It is important for school districts to have a shared understanding or definition of “LEARNING.” What sometimes passes for learning in public school classrooms may, at times, be a process of compliance – or what many have referred to as “doing school.” For example, schools that reinforce “playing school” or “doing school” often place a premium on things like homework completion, classroom participation, behavior, “extra credit” opportunities, and the likes. Sadly, students who are adept at “doing school” may not necessarily be top-of-the-class due to their ability to learn, but rather as a function of their classroom comportment.
In the South Orangetown Central School District, we make every effort to create a culture that emphasizes productive learning over “doing school;” effectiveness over efficiency; and common-sense over mere compliance with the regulatory reform of the past decade (to include Common Core and other associated, non research-based accountability measures).
In order to stress “productive learning” beyond “doing school,” it is important that we commit to an instructional process that “engenders and reinforces WANTING TO LEARN MORE (Sarason, 2004)”. According to Seymour B. Sarason, without the desire to learn more, the learning context is unproductive. As educators, it is not beyond our capacity to create environments where students “want to learn more.”
As superintendent, it is my duty to create a “common operating picture” of what productive learning should (or shouldn’t) look like in our classrooms. I recently heard Will Richardson (leading thinker and writer on the subject of how students learn “outside of school”) present on the topic of schools where students “want to learn more.” Mr. Richardson illustrated the characteristics of ideal learning environments versus classrooms where students feel unengaged and uncreative in their education. In the table below, the column on the left describes the learning environment we must create for our learners – a common-sense, research-based approach to student learning. The column on the right describes a learning environment that is commonly created in schools for the sake of efficiency (Richardson at NCERT, 2017).
| Common Sense Learning Environment versus | “Doing School” |
| Safe learning environment | Sitting in rows |
| Personal investment | Time-constrained blocks 40/60/88 minutes |
| Real-world application | Discrete curriculum |
| Fun | One subject area focus |
| Relevance to their lives | Age-grouped co-learners |
| Social | No real world application |
| Interesting questions | Teacher controlled |
| Positive learning environment | Someone else’s questions |
| Real audience | Standardized assessments |
| Passion | Emphasis on grades |
| Teachers as mentors | Carrots and sticks |
| Feedback | No choice / no agency |
| Autonomy and agency | Lack of relevance |
| Challenging | “Handing it in” |
| Cross disciplines | Limited access |
| Not time-constrained | |
| Flow | |
We should aspire to create learning environments as described in the column on the left and, as Will Richardson remarks, “own it” when we are stuck in the right column. This is often a difficult task given the many political, economic, and cultural challenges that we must face, but our children (and our future) are worth the effort. As such, I am hopeful that each of you will join me in our effort to better engage our students and afford them the “freedom to learn.”
Richardson, W. (2017). Presentation at National Center for Education Research and Technology. “Freedom to Learn.” Orlando, FL.
Sarason, S. (2004). And What do YOU Mean by Learning. Heinemann. Portsmouth, NH.
Learn more about Will Richardson and his work at: http://willrichardson.com/