Giving kids choice-Who holds the power

I really like this idea as a way to get the kids thinking about who holds the power and to reflect on my own teaching. Am I making too many of the decisions? Am I letting the kids take ownership of their learning? How could I give them more choice in the day?

I would be interested in trialing this with my class and maybe adding a column with what they would  like to have more choice or say in?

Taken from Emma Winder's blog http://my-learning.me/2013/04/22/who-has-control/

Who has control?

Posted on April 22, 2013 by EMMAWINDER25Leave a comment

Interestingly, when I’ve spoken to the students in Year 6 lately, they’ve told me that they have lots of control in the classroom. I can’t say I agree, though they may well have plenty of control compared to previous years at school. So, to give both myself and the kids in my class a better idea of who had control over the various aspects of the classroom, I decided to have a big discussion around this.

Below is the result of this discussion:

Miss Winder controls:	Teacher and kids have joint control:	Kids have control:
Deadlines Direction of discussions Mathletics tasks Warnings Units of inquiry- “big ideas” Trips Visitors “Thoughts on this” board Brain teasers Planning: Tasks Opt in meetings Group meetings Class meetings Learning intentions	Choosing goals Deadlines Noise level Success criteria “Did you know” board	Planning the day – decide when to do things Where the furniture is in the room How we behave Who we work with or whether we work alone How we use our time Where we sit What we do for fitness Whether we attend opt in meetings Choose how hard we try Choose what rewards we get Whether you need to get a drink or use the toilet What/with whom/when you talk Choose what you want to learn within the big idea in inquiry Choose to add your ideas to the “thoughts on this” board Choose what to write about for goal practice Choose what to do when weekly tasks are finished.