is one of my goals to implement student-led learning in my classroom, it is something that I am studying up on. I love professional development books and this is my current read.  Let me start by saying it is a FABULOUS read! It has so many great ways to implement student-led learning and design thinking.

 Click HERE to see this book on amazon.

One of my favorite student-led learning opportunities is the design challenge. The only supplies that I gave my students were cardboard pieces, masking tape and poster board (11x11). I learned the hard way that the best thing is to cut the cardboard into strips. The students were able to cut the strips into smaller pieces for their maze. If you give them a box to cut, it will be a disaster. Just warning you now!

My students worked with measurement during this design challenge. They used rulers to make one inch marks to draw out a design grid. They also used protractors to measure angles. They also really got a chance to use critical thinking because we had to make sure that we designed a path that was wide enough to fit our ozobots.

After the design challenge, we worked on programming our ozobots to travel through our mazes. It was a great way to make our design challenge relevant.

I hope that you are able to implement student-led learning in your classroom. I would love to hear about your experiences.