Choosing to Learn

Abstract

Students in all classrooms have always had the power to make the most basic choice about their learning: they may choose to engage in learning or to disengage. Our goal, the authors point out, is to inspire them to choose to engage. In short, we want students to choose to learn and choose in order to learn. HIGH SCHOOL English and Spanish teacher Susan Moon stood near a thick pad of chart paper. Her class of juniors and seniors sat casually around the room. On the chalkboard were the state curriculum mandates. They had been through process before, so they were prepared. Susan said, this is what we have to demonstrate that we know. Any ideas how we are going to do that? With almost no lapse, the kids began to throw out ideas and to argue the merits of each proposal until they identified a project they believed would permit each student to meet the state requirements. Once Susan felt confident that their choices would allow them to do well, she asked, Okay, you're going to need money to do this. How are you going to get it? Once again, the kids took over. Before I left, they had identified how they would meet or exceed state mandates, raise money to support their plans, and demonstrate what they had learned. They were energized. I was exhausted from trying to keep up with them. Will they meet their goals? If their history bears out, they will. . . . Typically, kids in Susan's classes score in the 90th percentile on state achievement tests. And is no wealthy suburban school district. It is a rural school serving a population in which teen pregnancy and dropout rates are high. It is a school where one might not expect to find kind of teaching and learning going on. - Trip Log, September 1996 Some might say that Susan is unique, that she is part of an elite club of exceptional teachers, or that hers is a one-of-a-kind classroom. But our experience has shown us that there are many Susans in many schools around the country - places where, without fanfare and often where one might least expect it, teachers go about their work and do remarkable things in spite of challenges and barriers. Foxfire works with some of these teachers - in both small schools and massive urban campuses in 37 states, from the border town of Calexico, California, to a school at the end of the road in Elk City, Idaho; from South Central Los Angeles to rural Alabama; from the suburbs of Princeton, New Jersey, to the inner-city neighborhoods of Seattle, Washington. Across grade levels, across content areas, across cultures and races and economic levels, these teachers create dynamic learning environments. At one time, Foxfire was best known for the magazines and books of the same name that were developed and produced by students. Since 1966, these publications have grown out of student choices about how to meet English mandates of the state of Georgia. As the books and magazines became popular, the Foxfire approach to teaching and learning caught the attention of teachers across the country. The Foxfire approach was defined, developed, and constructed by individual teachers working mostly in isolation. Through their work, 11 tenets have been formulated that have come to be known as the practices. (For an abbreviated form of the practices, see the sidebar on page.) Taken together, these practices articulate the beliefs and standards that guide teachers' decisions about their classroom practice. Though stated simply, the core practices are complex in implementation and subject to a variety of interpretations. The Foxfire approach is an active, learner-centered approach to teaching and learning. It defines an interactive relationship between teachers, learners, and the curriculum and involves learners in making significant decisions about how they will learn, how they will assess what they learn, and how they will use what they have learned in meaningful ways. …

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