Supporting Students As They Work Independently
4 tools that have helped me improve "independent work time"
“We just need more time.”
One consistent theme across my student feedback in recent years has been how much they appreciate getting time to work on what they need to work on in the classroom.
So as much as I am a believer in building classroom community through collaboration and engagement, I’ve tried to take a step back this year and more often center their requests for more allocated time for independent work on close-reading, writing tasks, projects, etc.
However, in doing so I’ve had to confront a reality that I think many teachers have been noticing, especially in recent years: many students are not very productive in using independent work time in the classroom.
The result, then, is the paradox that students end up asking for time they don’t always use very well—which leaves them feeling like they need even more time to…not use very well again.
The first, very-natural reaction as a teacher, at least for me?
This is why I don’t like to allocate that much independent work time!!!
But then I’ve been trying check myself: what can I do differently to support them with independent work time so it is better for our classroom?
Along those lines, today I wanted to share four things that have been working of late for me:
Begin By Having Students Name Where They Are At
When there are 30+ students in a room all at various points of their writing process, it can be very tricky to know where and how to “allocate yourself” as a teacher for support.
For me, this tends to lead to aimless circling, hoping a student will raise their hand for a question while I wander around until retreating to my desk.
One shift I’ve made lately here that has helped, though: I begin the independent work space by having students “pick a number” to indicate where they are at and what they need—in a way forcing them to own their current progress right away.
This also then creates a built-in triage process for me in offering support.
Referring to the sample slide posted above, following this “pick a number” activity I immediately circulated the room and addressed all the "4’s” within the first five minutes, and then had several sit-down chats with the 5’s and the 6’s while the 1’s, 2’s, and 3’s went forward mainly on their own.
Then, with my remaining time, I went back through those 1-3’s and asked them why they chose the number they did—and what “success” would look like the rest of their time.
Way better than circling the room waiting for a raised hand, I’d argue.
My takeaway here: there is power and empowerment in having students name where they are at and what they need to begin an extended stretch of work time—and on a practical level, it helps you as a teacher offer support more efficiently and effectively.
Make Sure You Have Tools/Supports To Direct Them To
If you’re like me on days like this, when you circle the room and start crouching down to speak with students who have hit their own walls, you may hit a wall of your own when a student looks up helplessly and says these six dreaded words:
“I don’t know where to start.”
Yes, a prolonged conversation with that student in that moment might be the solution—but there are the other students in the room needing your support that you also have to keep in mind.
So while it may be tempting to spend 5-10 minutes with that student who has completely hit a wall, it is important to also be aware of how that would shift the dynamic for the rest of the classroom once they saw Mr. Luther completely preoccupied with a single student for an extended stretch.
My solution to this? I have been trying my best (and not always successfully!) to go into days with independent work time prepared to have several tools to direct students towards when they are struggling. These often include:
Exemplars (“Go read the sample and write down 2 things you notice, and then I’ll check back with you”)
Collective Feedback (trends/notes that were given to many students that may be helpful for students to refer to—a strategy I’ve discussed here)
Growth-Specific Tools (example: for students who were struggling with textual organization, I had a link available to several tools for transition words/phrases)
This doesn’t mean that you just point to a tool and move on! What it does allow you to do, though, is to give the student a “do this first” next step while you circulate and check back with them, which is very important for the entire classroom’s success during work times like these, I’ve realized.
My takeaway here: part of your success facilitating independent work time, I think, comes down to your level of preparation in equipping yourself with tools/resources to direct students to as you circulate.
Break Away From The Screen When You Need To
Another mistake I have often made in trying to create successful independent work time spaces: recognizing the glazed eyes of students struggling while staring at the screen—and not doing something about it.
I won’t pretend that “pen-and-paper” solves all ills in education, but I do recognize that sometimes, especially in an extended digital project or writing activity, it is important to wrench students away from the screens to write down their thoughts by hand.
For example: the other day I had students begin their digital writing work time by handwriting a one-sentence claim of their interpretation at that point—and then I began my circling of the room to see who was struggling to take what they had typed (they all had 500+ word drafts with feedback) and translate it into a one-sentence, handwritten summation.
When students struggled with this handwritten activity, it became a critical moment for us to talk and intervene instead of them retreating to silently struggled while staring at their screen.
And that leads to my third takeaway: especially if it is going to be an extended stretch of independent work time, try to dislocate students from 100% on-screen work to keep them present with the task and accountable to their own understanding.
Ask Students To Reflect On Their Own Use of Time
This is the other pivot I’m trying to be better at being intentional about: more frequently pausing our work time midway to have students consider how they have used that space and take ownership of their own productivity.
Some tips in doing reflective “check-in’s” like this:
Let them know beforehand about what will be asked so they aren’t surprised and it doesn’t feel like a “gotcha”
Frame it around improvement: “Name one thing you can do to be more productive in the 2nd part of our work time"
Try not to make this an independent reflection—have them share aloud how they’ve done and what they want to do better, if you’re willing!
The other thing I am trying to not just be aware of but name explicitly in these spaces: it is important to be self-aware of how productive you are as a student in independent work time spaces.
Sometimes “life” gets in the way, of course, and that’s okay! But if a student is consistently struggling to make the most of opportunities for independent work, that is a great place to intervene with conversations about the underlying why and to game plan what tangible steps are needed to address this going forward—as that is the type of growth that will pay dividends far beyond your own classroom.
The final takeaway: normalize having students self-reflect not just on their progress but also their productivity during work time to help them take ownership of how they navigate these spaces.
Do These Shifts Solve Everything? Of Course Not.
Still, one of my own growth areas this year that I’ve been reflecting on is how to not just allocate more work time when students ask for it purposefully but to make that work time successful.
In this current moment? If I’m being honest, that task can feel quite Sisyphean.
Yet that can really apply to all things as a teacher right now, I guess, and seeing incremental progress across my classes of late in this particular area gives me hope.
If you have your own strategies, too, please don’t hesitate to share them in the comments!
The community that continues to build across our Broken Copier readership and listenership (except for Delaware—we need you!) is an ongoing value-add to this work, and we could not be more appreciative of those who send kind emails, respond with questions and comments, and share out posts they find helpful to their own circles.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for reading and listening, and know that this community means a great deal to us—now and going forward.
Take care, and have a great weekend!
—Marcus
I love this, and will steal it for essay writing next week (although with writing, I’m worried that the sky will be falling for lots of people and I might not be able to hold it up for the whole class. Must get more scaffolds!)
Thank you so much for these and for giving space and voice to what we are all experiencing everywhere. I teach middle and so many of my students don’t have the metacognition for picking a number. And the exemplars, “Exemplars (“Go read the sample and write down 2 things you notice, and then I’ll check back with you”)” so many can’t read the exemplars on their own or transfer.
The only thing that has worked is sitting next to them, side by side, and saying, and now flip the page, read that paragraph, and write down one sentence you feel that paragraph may indicate about what you are trying to say here.
One on one. At lunch. Before school. After school. Via email. For 65%. And they are willing, but can’t independently.
My cohort began online learning as 3rd graders. I think that may have something to do with it. 3rd to 5th are very dynamic ages where tremendous growth to independence should take place, if not sooner depending on the home environment. :(
I appreciate your post.