GCISD students own the learning!

GCISD students own the learning!

An accelerated biology class is all a-buzz, actively discussing the role of enzymes in living systems.  Not that they have actually learned about enzymes yet... quite the contrary.  These students have been tasked with prioritizing and ordering the topics in their upcoming biology unit.  They are processing prior learning and future learning around this unit as well. But why??



This "unpacking" activity now occurs at the beginning of every unit in Mrs. Donovan-DeIturrino's Biology class.  The idea was conceived after getting lots of questions from these students regarding the purpose of some of the concepts and details they were learning, as well as why they needed it in the future.  The students at Aspire Academy at Cross Timbers Middle School really enjoy owning their learning in this way.  Mrs. "D" says she gets far fewer "why are we doing this" questions about past , current and future learning, and "the kids really get into it".  They also seem to process the content more readily, since they chose the approach and in some cases, how deep they will go with their learning.  It's an exceptional example of student voice.

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