When you prioritize creating student autonomy, what are the prerequisites?
I believe that as an educator, it’s my responsibility to turn over authority and leadership to my students as fully as is possible within the structure I teach in. But there are foundational elements that must be in place to attain that autonomy.
- Shared Vision. Autonomous students must agree on where they’re heading.
- Terrain knowledge. They need to understand what challenges might be along the way to achieving their vision.
- Trust in each other. If a group cannot trust each other to be respectful and offer safety, they cannot possibly be autonomous.
- Domain skills. They need to understand music, for example, well enough to lead each other. I put this last on purpose – this is of secondary importance compared to vision, terrain, and trust.
If you’ve built vision, terrain, and trust, and you have students with musical skills, what is stopping you from giving them even more day-to-day autonomy over their ensemble?