Finnish Paradox #1 - Teach Less, Learn More (Part 2)

In my previous post, I introduced some of the statistics involved in Finland’s philosophy, “Teach Less, Learn More.”  I discussed how even though Finland’s students spend fewer hours in the classroom, they consistently outperform other nations on many comparable assessments.  Because I don’t think we will all of a sudden have a new calendar that allows us to “teach less,” part 2 of my discussion of Finnish Paradox #1 will dive directly into strategies that teachers can and should use to allow students to take control of their own learning.  I truly believe that for us, this paradox should mean that we as teachers spend less time directly teaching our students and give them more of an opportunity to teach and learn themselves.    

The Finns call this being “minimally invasive.”  By getting out of the way, our students will prosper and have an opportunity to truly learn something meaningful.  I’ve made it my goal to be as minimally invasive as possible this year, starting with the first day of school.  In college I learned the importance of starting the year with the students sitting in rows and listening to the teacher go through every single procedure, rule, and expectation that would be put in place throughout the year.  I always remember feeling emotionally drained, exhausted, and BORED after the first day of school.  My students never moved, never talked, and never smiled.  I decided that this wouldn’t continue in my classroom; I vowed to be minimally invasive this year, and it started on that very first day.  My students came in and sat in groups.  I introduced myself to my students and told them that they would be using the 4Cs to develop a class symbol or mascot.  I provided each group with limited materials and limited guidance.  Before we started, we discussed what it meant to work collaboratively, to communicate effectively with team members, to be creative, and to think critically about what we were doing.  After only one day in my class, my students had already seen the importance of four real world skills and had already given their first presentations of the year.  My students have developed a sense of community from the start.  My core four class already has a signal that we use to get us engaged with the day as we #BuildTheFire (class hashtag).    

This year has been so refreshing for me.  I should feel pressure seeing that I’ve moved from the untested world of social studies to 8th grade language arts.  However, I am more relaxed, engaged, and excited than I ever have been.  My students have flexible seating options, utilize real world skills, and bring their own devices daily.  While I am still working hard, my students are doing the heavy lifting.  They are coming up with unique ways to share their work (iPhone images, drawings on windows or desks, Google presentations, etc.) and are using music to guide their weekly free writing.

Students need to have an opportunity to explore what they care about.  While we may feel pressure to teach to the required standards, it is essential that we teach our students to love learning and to be happy, which is something that Finland does consistently.  Kindergarten is play.  Kids learn how to be happy with themselves and learn how to solve problems that they care about.  Many schools in our area are starting to explore the realm of free choice through programs such as smart block or genius hour.  If your school hasn’t jumped on board with one of these options, I highly suggest that you try to find a way to integrate some free choice in your class.

Genius Hour

Genius Hour, also known as 20% Time, or my personal name for it, Passion Time, is an opportunity for students to explore whatever subject they are interested, or passionate in.  Genius Hour is based on a business practice from Google, where Google allows their employees to spend 20% of their time on work that interests them as long as it can move the company forward.  When we give our students an opportunity to explore whatever passion they have, they become more engaged in learning, and thus become more intrinsically motivated to learn.  When I have my students participate in Passion Time, I have them write a compelling question that they must work towards answering.  They can answer the question in whatever modality they want and I tell them that it can be about whatever they want as long as they are thinking!  

If we can engage our students in passion projects, our students develop a love of learning that ends up transferring into their other classes.  When we allow our students to explore, analyze, create, we have truly done our jobs.  Genius Hour provides us with these opportunities.  There are a ton of great Genius Hour resources out there, but one of my favorite is Renee White (@RaRaPenguin) from right here in Wake County.  She is my Genius Hour go to and has a plethora of resources on her padlet.  

My Next Steps

As a requirement for my trip to Finland over the summer, I was asked to have a group of students collaborate with a class in a Scandinavian country.  We were given a lot of latitude on what we could collaborate about and my class decided to discuss cultural awareness.  My students engaged in learning about Swedish culture through pen palling using the ePals website and I’m thrilled to take them to the International Festival of Raleigh in October.  I’m excited that this same group of students (plus a few new additions) will continue with me this year.  Our theme this year is going to be service learning.  We will be meeting weekly during a Smart Block session at our school and will be discussing local and global issues and how we can help to bring awareness to these issues.  I’m happy to give this group of students an opportunity to learn about something that they truly care about.