The 1999 RomCom Runaway Bride with Julia Roberts and Richard Gere provides one of my favorite examples of self-discovery. Our bride was forever molding herself to her suitors to the extent that she adopted each of their favorite style of eggs for the duration of the relationships. She is accused by Gere’s character of not knowing what she truly wants and as this accusation gnaws at her, she takes to the kitchen and prepares eggs. She prepares them so many different ways. Each time I watch this movie I am proud of this character’s bravery to face herself. She took the time to discover not only herself but also her perfect eggs. For her? Eggs benedict.
For me? Whenever I am preparing eggs at home, I most often make scrambled. Though when I am at a Mexican restaurant, I almost always order huevos rancheros, which are fried. Context and preference are key elements to the choices we make, in and out of the classroom. You know this is not a foodie blog, although I was really intrigued to discover that boiling eggs is the most popular way to prepare eggs in the United States, while enjoying fried eggs came in a close second. If you are also intrigued, do a quick internet search and you will find there are more than a hundred different ways to prepare eggs.
I really want to talk to you about the choices we make in the classroom. Sometimes we get stuck in a rut and we only use one or two instructional strategies and fully wear them out. Sometimes we try to mold ourselves into what we think our colleagues are touting as best practices. Sometimes we accept the status quo, even when it clearly is not working for anyone. I want to challenge you to break some eggs and try out some different ideas in your classrooms.
What eggs are we going to break as we break out of our molds? Instructional strategies.
For far too long education has leaned heavily upon lecture and whole class instruction as the only options. It is starting to taste like someone else’s breakfast, and not a very savory one at that. Personalized Learning offers a plethora of alternative and engaging instructional strategies. While the Runaway Bride was looking to find her one-and-only-most-favorite type of eggs, let’s see if we can find several appetizing strategies for our students.
Peer-to-Peer Instruction – Breaking out of their shells and becoming peer instructors is a strong opportunity for students to own their learning and improve their collaborative skills. In A Handbook for Personalized Competency-Based Education there is a suggestion for student progress to be tracked in a shared space where all students could access for the purpose of looking up who among their peers is a recent expert on a skill for which they need some support. The same access provides that those students recently demonstrating proficiency of a skill could offer their help to those still working to master the skill. (Note: student progress is shared within the class only and with their consent for the purpose of being peer instructors.)
Service Learning – Breaking into the community and engaging with needs beyond our own is an opportunity for teachers and students alike. Service learning can be rolled out on a grand scale with huge humanitarian campaigns, and it can be small and localized to a single need. Students can search for the opportunities to serve on their own while crafting the framework to deploy their service or they can work within a preexisting framework.
Small Group – Breaking down the size of a group can create the needed space for voices to be heard and needs to be met. This strategy often gets overlooked due impart to the simplicity of working with less students at a time, and due to their overuse in RTI models. However, for Small Group Instruction to be effective it must be well thought-out, and a solid routine established. This instructional strategy creates an opportunity for building relationships with students, catching gaps, and providing supports.
Fishbowl – Breaking into groups students create a group in the center of the room and are surrounded by the remaining students, creating a fishbowl environment. The students within the center are the fish being observed while they complete a task, carry on a discussion, or work to solve a problem. The observing students are noting the process of the students in the bowl; making notes of what is working, what is failing, and what they might do differently if they were in the bowl. If time allows, the roles can be flipped and the observed become the observers.
Jigsaw – Breaking content down into smaller chunks and disseminating it among small groups or pairs. Then those small groups or pairs work to thoroughly become experts on their piece of the puzzle ultimately coming together to demonstrate how each of their pieces fit together for the functionality of the whole concept or skill.
Inquiry Based Learning – Breaking away from the tradition of the teacher providing content and answers before students ever have the chance to be curious, Inquiry Based Learning takes the lead from the students and their vivacious curiosity. Students investigate while the educator is a guide along the way, enjoying the journey just as much as the students. Investment and engagement run high as students are tracking down content and skills they choose to seek after.
Teaching Hands 
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