How Do PBL Student-driven Communities Work?
My colleague and the co-founder of Valley New School, David Debbink, in Appleton, Wisconsin described our student-driven learning community as a “low hum” of productivity. For first-time visitors, it’s off-putting to see students at work with no one standing over them, keeping them tethered to assignments. Students in the student-driven school maintain this productive culture themselves. Indeed, the students are the ones who most effectively maintain a focused, respectful community.
In recent years, there has been discussion about the idea of positive school culture, but what some may be missing is that a positive, edifying, accomplished school culture is sustained from within—it comes from the students themselves. Here’s the caveat—students have to care to maintain it. How do we accomplish that? We give them voice and choice. Students have ownership of their learning environment, and that’s why they care to maintain it.
Democratic schools like the Quaker schools (Sidwell Friends and others) allow students to govern themselves and their school. They have choice in what and how they learn and what kind of environment supports their learning. Giving students a voice creates responsible citizens who care to build and sustain a school community that supports their learning! I remember the beautiful work that Andrew Gifford did in creating AISA--Active Input in Student Affairs. He recognized that the lines of communication between the student body and the governance board could be improved. He created a new process and entity for communicating the concerns of the students in order to affect change. Ten years on, the process he proposed and implemented is still effective and thriving.
The learning communities we help build are small by design with a 1:15 teacher-student ratio in a multi-age studio space. Strong relationships are the cornerstone, and older students are taught how to bring up younger students into the supportive culture, while also having high regard for the gifts and contributions of the younger students. Connections outside school are a vital part of our learning community as live source experts are vital to students’ exploration & research. Our dynamic, positive atmosphere breeds purposefulness, respect & the desire to learn.
Because our learning environment is built on community, friendships, and individualism, discipline issues, such as bullying, are nonexistent. The structure in place, built with student voice, creates an environment in which students invest time and effort into maintaining a focused learning environment. A classic example from Valley New School, is when a new student started and sneakily threw a wad of paper across the room, and a veteran student responded with, “We don’t do that here.” Not only do the students care to maintain the learning environment, they care to maintain the community because this is where they’ve found a home among their peers and adult mentors with whom they have genuine relationships. It is a safe, welcoming culture where individuality is celebrated.
Competition is eliminated because each student is an individual, choosing projects of their interest. A majority of the stress and anxiety of traditional school comes from students being constantly compared to each other. They are reduced to grades and test scores. In project-based learning environments, students embrace their own and others’ unique qualities and interests.
Collaboration is key as students feed off of each other’s learning. Sometimes they are even able to use other students as live sources because once the community is established and students have been honing their research skills and allowed the freedom to build their talents, they become little experts on any number of topics. They collaborate on projects, learn from those who are succeeding in skill areas and strengthen their own. Moreover, the multiage environment lends itself well to student-to-student mentorship. Formalizing mentorship where mentor and mentee are paired, creates teachers/facilitators within the students themselves. It’s amazing to observe student mentors teaching the project process, including time management, organization and the like! This is the kind of rich learning environment our children deserve, one in which they are creating strong relationships, building confidence, and celebrating individualism.
