Even though I may have come up with this question within the span of a few classes, I want to reinforce that the source or main idea of this question did not formulate out of thin air. There are some well documented cases of this predicament taking place, some of which I was able to experience myself while teaching at my practicum school.

I’ll start by quoting an article by Anderman and Anderman (2010) that states “teachers have to make daily decisions about the amount of autonomy that will be afforded to students” (pg. 111). Here we see how  the allowance of autonomy is an ongoing debate within teacher’s classrooms day in and day out. Teachers struggle with the decision

 of how much autonomy is healthy enough for their class and as Anderman and Anderman (2010) explain

“the decisions that teachers make about autonomy can have profound influences on student’s learning and motivation” (pg. 111). So as you can see and as I have discussed before, this is a touchy subject when trying to design lesson plans, unit plans, and class activates. Not providing enough autonomy may limit the child’s opportunity for development, while too much may create a classroom full of chaos and distraction. The task gets even more difficult as Anderman and Anderman (2010) exclaim that teachers need to consider each student differently since their levels of autonomy should “differ for students at different ages and grade levels” (pg. 112).

It’s also documented that there can be cases of too much autonomy that students simply cannot handle. Some students are fine with being able to take a problem, figure it out and then run with it, others however need a little more scaffolding and guidance. Winters et al (2008) have found just that situation within a computer based learning environment. In this scenario, students were encouraged to use self-regulating learning strategies within their program of a computer based learning. What Winters et al (2008) found was that ” CBLEs (computer based learning environment) allow for a high degree of learner control opportunities for self-directed learning. However, empirical research has shown that students often struggle when using CBLEs” (pg. 430). Here we see that it is in fact possible for students to be overloaded with too many responsibilities or opportunities and as a result, their development is inhibited. In situations where “it is oftenup to the learners to determine which representations are the most helpful” (Winters et al, 2008), it can often become too much for the student to bare and begin to cause demotivation. Cleary and Zimmerman (2004) also share their concerns with the overuse in autonomy as it may cause “breakdowns in academic self-regulation such as lack of attention in class, failure to prepare for examinations, and even failure to attend school” (pg. 537).

Even in my own experiences I have seen students that are not able to reflect and think on their own, which would rather seek guidance than try to attempt solving the matter out on their own. These students are in need of scaffolding to help in the development of their own self- regulating and autonomous strategies.

Hopefully this has helped express where I am coming from with my question of inquiry. There is a definite need in the development of skill where teachers can identify the level of autonomy their students can handle. Imagine the time well spent when a teacher can spend time scaffolding the students that need it the most while allowing students that can self- regulate and cope with autonomy.

Photo Retrieved from:http://evelinojeda.blogspot.ca/2010/05/learner-and-teacher-autonomy.html

So why in fact did I choose this topic to be the basis of my inquiry question? What part of it stood out and why did I have the urge to dive in deeper within the subject? Well, to simply answer your question, this is intact a very common question! It seems today that one cannot go into a single classroom and not have a diversity of developmental levels among the students. I can personally remember on the very first day we were allowed to go and visit each opt our potential placement schools, stepping into the first classroom that I visited and beginning to observe. At the beginning of the class when the teacher began to lecture everything seemed to be normal with your typical students who were listening, talking, drawing and what have you. However, once the sponsor teacher suggested that I go ahead and

try helping some of them with the assigned math homework, my perspectives began to change.

Each student that I visited was vastly different from the next in their level of understanding. For example, the first student that needed my help only needed a simple reminder before they were on their way flying through the rest of the question. The second student needed a bit more help in the sense that we both walked through the question step by step and eventually they got it. The third student however could not grasp a simple concept that was needed in order to successfully complete the question. No matter how I attempted to relate, explain, or describe the concept the students simply could not begin to understand. So as you can see, each of these separate students needed a different dosage of autonomy and scaffolding. In one example it didn’t take much before they were off on their own working through problems, the other needed a little bit of a boost before being able to take the reigns, and the last example need complete guidance from the start.

I hope that this shared experience has helped shed some light on the importance of my question. My hope is that as I go deeper into my research and personal experiences that I will be able to begin to apply my findings to my own approach to teaching. Furthermore, my ambitions are to find out when to recognize when the child needs the help of scaffolding as well as when they become able enough to develop their own self-efficacy and autonomy. By applying these new findings to my own practices I hope to better the learning of my students through proper developmental monitoring and guidance.

Photo retrieved from: http://capnsmarrowblog.blogspot.ca/2013/12/stemcell-boost-christmas-present-from.html