Reflecting on the First 6 Weeks of my Self-Directed Schooling 3rd-Grade Classroom

These past six weeks have been lively, humbling, and genuinely encouraging, leaving me with a lot of which to reflect.

I returned to the classroom this year after spending the past two years focused almost entirely on completing my Masters of Science in Teaching and Leadership with certification in Mastery Learning and Instructional Learning. I also spent that time conducting an international research study on teacher readiness to adopt new or novel teaching practice. Additionally, I fleshed out my Bioecological Model for Who We Are and How We Learn which builds on Urie Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Systems Theory. Needless to say, I had a fascinating experience with research and development of several new ideas but, ultimately, my passion and drive for application of theory of practice in education brought me back into the classroom where I am most comfortable.

My students this year are wonderfully independent in spirit, creative, many outspoken, and even more are eager to play and share with folks they know and, over these past few weeks, those they didn't yet know well. What we’ve built during these first six weeks is the skill side of independence: learning how to be independent as part a community, aka interdependence.

This means making choices that balance not just “what I want” with “what I need” but also with “what we want and need” at the same time, which gets to the heart of how I believe my Self-Directed Schooling classroom differs from more traditional classroom spaces.

What’s been happening these past 6 weeks

Similar to a traditional classroom, my first six weeks have been about teaching "rules", practicing school-wide procedures, and reinforcing the idea that, particularly when it comes to health and safety, compliance with me as the teacher is non-negotiable. However, in my classroom, I don’t post a list of “do’s and don’ts,” nor do I rely on a discipline matrix of punishments for students who break these non-existent rules. Instead, I anchor everything in six core values: Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Trust, Integrity, and Community. 

We have Morning Meetings and class discussions which invite students to talk with each other about examples of each core value, role-play scenarios with each other, and openly reflect on how these values guide their choices in and out of the classroom. When conflicts arise, we talk through natural consequences instead of imposing arbitrary punishments, emphasizing how behaviors affect how others feel and the short- and long-term impacts on our community as a whole. (Note: physical harm is immediately addressed with a facilitated repair process between students and communication with parents.) 

This shift means my first week looks largely similar to a traditional classroom with students meeting at the carpet for a morning meeting, students working on tasks that get to know each other and reflect on past learning, me meeting with parents after school to learn about our students, and practicing lining up for recess, lunch, and dismissal. Academics were largely review from past years until recently, e.g. reading a clock, adding and subtracting, parts of speech, grammar, reading fluency and expression, etc. What made it different is how it was less compliance training and more a shared culture-building process: modeling coping strategies, creating student-made posters of values, coaching students to remind each other with kindness, and gradually moving from teacher-led direction toward peer-supported accountability. Being kind, patient, and open to listening to students rather than directing them, is a slower, more relational start than a rule-driven classroom. Yes, compliance occurred, but in the shape of a teacher requesting students come to the carpet for morning meetings. Through this act of compliance is development of a sense of shared purpose that will redefine the purpose and intent of my directions as the teacher, separating compliance for health and safety (non-negotiable) from compliance for student learning (negotiable).

This is extremely exhausting when so many students behave as one would expect without punishments to be afraid of (as they are often used to doing at school and at home) but it lays the groundwork for self-direction rooted in collective responsibility and self-determination. Ultimately, the clear and consistent consequences for non-compliance regarding health and safety has been modeled and students have come to understand how important it is that the teacher have authority for these purposes. What this has also allowed me to do is introduce the idea that, when it comes to learning, non-compliance doesn't come with punishments from the teacher but rather from natural consequences related to their own development but, more importantly, the development of others who are negatively affected by individual student misbehaviors in a shared learning environment.

Some students have expressed their motive for momentary misbehavior as a response to this lack of punishment, i.e. "it's ok to do it because we don't get in trouble". Other students, in response to this admission, expressed confusion as to why those students would act in ways that are disrespectful or bothersome to others simply because the teacher won’t punish them. At this age, hearing their peers tell them how some behaviors make them feel bad doesn’t magically stop them from behaving in those ways overnight. What it does is plant seeds of reflection that grow differently among students based on their own development and support. And it is at these ages where behaviors are largely inconsequential enough that those behaviors can be corrected with single-adult-facilitated peer-based repairs rather than clinical administrative interventions.

This has made it imperative that I maintain healthy and positive relationships not just with students but their parents as well. By listening to parents about all they know of their children (which is more than any teacher will ever know), and discussing with parents about developmental stages and the cognitive and psychosocial repercussions of how we shape environments for children, I am not only able to mirror some of the strategies parents use to connect with and motivate their children but, similarly, parents can mirror the strategies I am talking about to develop self-determination and self-direction in the form of healthy internalization of core values such as respect (setting boundaries and valuing others), responsibility (for ourselves and others), trust (via competence, reliability, and caring), fairness (not just via equal but equitable treatment), integrity (consistently doing what’s right based on shared agreement of our community of what’s right), all through the lens of community as the frame for the other five core values.

For example, a few parents have mentioned that they've heard their child talk about these core values at home and have wondered where they were learning these words and ideas. Through these experiences, shared purpose in our school-home connection will grow.

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What’s been difficult (and what we’re learning from it)

1: Independence without interdependence

Students love choice, but real choice in a shared space needs a shared purpose. What we’re internalizing as a class through discussion and practice is the idea that freedom grows when we protect each other and support others’ ability to learn, to listen to each other in and out of the classroom, to help a partner understand a new concept (and not simply “finish” a worksheet so they can play), and choosing to engage in an activity that keeps more than just themselves busy or productive but intentionally assists others in learning and enjoying their time in school together. This is a difficult idea to internalize at this age because it is not an idea that appears in most situations they've experienced: at home, where independence might mean doing what they want; in peer groups, where belonging may be based on personal preference rather than mutual responsibility; or in previous classrooms, where compliance and rewards may have guided behavior rather than shared accountability. 

Independence is about being able to make your own choices, while interdependence is about recognizing that those choices affect others and that we are stronger when we work together.

• Independence asks, “What do I want/need to do?” 

• Interdependence adds, “How will what I do support or impact the kind of community of which I want to be a part?” 

In a classroom, independence without interdependence can lead to isolation, distraction, or even conflict.

• Isolation: Students may choose to withdraw from peers and miss out on shared learning. For example, a child who insists on “doing it my way” may avoid group work, miss chances to learn from others’ perspectives, and feel cut off socially. Over time, that isolation can weaken their sense of belonging.

• Distraction: Students may pursue personal interests in ways that undermine group goals and classroom flow. A student might decide to read a comic book instead of participating in a math workshop, still practicing “independence” but in a way that distracts from learning and undermines classroom flow with others.

• Conflict: Autonomy without accountability can create power struggles when individual choices clash with community needs. If one student insists on completing a project “their way” while ignoring group agreements, conflict arises when peers feel dismissed or when their own work is disrupted. This can escalate into power struggles between students, or even between students and teachers.

When the two are balanced, students learn that their freedom is amplified, not reduced, by helping their peers who can help them, honoring agreements with those who honor them, and contributing to the collective growth of the group within which each independent person benefits collectively at their own pace with equitable support from that community.

A Developmental Rationale

Third graders are at a crucial age for learning interdependence because they are just old enough to begin concretely grasping the idea that their actions affect others, yet still young enough to be forming the habits and mindsets that will carry into later grades. Within Erikson’s stage of psychosocial development, Industry vs. Inferiority, children are building their sense of competence, but if that growth happens only in compliance-driven, stick-and-carrot environments, they may learn to equate success with pleasing authority by focusing on their own independent efforts rather than contributing meaningfully to a community. This overlaps with the early stages of Kohlberg’s framework for moral development, where children at this age and stage may choose to comply or complete a task to avoid a punishment or earn a reward (Pre-Conventional Stages) instead of moving beyond this understanding and towards one of empathy, fairness, and a sense of shared responsibility (Post-Conventional). Planting the seeds of interdependence at this stage lays the foundation for students to see that their independence is not diminished but strengthened when paired with responsibility to and with others. If this idea isn’t nurtured now, students risk entering the upper elementary years and beyond with a view of learning as individual performance rather than collective growth, making it much harder to internalize the skills of collaboration, empathy, and shared purpose later on.

2: A long afternoon block / structural constraints (and opportunities)

After lunch, my class is scheduled with a 2.5-hour stretch of in-class time on most days. This is a structural constraint that is outside of any one person’s control and is simply a cost of being part of a school; our class shares physical space with other classes who need to eat and play and have outdoor classes just like we do. A lesson I share with students often is how we may not be able to control some aspects of our environment but we can control how we respond emotionally and logically to those aspects.

The first hour of this block is often solid as students come in from lunch recess where they got to play and have fun, then I read a chapter of a book we all agreed we want to read before we get into our afternoon lesson and activities. About an hour in, though, during the last 90 minutes is when energy dips, social friction rises, and focus wanes. This is comparable to adults who experience the 2 o’clock “afternoon slump”; your levels of the hormone cortisol go up and down all day, which can leave you feeling sluggish in the afternoon (WebMD). 

For students, this can mean shorter attention spans, greater irritability with peers, and a stronger pull toward play over focused work. Just as adults may crave coffee, a walk, or a phone call so they can push through the afternoon slump, children at this age often respond by seeking stimulation, including talking with friends, doodling, or moving around the room. 

Fortunately, in a classroom built on shared responsibility, this dip becomes more than just a classroom management challenge. This has become a daily opportunity to teach students how to notice their own energy levels, regulate their emotions, and adjust their behavior to support the group. Regulating emotions looks different for every student as their biology and home environments have created rhythms in their bodies and minds that need different strategies and support, but students at this age can developmentally begin to reflect on the idea that learning and managing how we learn and interact isn’t always about pushing through at all costs, but about finding strategies that meet their needs and respecting others whose needs are different.

This means some students might need movement breaks, or collaborative tasks, or quieter spaces for reflection before they engage with others about their learning that keep both themselves and their classmates engaged. To support this developmental reality, the end-of-day often celebrates student success in helping each other meet these needs with 20 minutes of “free time” where chess games, puzzle games, and artistic expression are available for students to engage in ways that further promote autonomy, competence, and relatability to each other in a fair and equitable setting. 

3: Balancing Arts & Academics

It’s important to note that my current school is a proudly arts-forward school. That means students receive a dedicated hour each week for music, art, and dance by dedicated instructors. This is coupled with limited time on laptops (each grade level shares a laptop cart) and no homework is assigned so parents can focus on relationships rather than reteaching and compliance at home. The hours they receive by dedicated instructors in music, art, dance, as well as theater and physical education are hours during the week not dedicated to explicit academic instruction which makes it imperative that laptops are used strategically and classwork is assigned with intention. This is where my self-directed schooling model becomes uniquely advantageous. 

By spending these past six weeks developing an interdependent shared learning environment that promotes shared responsibility and respect for not just how we want to be treated but how others want to be treated, we can engage in methods that would, in any other setting, be used as a means for promoting competition and exclusion and adopt them as tools for socioemotional and interrelational development for learning. Most importantly, this development for learning is happening on a foundation rooted in self-determination where our innate psychological needs for autonomy (control over choices), competence (feeling capable), and relatedness (connection to others) drive student motivation, well-being, and growth both in and out of the classroom.

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What’s working

Values first, every day

• Our six classroom values of Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Trust, Integrity, and Community aren’t posters with do's and don'ts; they’re daily values that show up in every interaction throughout the day. Morning Meetings, quick role-plays, and “what would this look like right now?” prompts help students translate values into actions.

Natural consequences, not punishments

• We talk about how choices ripple: escalating conflicts, hurt feelings, and weakening community. Students are starting to name these consequences themselves and with each other, adjust behavior in the moment as they reflect among each other instead of in response to a teacher’s scolding.

Examples of small wins with big meaning

• A student quietly reminds peers to lower voices because “others are thinking.”

• Pairs stay on the carpet to help classmates finish instead of wandering around after they’ve figured out their classwork lesson.

• Kids share honestly: “When someone says it’s easy, I feel bad.” These moments build trust and confidence within the community.

Partnering with families

• Family partnerships are a gift in elementary school. Because of this school’s focus on creativity and holistic well-being, many families find value in connecting with teachers and creating a strong school-home connection. 

• I invite parents into the “why” behind our approach, listening carefully, and sharing practical ways they can reinforce collective responsibility at home by focusing on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and recognizing development is dynamic and ongoing.

• When students struggle, joint plans with families (and sometimes outside supports) help us respond with care, clear expectations, and consistency across home and school.

Teaching students how to learn (not just what)

• It is imperative that the learning process be visible and student-friendly. This means having clear expectations for levels of proficiency and understanding based on Webb’s Depth of Knowledge:

  • DOK Language for Levels 1, 2, 3 (note: I generally omit Level 4):

    • DOK 1: “Can I simply recall or reproduce information?”

    • DOK 2: “Can I describe how I knew the answer to that question?”

    • DOK 3: “Can I explain the rationale and evidence in my response?”

    • DOK 4: "Can I extend my rational and evidence beyond the provided materials and examples and connect different strategies or concepts?"

• Strategy Menus (Math):Number lines, base-ten/ place-value reasoning, standard algorithm, friendly numbers, counting up/down—students try several, then choose the one that makes sense to them.

• Guided Metacognitive Sheets:

  • Planning: marking sections of work as a defined goal for focused work time

  • Strategies: not just “doing” but organizing, elaborating, summarizing, etc.

  • Reflection: pausing to reflect on whether strategies are helping me learn how an idea works (DOK 2) and not just what it is (DOK 1). 

  • Self-Correction: knowing when and how to switch strategies for learning.

  • Evaluation: self-assessing and peer-evaluating the depth of proficiency met. 

• Modeling the learning process:

  • As the teacher, I will not just model strategies but describe what and why I’m using them.

  •  Students see adults practice humility and growth so everyone is a learner.

Transparent, student-managed progress

We’re moving toward a proficiency tracking system that supports student awareness of peer resources and aligns with the core values of a self-directed learning environment:

• Current challenge:

  • When I ask students who they can turn to for help on a specific skill in reading or math, the most common response is “I don’t know.”

  • This creates helplessness and reinforces dependence on the teacher as the only source of learning.

  • The unspoken logic becomes: “If I didn’t understand it, it must be the teacher’s fault.” Another one might be: “Others figured it out, so maybe it’s just me.”

• My solution:

  • A community board for peer-based support where each standard is listed and mastery becomes a collective resource more than an individual celebration. 

  • The Core Idea: We learn so we can help others and not just ourselves.

• Digital assessments provide reliable evidence of mastery and keep progress from being lost or misplaced.

  • Note: paper assessments can be taken and translated into digital data.

• Why it matters:

  • Shifts responsibility back to the learner by showing that help is available within the community, not just from the teacher.

  • Encourages students to see peers as resources, reducing feelings of isolation or helplessness.

  • Builds self-awareness of what is expected and how to access support.

• The core principles:

  • This system is not about ranking—it’s about community visibility.

  • The board emphasizes who is ready to help, not who is behind. Like any tool, how it is wielded is the responsibility of those who are allowed to use it; thus, these past six weeks have been all about internalizing relevant core values.

  • Transparency becomes a tool for interdependence: peers lifting peers, responsibility shared, and learning seen as a collective goal rather than an individual race.

Some Ideas on which I Continue to Reflect:

If we do not trust our students to support each other; If we do not trust our students to stand up for themselves and speak up for what they need…

…then how will they learn to trust themselves to support each other, to stand up for themselves, and to speak up for what they need? 

We are in the classroom every day to (1) have fun, (2) learn and be smart, (3) help others. So long as these remain equal tenets and shared purpose of the classroom, transparency and collectivist ideals are not to be weapons but a means for support and collective growth.

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The Next 6 Weeks (resources + routines)

More learning resources:

• Textbooks / reference booklets (student-friendly)

I’ve personally ordered a few math textbooks for students to reference and discuss;  These are not to be used as traditional practices would use them (i.e. assigned daily work) but as reference tools for those who prefer to learn through books rather than digital or peer-based resources. 

• Devices, deliberately

When laptops arrived in the classroom two weeks ago, students were excited to explore them and the different “apps” available to them. My one rule: no internet/web browsing for health and safety of our community.

I’ve introduced a typing program to help students learn how to type properly so they have a strategy other than “hunt and peck”. 

Another resource to be introduced is Literably, a digital early literacy assessment platform for grades K-8 that is designed to inform instruction and screen students for reading difficulties.

Additionally, I’ll soon be introducing my YouTube page with videos of standard-specific instruction for students to watch and discuss with each other. These are 5-minute videos that allow students to watch/hear me explain skills, rewind, rewatch, and share with parents, peers, as well as ask me specific questions about how I taught something that may be confusing for them.

These resources are meant to bolster the peer-based community-driven strategies for support we’ve been developing thus far. In this way, the limited use of digital resources in the classroom aren’t replacing thinking; they’re extending it with everything else we are doing in the classroom and in the school.

Student-Managed Data Charts:

• Wall Chart of Standards:

  • All math standards (ELA to follow) displayed with space for students to mark when they’ve demonstrated mastery.

  • Linked to digital assessments for reliable evidence that can’t be lost or misplaced.

  
  

• Peer Support System:

  • Students who’ve mastered a skill are designated as “peer coaches.”

  • Others know immediately who they can ask for help, reducing reliance solely on the teacher and further promoting interdependence as a purpose of our shared classroom learning environment.

    
    

• Community Focus:

  • Absolutely no ranking or competition tied to data; open discussion of competition in learning, as learners, is hurtful to students, our community, and our school. 

  • Builds self-awareness of what is clearly expected, reinforcing interdependence and transparency to further strengthen the focus on growth as a community.

  • Individuals are not to learn everything fast – we are to make sure our class is growing together. 

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Bottom Line: Where We're Growing

I’m recalibrating pace, being explicit about how to learn, and tightening structure when the room needs me to steer, especially in the late afternoons, to emphasize core values and purpose for schooling to support self-determination as a community. I’m also collaborating with our arts-forward design in how it both enriches and compresses academic time, and I’m planning accordingly.

Most importantly, I’m keeping the tone of the classroom warm, patient, and kind, while also holding a firm line: we are a community, and everyone’s learning matters.

The signs are here that students are beginning to live out the culture we’ve been building: using the language of our core values, helping others as part of their own learning, accepting natural consequences of their actions rather than fearing punishment, and recognizing that some strategies fit their thinking better than others. With clearer resources, student-managed charts, and ongoing parent partnerships, we’re steadily moving toward a classroom where independence and interdependence strengthen each other to create a self-directed learning environment that supports collective, not individualist, goals for learning as a process (and not just a product).

This shift also reflects a moral progression: where compliance-based classrooms often hold students in the early stages of Kohlberg’s framework, doing the right thing mainly to avoid punishment or to earn rewards; we are pushing into higher stages, where students act out of empathy, fairness, and a sense of shared responsibility. As they learn to regulate emotions, resolve conflicts, and care for one another, they are practicing moral reasoning that values both personal growth and the well-being of the community.

Additionally, students are discovering that learning is not a solitary act but a shared process; this process is a way of growing both as individuals and as a community. By shaping our classroom in this way, we lay a foundation for students to carry forward the understanding that learning is valuable not just for personal achievement, but for how it equips them to support and contribute to others.

Ultimately, this is the point of developing my self-directed schooling model in schools in this way is to address the following idea: "Choosing to learn" is an assumption we make about how students engage with learning in a classroom setting. When we present learning as a choice between learning and punishment, the choice is hardly a choice at all. When the choice is framed as choosing to learn versus not learn, it's less about avoiding punishment and more about whether that learning is important or meaningful to them and the people they care about.

Greg Mullen

Sep 21, 2025