Q. How can I encourage learning responsibility?

Allow Choice

Encourage students to make decisions about how they learn best.  Create opportunities for them to pursue their own interests and practice skills in a variety of ways.  Don't expect everyone to respond in the same way and instead cater your approach to meet different learning styles.  Integrate technology to encourage creative expression of learning.

Ask Open-ended Questions

Ask open-ended questions with plenty of possible answers that lead to further questions.  Acknowledge all responses equally.  Engage students with new learning by encouraging them to make connections, think critically, and explore possibilities.

Talk Less

Minimize standing talking at students.  Communicate, think together, share ideas, and construct meaning by discussing and collaborating. 

Model Behaviors that Promote Learning

Talk about your own learning and make your thinking process explicit.  Be an active participant in the learning community.  Model and encourage enthusiasm, open-mindedness, curiosity, and reflection.  Be an inquirer.

Ask for Feedback

Get your students to write down what they learned, whether they enjoyed a particular learning experience, what helped their learning, what hindered their learning, and what might help them next time.  Take notice of what they write down and build learning experiences based on it.

Encourage Goal Setting and Reflection

Help students to define goals for their learning.  Provide opportunities for ongoing self-evaluation and reflection.  Provide specific, constructive feedback.

Don't Over Plan

If you know exactly where the lesson is leading and what you want the students to think, then you're controlling the learning.  Plan a hook that will invite the students in and get them excited to explore the topic further, but don't plan in too much detail where it will go from there.