more voice more choice more control

Fresh Off the Press: Parents’ Guide to Microschools — from gettingsmart.com

We’re excited to announce and share our new Parents Guide to Microschools, a clear and approachable introduction to one of the fastest growing learning models in the country. The guide unpacks what microschools are, how they work and why families are increasingly drawn to intimate, relationship centered environments. It highlights features like flexible schedules, small cohorts, personalized pathways and hands-on learning so parents can picture what these settings actually look and feel like.

It also equips families with practical tools to navigate the decision making process: key questions to ask during visits, indicators of strong culture and instruction, considerations around cost and accreditation and how to assess overall fit for each learner. Whether parents are simply curious or actively exploring new options, this guide offers clarity, confidence and a starting point for imagining what learning could look like next.

Two cool items involving art and creativity

On 11/21/2025, in art, collaboration, creativity, Emotion, K-12 related, more voice more choice more control, relationships, student-related, teachers, by Daniel Christian

Simon Laveuve’s Scaled-Down Tableaux Reveal Post-Apocalyptic Lifestyles — from thisiscolossal.com by Simon Laveuve and Kate Mothes

Bringing High School Students and Kindergartners Together to Make Art — from edutopia.org by Cory Desmond
A look at how teachers can have students collaborate across grades on an art project that promotes creativity and teamwork.

What happens when high school students and kindergartners collaborate? Art. Innovation. Growth. And so much more.

Inspired by illustrator Mica Angela Hendricks’s collaborations with her 4-year-old daughter—in which Hendricks would begin by drawing a portrait and then have her daughter add to it—I formalized the concept into an inter-grade art lesson. It’s a replicable, three-stage project based on vertical collaboration. This model bridges the creative and social gap between students, weaving together technical skill and imagination through methods based in social and emotional learning (SEL).

It operates by passing a structured project back and forth, compelling older students to engage with empathy, relationship maintenance, and responsible decision-making. Simultaneously, it empowers younger students, giving them significant creative autonomy through their own responsible choices. By breaking down the separation between age groups, cross-grade collaborations cultivate essential skills in ways that isolated classrooms typically can’t.

In this article, I’ll provide a flexible framework for vertical collaboration—a blueprint that teachers can adapt for their own cross-grade collaborations.

Seeing The Unseen Students: The Invisible Strength of Teachers [Tazkiya] + The Power of Play [Bray]

On 11/13/2025, in education, Emotion, ideas, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, more voice more choice more control, motivation, parents/guardians, pedagogy, play, student-related, teachers, United States, youth, by Daniel Christian

Seeing The Unseen Students: The Invisible Strength of Teachers — from teachthought.com by Tasneem Tazkiya
One afternoon, I asked a different question: “What would make school feel worth showing up for again?”

A Moment That Changed My View of Teaching
I’ll never forget a student I’ll call Jalen. He was bright and quick with answers, sharp in debate, but he had built a wall around himself after a difficult year at home. He’d stopped turning in work and began sitting silently in the back of the room, disengaged and defiant.

One afternoon, instead of lecturing him about missing assignments, I asked a different question: “What would make school feel worth showing up for again?”

That simple question opened a door. Over the following weeks, Jalen began sharing ideas for projects connected to his interests, designing sneakers and exploring how geometry applies to shoe patterns. I adapted lessons to let him create, design, and analyze. Slowly, his confidence returned. Months later, he told me, “You made me feel like my ideas mattered.”

That moment reminded me that teaching isn’t just about delivering content; it’s about restoring belief in learning, and in oneself.

Also see:

The Power of Play — from barbarabray.net by Barbara Bray

Play brings joy and happiness to learning. Infusing play in schools prepares kids as future citizens.
When you play a game with your friends, how do you feel?

When you see children playing with other children, what do you notice?

Ask a child if they remember the worksheet they filled out last week.
Did they have fun?

Do they remember what they learned?

Let’s play more and discover how learning unfolds.
Schools can invest in more play through games, interactive experiences, and just making learning fun. Providing engaging activities through play creates learners who become critical thinkers, researchers, and designers.

Also re: teaching and learning:

Using Classic Texts From the Past to Foster Future-Ready Skills — from edutopia.org by Lauren Kaufman
High school teachers can use texts from the canon to promote the skills their schools or states have identified as essential for graduates.
Empowering Students Through a Focus on Incremental Progress — from edutopia.org by Kathy Collier
Elementary teachers can help students feel confident tackling big goals by encouraging them to focus on getting a little bit better every day.
Discovering Global Sounds Through the Recorder — from edutopia.org by Nina Stern, JoDee Scissors
Music teachers can guide exploration of musical styles from around the world to spark elementary students’ curiosity and build community.
Entrepreneurial Mindset in Middle School — from rdene915.com by Dr. Rachelle Dené Poth

7 Teaching Practices that Nurture Student Voice [Gonzalez]

On 10/01/2025, in education, education reform, experimentation, face-to-face, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, leadership, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, more voice more choice more control, strategy, student-related, teachers, United States, by Daniel Christian

7 Teaching Practices that Nurture Student Voice — from cultofpedagogy.com by Jennifer Gonzalez

In our efforts to improve school, especially in the United States, student voice has really gotten lost. We focus on test scores, top-down curriculum, and measures of success that never quite get to the humanity of our students. Not only have these efforts not succeeded in raising test scores (Schwartz, 2025), they haven’t given us much satisfaction in other ways, either: In a recent survey, nearly half of educators reported that student behavior was worse than before the pandemic, and that number had grown since teachers were surveyed just two years earlier (Stephens, 2025).

Although there are most certainly individual schools where great things are happening, too many schools are still missing the mark. Too many schools keep trying to address these problems without hearing from the very people who are impacted most: the students.

But there is another way. Four years ago, I started talking a lot about a new book I’d read called Street Data.

Learners need: More voice. More choice. More control. -- this image was created by Daniel Christian

What today’s students really want — and what that means for higher ed — from highereddive.com by Ellucian

Cost is too high. Pathways are unclear. Options feel limited. For many prospective, current, or former students, these barriers define their relationship with higher education. As colleges and universities face the long-anticipated enrollment cliff, the question isn’t just how to recruit—it’s how to reimagine value, access, and engagement across the entire student journey.

Ellucian’s 2025 Student Voice Report offers one of the most comprehensive views into that journey to date. With responses from over 1,500 learners across the U.S.—including high school students, current undergrads, college grads, stop-outs, and opt-outs—the findings surface one clear mandate for institutions: meet students where they are, or risk losing them entirely.

What Are Learners Asking For?
Across demographics, four priorities rose to the top:
Affordability. Flexibility. Relevance. Clarity.

Students aren’t rejecting education—they’re rejecting systems that don’t clearly show how their investment leads to real outcomes.

Small, Rural Central California High School Continues To Defy Standardized Education — from gettingsmart.com by Michael Niehoff

Key Points

Minarets High School prioritizes student-centered learning with innovative programs like project-based learning, digital tools, and unique offerings.
Emphasis on student voice and personalized learning fosters engagement, creativity, and real-world preparation, setting a benchmark for educational innovation.

Let High Schoolers Do Less? Let High Schoolers Experience More — from gettingsmart.com by Tom Vander Ark and Nate McClennen

Key Points

High school should focus on personalized and purposeful learning experiences that engage students and build real-world skills.
Traditional transcripts should be replaced with richer learning and experience records to better communicate students’ skills to higher education and employers.

“Americans want to grant more control to students themselves, prioritizing a K-12 education where all students have the option to choose the courses they want to study based on interests and aspirations.”

Research on motivation and engagement supports personalized and purposeful learning. Students are more motivated when they see relevance and have some choice. We summarize this in six core principles to which schools should strive.

New Effort Pushes the U.S. to Stop Getting ‘Schooled’ and Start Learning — from workshift.org by Elyse Ashburn

The Big Idea: A new collaborative effort led out of the Stanford center aims to tackle that goal—giving clearer shape to what it would mean to truly build a new “learning society.” As a starting point, the collaborative released a report and set of design principles this week, crafted through a year of discussion and debate among about three dozen fellows in leadership roles in education, industry, government, and research.

The fellows landed on nine core principles—including that working is learning and credentials are a means, not an end—designed to transition the United States from a “schooled society” to a “learning society.”

“Universal access to K-12 education and the massification of access to college were major accomplishments of 20th century America,” Stevens says. “But all that schooling also has downsides that only recently have come into common view. Conventional schooling is expensive, bureaucratic, and often inflexible.”
.

How Substitute Teachers Can Connect With Their Students — from edutopia.org by Zachary Shell
Five enriching strategies to help subs stay involved and make a difference in the classroom.

I’ve since found enrichment in substitute teaching. Along the way, I’ve compiled a handful of strategies that have helped me stay involved and make a difference, one day at a time. Those strategies—which are useful for new substitutes still learning the ropes, as well as full-time teachers who are scaling back to substitute duties—are laid out below.

A Quiet Classroom Isn’t Always an Ideal Classroom — from edutopia.org by Clementina Jose
By rethinking what a good day in the classroom looks and sounds like, new teachers can better support their students.

If your classroom hums with the energy of students asking questions, debating ideas, and working together, you haven’t failed. You’ve succeeded in building a space where learning isn’t about being compliant, but about being alive and present.

The Transformative Power of Arts Education; Moving to Student-Centered Environments; + Transforming Career Connected Learning

On 09/05/2025, in active learning, art, career development, collaboration, creativity, education, engagement / engaging students, ideas, instructional design, K-12 related, learning, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, more voice more choice more control, participation, pedagogy, project-based learning, real-world assignments, by Daniel Christian

The Transformative Power of Arts Education | A Conversation with Dr. Lucy Chen — from gettingsmart.com by Mason Pashia

Key Points

Arts education boosts academic performance, communication skills, and student engagement, supported by long-term data.
Tailoring arts programs to individual student needs creates impactful pathways, from foundational exposure to professional aspirations.

12 Shifts to Move from Teacher-Led to Student-Centered Environments — from gettingsmart.com by Kyle Wagner

Key Points

Despite modern technological advancements in classroom tools, many educational settings still center around a traditional model where the teacher is the primary source of information and students passively receive content.
Slowly, learning environments are inviting students to actively participate and take ownership of their learning through collaborative projects, inquiry-based experiences, and real-world problem-solving, thereby transforming traditional educational roles and practices.

From Readiness to Relevance: 3 Ways to Transform Career Connected Learning — from gettingsmart.com by Dr. Mahnaz R. Charania

Key Points

Career-connected learning must start early and be integrated across K–12 to provide students with exposure and informed choices for their futures.
Real-world, immersive learning experiences enhance student engagement and help build critical skills, social capital, and opportunities for success.

AI is rewiring how we learn, and it’s a game-changer for L&D— from chieflearningofficer.com by Josh Bersin
As AI becomes central to learner engagement, L&D leaders are being urged to fundamentally rethink corporate training, says global industry analyst Josh Bersin.

What are people really doing with ChatGPT? They’re learning. They’re asking questions, getting immediate answers, digging deeper, analyzing information and ultimately making themselves more productive. So, one could argue that simply by shifting to a “learn by inquiry” model, we may triple our value to the business.

From my experience, there are two main learning models in this industry. The first is “what you need to know”—linear or prescriptive things that every employee needs to understand about the company, its products and their role. This kind of content is well handled by existing L&D models.

The second, and far more important, is “what you’d like to know”—questions, curiosities and explorations about how the company works, what customers truly need and how we can each go further in our careers. Thanks to AI, this kind of learning is now explosive and transformative.

Imagine a sales rep who loses a deal. Naturally, they may ask, “What could I have done to be more successful?” A well-designed AI-powered learning system would take that question, give the employee an initial answer and chat with the individual to dig into the problem.

The system would then surface relevant sales training material and recommend videos, tips or case studies for help. And the employee, assuming they like the experience, would likely keep exploring until they feel they’ve learned what they need.

This “curiosity-based” learning is now possible, and its benefits extend far beyond traditional training.

To Bullied and Bored Teens, North Star Offers ‘Unschooling’ — and a Cup of Ramen [Toppo]

On 07/14/2025, in Alternatives, education, education reform, ideas, K-12 related, learning ecosystem, Learning Experience Design, more voice more choice more control, parents/guardians, student-related, surviving, United States, by Daniel Christian

To Bullied and Bored Teens, North Star Offers ‘Unschooling’ — and a Cup of Ramen — from the74million.org by Greg Toppo
‘We tend not to get your football player, cheerleader, sports team kids,’ says the school’s founder. ‘But we get all the kids they pick on.’

For 29 years, the private, non-profit center — don’t call it a school — has been a refuge for kids who chafe at the stress, loneliness or bullying of school. They spend a few months or a few years here, catching their breath as they prepare for life after graduation.

With an enrollment of 65, it offers rigorous, one-on-one tutoring; small, personalized classes in history, math, writing and the arts, and extracurriculars like weekly hiking club excursions. This year, young people designed and taught three courses on Dungeons & Dragons.

“You’re accountable to yourself. Is this the life you want?”

Kenneth Danford

While most mainstream educators would say letting young people “do nothing” for a year is out of the question, he sees it differently: In the unschooling world, he said, “there’s no such thing as ‘doing nothing.’ ”

These parents are ‘unschooling’ their kids. What does that mean? — from usatoday.com by Adrianna Rodriguez

“My goal for them is for them to love learning,” Franco said. “It’s realizing you can educate your child beyond the school model.”

Some parents say their children are thriving in the unschooling environment, fueling their confidence and desire to learn.

But not all students find success in unschooling. Some former students say the lack of structure and accountability can lead to educational neglect if parents don’t have the resources to make it work. Some kids who were unschooled feel they were left unprepared for adulthood and had fewer career opportunities.

What Is ‘Unschooling’ and Why Are More Parents Doing It? — from bckonline.com byTiffany Silva

Unschooling is a growing alternative education movement where children learn through life experiences instead of traditional classroom instruction. As more parents seek personalized and flexible learning paths, unschooling is gaining popularity across the U.S. and here’s what you need to know!

So, just what exactly is unschooling? Well, Unschooling is a form of homeschooling that breaks away from the idea of following a set curriculum. Instead, it centers the child’s interests, passions, and pace.

The belief is that learning doesn’t have to be separate from life because it is life. Unschooling functions on the premise that when kids are given the freedom to explore, they develop deep, authentic understanding and a lifelong love of learning.

Cultivating a responsible innovation mindset among future tech leaders — from timeshighereducation.com by Andreas Alexiou
The classroom is a perfect place to discuss the messy, real-world consequences of technological discoveries, writes Andreas Alexiou. Beyond ‘How?’, students should be asking ‘Should we…?’ and ‘What if…?’ questions around ethics and responsibility

University educators play a crucial role in guiding students to think about the next big invention and its implications for privacy, the environment and social equity. To truly make a difference, we need to bring ethics and responsibility into the classroom in a way that resonates with students. Here’s how.
…
Debating with industry pioneers on incorporating ethical frameworks in innovation, product development or technology adoption is eye-opening because it can lead to students confronting assumptions they hadn’t questioned before. For example, students could discuss the roll-out of emotion-recognition software. Many assume it’s neutral, but guest speakers from industry can highlight how cultural and racial biases are baked into design decisions.

Leveraging alumni networks and starting with short virtual Q&A sessions instead of full lectures can work well.

Are we overlooking the power of autonomy when it comes to motivating students? — from timeshighereducation.com by Danny Oppenheimer
Educators fear giving students too much choice in their learning will see them making the wrong decisions. But structuring choice without dictating the answers could be the way forward

So, how can we get students to make good decisions while still allowing them agency to make their own choices, maintaining the associated motivational advantages that agency provides? One possibility is to use choice architecture, more commonly called “nudges”: structuring choices in ways that scaffold better decisions without dictating them.
…
Higher education rightly emphasises the importance of belonging and mastery, but when it ignores autonomy – the third leg of the motivational tripod – the system wobbles. When we allow students to decide for themselves how they’ll engage with their coursework, they consistently rise to the occasion. They choose to challenge themselves, perform better academically and enjoy their education more.

Boys Are Struggling in School. What Can Be Done? — from edweek.org by Rick Hess
Scholar Richard Reeves says it’s time to take a hard look at gender equity

Rick: What kinds of strategies do you think would help?

Richard: In education, we should expand the use of male-friendly teaching methods, such as more hands-on and active learning approaches. We should also consider redshirting boys—starting them in school a year later—to account for developmental differences between boys and girls. We should also introduce more male mentors and role models in schools, particularly in elementary education, where male teachers are scarce. In the workforce, apprenticeship and vocational training programs need to be expanded to create pathways into stable employment for young men who may not pursue a four-year degree. Career counseling should also emphasize diverse pathways to ensure that boys who may not thrive in a traditional academic setting still have opportunities for success. Additionally, fatherhood policies should recognize the importance of male engagement in family life, supporting fathers in their role as caregivers and providers.

While on the topic of K12 education, also see:

How Electives Help All Students Succeed — from edutopia.org by Miriam Plotinsky
Giving students a choice of electives increases engagement and allows them to develop skills outside of core academic subjects.

I recently conducted a student focus group on the topic of school attendance. One of the participants, a high school junior who admitted to being frequently late or absent, explained why she still came to school: “I never want to miss Drama. My teacher is awesome. Her class is the reason I show up every day.” As the rest of the focus group chimed in with similar thoughts, I reflected on the power that elective courses hold for students of all ages.

These courses, from jazz band to yoga, cement students’ sense of self not just in their primary and secondary years, but also in their journey toward adulthood. In these tight economic times, schools or districts often slash electives to save money on staffing, which is highly detrimental to student success. Instead, not only should budget cuts be made elsewhere, but also elective offerings should increase to heighten student choice and well-being.

Learners need: More voice. More choice. More control. -- this image was created by Daniel Christian

Sleep No More: Live experiential learning that’s more like an escape room than a classroom — from chieflearningofficer.com by Clare S. Dygert
The time for passive learning is over. Your learners are ready for experiences that resonate, challenge and transform, and they’re looking to you to provide them.

Live experiential learning: ILT as usual?
Is live experiential learning, or LEL, just a surface rebranding of traditional instructor-led training?

Absolutely not. In fact, LEL is as distant from traditional ILT as Sleep No More is from traditional theater.

Instead of sitting politely, nodding along — or nodding off — as an instructor carefully reads aloud from their slide deck, learners roam about, get their hands dirty and focus on the things that matter to them (yes, even if that means they don’t get to every topic or encounter them in the way we would have liked).

In short, LEL has the ability to shake up your learners, in a good way. And when they realize that this isn’t learning as usual, they land in a mental space that makes them more curious and receptive.

So what does this look like, really? And how does it work?

Improving team performance with collaborative problem-solving — from chieflearningofficer.com by
Exercises for improving the way your team communicates, trusts each other, solves problems and makes decisions.

As learning and development leaders, you can create fun, engaging and challenging exercises for teams that develop these important characteristics and improve numerous markers of team efficacy. Exercises to improve team performance should be focused on four themes: negotiation, agreement, coordination and output. In this article, I’ll discuss each type of exercise briefly, then how I use a framework to create challenging and engaging exercises to improve collaborative problem-solving and performance on my teams.

Microlearning Secrets from Marketers: How to Make Learning Stick — from learningguild.com by Danielle Wallace

Marketers have spent billions of dollars testing what works—and their insights can revolutionize microlearning. By borrowing from marketing’s best strategies, L&D professionals can create microlearning that cuts through the noise, engages learners, and drives real behavior change.

If marketing can make people remember a product, L&D can make people remember a skill.

In many traditional school buildings, the design sends an unspoken message: “Sit down. Follow instructions. Stay within the lines.”

But imagine what students might believe about themselves and the world if their learning environment said instead:

“You belong here. Your ideas matter. Explore freely.”

For another item related to learning spaces, see:

Choosing the Right Technology for Today’s HyFlex Classroom — from edtechmagazine.com by Gaurav Bradoo
Long-lasting adoption of the HyFlex learning modality means higher education institutions shouldn’t be afraid to invest in tools that can enhance the student experience.

The answer? Solutions built for quick and easy installation, designed to work across multiple platforms and equipped with remote update and troubleshooting features. Anything we can do to reduce the number of cords, components and required steps during installation will assist AV staff. Prioritizing user-friendly design will cut down on help tickets across the lifespan of a device, and choosing features such as remote update capability can streamline maintenance. The bottom line is that simplicity and ease of deployment are not nice-to-haves. They are essential.

I’ve visited universities where instructors are faced with control panels with laminated cheat sheets next to them. These panels are often overloaded, acting as the room system as well, and not designed with simplicity or teaching flow in mind as it relates to capturing and streaming content for HyFlex teaching.

Along the lines of learning and working/office spaces…I’d like to thank Daan van Rossum for this next article (below emphasis from DSC). Daan mentioned that:

Phil Kirschner (ex-McKinsey, WeWork, JLL, Forbes contributor) just published a sharp piece on The Workline entitled Vibe Officing: The Antidote to Office Mandates.
In it, Phil introduces “Vibe Officing”—challenges the mandate-vs-flexibility debate with a third way: designing office spaces people want to return to, not because they’re told to, but because they actually enjoy being there. He also touches on how AI can enable personalized nudges to improve workplace journeys.

Culminating Art Projects That Boost Students’ Confidence — from edutopia.org by Mary Beth Hertz
At the end of the year, high school students enjoy the opportunity to create a final product dictated by their own interests.

Boosting Engagement by Taking Math Outdoors — from edutopia.org by Sandy Vorensky
Bringing elementary students outside for math lessons provides a welcome change of pace and a chance for new activities.

Using a School Mural Project to Showcase Students’ Growth — from edutopia.org by Gloria Sevilla
Step-by-step instructions from an elementary school educator whose annual mural assignment is displayed at the spring open house.

How to Help Students Avoid Procrastinating — from edutopia.org by Sarah Kesty
A simple strategy can help students map out their assignments in manageable chunks so they can stay on top of their work.

Long-term projects and assignments present a unique challenge for many students, requiring several layers of executive function skills, like planning and time management, to be able to manage steps over an extended period of time. Much to our frustration, students may procrastinate or avoid working on an assignment when it seems overwhelming. This can lead to late, missing, or incomplete work, or it can push students into a stressful all-nighter, as they complete an assignment designed to take weeks in the span of just a few hours.

An effective way to address the challenges of overwhelm and procrastination—and a way that requires only a tweak to your teaching instead of another task on your plate—is to teach students to “scan and plan.” Scan and plans happen during the introduction of an assignment, usually one that takes more than a few steps. Teachers organically fold in the scan and plan approach as a layer to the assignment’s announcement to the class.

Learning Ecosystems

“Sleep No More: Live experiential learning that’s more like an escape room than a classroom” [Dygert]

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