I know what you're thinking: Sam, you taught English for 8 years, and yet you still managed to spell SOULmates incorrectly. Au, contraire. Today I want to talk to you about Self Organized Learning Environments (SOLE for short) in your classroom, and how utilizing this structure and resource bank is an easy way to teach your learners the content they need to succeed in your course while also making way for them to develop the 21st Century skills they need to succeed in our evolving world. StartSOLE is an organization whose goal is to further the work of Dr. Sugata Mitra, who used to research to conceptualize SOLES, "which draw on children's natural curiosity to create a dynamic space for students to learn, interact and develop critical problem-solving skills" (StartSOLE). The Goal of a SOLE While the goal or goals of a SOLE in your classroom will vary depending on your needs, a SOLE is an opportunity for learners to work together to answer a complex question. The size and number of groups will vary depending on your class. A SOLE happens in three phases: The Big Question, Investigation, and Review. Phase 1: The Big Question Pose a "big question" to your learners that cannot be answered in a simple Google search. The question could be about content you have just finished covering, content you are about to cover, or could require learners to synthesize multiple topics you have explored in your class. Big questions should be designed to provoke curiosity and lead to more questions. The Big Question phases takes about two minutes of your class time: Show your learners the Big Question, set any learning constraints (my favorite is to limit each team to one device), and answer any clarifying questions your learners have. This can also be the time when you establish your groups; you might assign groups, or you might tell your learners that they need to form a certain number of groups and they can choose with whom they work from there. Phase 2: Investigation During the Investigation, learners work together in order to research and answer the Big Question. The beauty of a SOLE is that the learners get to decide how this is accomplished. They can stay with their original groups, or they may choose to share their findings with other groups in the class. They can divide the roles of each team member and conquer the work that needs to be done, or they can all work together on each task they must accomplish. While you may decide to constrain each group to one device, learners can also access printed material to aid in their investigation. Learners may choose how to develop their presentation artifact: their artifact could be digital or created on paper. During the Investigation phase, the educator's role is to step back and let the learners work through the Big Question, as well as any time management or group dynamic issues that arise. The StartSOLE app allows you tools to provide feedback to learners by projecting on your screen so that you do not have to stop the whole class in order to communicate suggestions or redirection. The app also saves any images or feedback you create during the Investigation to help you reflect on the experience. (Bonus: These artifacts could easily be transferred to your professional portfolio or shared with learners to add to their digital portfolios!) Phase 3: Review The Review phase is when learners share their findings with the class. While each group presents, you can use the StartSOLE app to record images and feedback. StartSOLE.org also has a bank of resources such as learner feedback forms so that the audience can act as critical friends for their peers as well. The Review phase is a wonderful opportunity to cultivate a classroom culture of growth and risk-taking. After each group presents, you can open up the floor for the audience to share things they liked about the presentation as well as areas where the group can grow. Learners can identify for themselves what skills they need to develop and hone in order to collaborate, research, and present more effectively. Why SOLE? Planning a SOLE may be the quickest lesson I've ever created. Truly. You can use the StartSOLE tools to plan an entire learning experience in under 2 minutes, and you will receive an email with a downloadable lesson plan that includes your standards. The app also empowers you to easily record evidence of the experience while you facilitate. The true magic of a SOLE, however, isn't in the easy-to-use tools or the quick lesson plan, but in the incredible learning that happens as students explore how to organize themselves. Will they make mistakes? Absolutely. But because the mistakes are happening inside of a safe, powerful, and engaging experience, the learners will self-correct. The next time they participate in a SOLE, they won't make the same mistakes - they'll make new ones, and they'll learn from those, too. As we head into these last few weeks before semester exams, I challenge you to think about how a SOLE can be used to reinforce and deepen this semester's learning. I'd love to be a thought partner and support throughout the design and facilitation process!
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