Students must be provided guided independence in their pursuit of understandings rather than being held responsible for an accumulation of irrelevant data
Part Seven of a Seven Part Series
by Norman W Wilson, PhD
Have you dined in one of those restaurants whose menus are six pages long? It takes quite a while to decide what you want to order. You finally ask your waitress for a recommendation. Guided independence is at work in this simplified scenario. The more choices one has, the longer time it takes, and the more difficult the decision making processes become.
This same concept applies to the student’s school life. Often, the student is left on his or her own when it comes to making educational choices. Choices involve study habits and techniques, elective courses to choose, sports, and clubs to participate in confront the students and sometimes leaves them confused. Guided choice making is an essential ingredient for student success and it especially applies to the area of academics.
Helping a student decide by offering them limited choices removes considerable strain and unnecessary pressure. In academics, an example for an English class will suffice. Instead of assigning the student to get a book from the library to read, have three or four in his or her interest areas from which a choice may be made. If the class is to have a group reading, experience provide three or four novels dealing with the same theme. Just watch the lively discussion that develops.
“Choice,” according to Shenna Iyengar in The Art of Choosing, “is desirable, but only to a point. Beyond that, it becomes confusing to the decision maker.” Teachers need to help students process the implications of choice; that what choice one makes impacts the choices open later on.
