I decided to look deeper into the liberating structures resource website this week as I have been combating an apathy and often resentment for technology in classrooms. I see (and hear directly from students) that in classrooms that rely heavily on technology there is a great sense of disengagement. Quite litterally the scilence speaks volumes. I sadly always expect some students to be disengaged but was really not prepared to see huge portions of classes either distracted or completely zoned out when a screen is in front of them. Surprising but understandable, when its time for students to talk about the digital material, I’ve observed to discussions to be strained or non-existent.

I think, practicing oral discussion skills in relation to technology and structuring these discussions using liberating structures strategies is a way to promote flexible, creative and critical thinking while maintaining guidelines that foster a healthy incorporation of technology in secondary classrooms.

The Min Spec structure in particular sparked my interest as it aligned with critiques I have heard from students about there being an imbalance between rules and freedom in their assignments. They have voiced that they feel a lack of guidelines actually hinders their creativity. The idea behind Min Spec is to reduce rules/specifications until it reaches a point where it would hinder a students ability to participate. The website suggests at least two to five Min Specs (must-dos) to boost productivity, progress, and freedom. I think the process of deciding between Max Specs (maximum specification) and Min Specs as a group would invest the students in the activity and teach them valuable life skills in regards to prioritization and collaboration.

All in all, I plan to look further into liberating structures and incorporate them in my classes to combat my hesitations about integrating technology in classrooms. So that classes can go from looking like

this:

Photo by RDNE Stock project from Pexels: https://www.pexels.com/photo/students-sitting-inside-the-classroom-while-using-their-smartphone-6936147/

to this:

Photo by Zainul Yasni on Unsplash