Lesson 3 — Authoring My Learning: A Grade-11 Plan

Summary

Learners practice directing their own learning by building a four-step plan for Grade 11: choose a goal, find resources, check progress, adjust. They learn that self-direction is a loop they steer, not a single heroic leap — and that “not yet” is information, never a verdict. This is the D01.S3.10.01 artifact of the capstone.

Objectives

• Direct my own learning by choosing a goal, resources, and ways to check my own progress, with an adjustment ready in advance. (D01.S3.10.01)

Connection

Think of the last thing you learned without anyone assigning it — a recipe, a trick on a bike, a song, a game, a language phrase. You did not wait for permission; you picked a goal, found something to learn from, and checked whether it worked. That is self-direction, and you already do it. This lesson names that skill and puts it on a four-step loop, so you can steer a whole year of learning — into Grade 11 and beyond — on purpose instead of by accident.

Materials

• Learning-cycle graphic (SVG)
• A one-page learning plan

Preparation

• Retrieval cue: from earlier this year (Unit 1, Lesson 10), learners set goals, chose resources, and checked progress. Today we formalize it into one loop and point it at Grade 11.
• Prepare one worked example of the four-step loop.

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). The idea to land: self-directed learning is a four-step loop — choose a goal, find resources, check progress, adjust — and the learner is the author at every step. Goal-setting is well-evidenced (Locke & Latham, S-223): specific, checkable goals outperform vague wishes. Checking progress (self-testing) is one of the strongest learning techniques we know (Dunlosky et al., S-039; Roediger & Karpicke, S-228). The “adjust” step is where mastery lives: “not yet” is information, never a verdict (Dweck, S-096 — hold the growth-mindset claim honestly; effects are real but modest, and effort is not a guarantee).

The ethics lens: a plan you can check honestly is a plan you can be trusted with. The egalitarian lens: resources are not evenly distributed — a plan that names a fallback (a person, a free library, a neighbor’s skill) works for more lives than one that assumes money and devices. The global lens: self-paced, low-resource schooling (Escuela Nueva, S-008) and teaching at the learner’s level (TaRL, S-009) show that self-direction works across very different places — it is not a privilege of the few. The technology lens can appear briefly: a device is one resource among many, never the only one. Distinguish evidence from values: the four-step loop and the power of checking progress are descriptive; “every learner deserves to steer their own learning” is a value we hold.

Model the loop once (worked example, S-011), then let learners plan their own. Keep it agentic and hopeful.

Procedure

1. Recall (7 min). When you learned something on your own this year, what did you do first, and how did you know it was working? Name the steps you already use — today we give them names.
2. Meet the loop (8 min). Look at the learning-cycle graphic. The four steps — choose a goal, find resources, check progress, adjust and go on — repeat, like walking. A goal that cannot be checked is only a wish; a check tells you the truth so you can steer.
3. Author your plan (20 min). On your one-page plan, write: (a) Goal — one specific thing you want to learn in Grade 11, phrased so you could tell if you got there. (b) Resources — at least two: a person, a place, a book, a tool. Name a fallback if the first fails. (c) Progress check — how will you know it is working? A milestone, a small test, a thing you can do or show. (d) Adjustment — what you will change if the check says “not yet.”
4. Peer-check (8 min). Trade plans with a partner. Ask them one question: “How will you know it is working?” Help them make the check specific.
5. Close (7 min). Read your plan once and circle the step you feel strongest in. Put it in your closing portfolio — it is your Grade-11 letter to yourself.

Differentiation

• Support: Provide a sentence starter for each step (“By the end of Grade 11 I want to…”, “I can learn from…”, “I will know it is working when…”, “If not, I will…”).
• Access (blind / low vision): Describe the loop aloud — choose a goal, find resources, check progress, adjust — and offer four folded-paper panels or cards the learner can touch in order.
• Alternative expression (non-writing, non-oral): Build the plan with four cards or found objects placed in order and pointed to; a partner reads each label and the learner confirms with a nod, gesture, or pointing.
• Extension: Add a second milestone and a note on how you will seek help at the right moment (balancing independence with asking — the thread begun in Unit 1, Lesson 11).

Assessment

• Formative (self + peer): Can the learner state a specific goal, two resources with a fallback, a concrete progress check, and an adjustment?
• Portfolio artifact (unit): The one-page Grade-11 learning plan, as the self-direction artifact of the capstone.

Home connection

Show your plan to an adult and ask them to be one of your resources — or to name someone they know who could help. A plan with a person in it travels further than a plan alone.

Resources

• On goal-setting and why specific, checkable goals work: Locke & Latham (1990) (S-223).
• On retrieval practice and self-testing as high-utility techniques: Dunlosky et al. (2013), Psychological Science in the Public Interest 14(1) (S-039); Roediger & Karpicke (2006) (S-228).
• On “not yet” as information rather than verdict: Dweck, Mindset (2006) (S-096) — held honestly, with the replication cautions.
• On self-paced, multi-grade schooling across contexts: Escuela Nueva (S-008); Pratham Teaching at the Right Level (S-009).
• On worked examples for new skills: Kirschner, Sweller & Clark (2006) (S-011).