Shifting the Lift:
How to Maintain Rigor with Student-Led Learning Experiences
Raise your hand if you’re a teacher and you know what’s best for your students. Keep your hand up if you prefer to be in control of your classroom.
If your hand is still up, congratulations: You’re normal!
Many educators find themselves caught between two essential goals: maintaining the rigor and smooth operation of a well-run classroom, and cultivating the student agency that fosters deep, authentic learning.
There’s a persistent myth that you must choose one or the other—that if you give up control, learning becomes "watered down." I want to invite you to picture something different.
The Power of “Shifting the Lift”
Imagine a seamlessly run classroom where students are actively engaged in their learning, making decisions, reflecting on their needs, and even teaching one another. The aim here is to increase both engagement and challenge.
I love the catchy phrase of my colleague, Glenn Whitman at St. Andrew’s Center for Transformative Teaching and Learning: “shifting the lift.”
When we—at some point in the lesson, every lesson we teach, every day—transfer the responsibility for the cognitive work from ourselves to our students, we have “shifted the lift.” This is when real learning takes place.
If we teachers are only conveying information (e.g., lecturing) or modeling how to solve a challenging problem, but never asking students to wrestle with ideas or problems themselves, we’re robbing them of the productive struggle that leads to true mastery.
In this spirit, I invite you as an educator to ask yourself: When do you 'shift the lift' to my students? Do you do this every day?
More importantly, do your students have to opt in to rigorous learning (by raising their hand, say) or is it required for all?
Practical Ways to Shift the Lift with Student-Led Learning
This month, I want to share concrete ways to shift the lift to your students that you can try right away. I’m drawing inspiration from the new book, The Shift to Student-Led, by Katie Novak and Catlin Tucker.
Step One: Introduce Structured Choice
Articulate your firm learning goal for students (say, solve linear equations or write an argumentative essay). Then, explore where you might incorporate student choice into how they approach the task. Curate the choices carefully so students can’t opt out of the hard work and so all paths lead to the learning objective.
Process: Can they choose to work in groups or on their own?
Scaffolds: Can they choose from a variety of supports (e.g., a graphic organizer, an anchor chart, a video tutorial)?
Environment: Can they choose their workspace—sitting at a desk, standing by the window, or working on the floor?
Addressing the Fear of Chaos: If you’re picturing chaos, remember that classrooms with choice must also be classrooms with strongly embedded routines, procedures, and expectations. If you like to be in control, you will shine here! You simply shift that control from content delivery to designing the learning environment.
Cultivating Reflective Learners: Students don’t always arrive knowing what they need. We cultivate this habit by inviting reflection. This might look like a kindergarten teacher asking students to reflect on the tools they might need for a math task, or asking older students to reflect on which supports best helped them reach the learning goal.
Step Two: Leverage the Jigsaw Method
A jigsaw is an accessible, student-led strategy meant to increase ownership and engagement when you have content or information to convey.
Students form "expert" groups to become deeply knowledgeable about one portion ("puzzle piece") of the content.
They break out and form new groups with different puzzle pieces, taking turns teaching each other their portion of the content so everyone understands the whole picture.
This is effective across grade levels. For example, primary students could become "experts" on different geometric shapes, while high school students could teach their peers about different aspects of the Cold War.
Why the Jigsaw Works:
Shifts the cognitive lift: Students must understand the content well enough to teach it.
Increases engagement: 100% of students are actively doing a task, not just those who volunteer or raise their hand.
Fosters collaboration: Students develop essential social and communication skills.
Does this require the teacher to let go of control a bit? Yes. Is it still possible to hold students accountable for learning? Absolutely! An exit ticket at the end of the lesson can inform you of student understanding and who needs further support. This is a great way to ensure you are maintaining high standards for every learner.
Step Three: Empower Students to Plan Their Own Study
In a high school government class I once visited in a DC charter school, students rotated through stations to help them prepare for a test. Each station required them to engage in a different review method (e.g., flashcards, short answer practice, a game). The objective was for students to explore various study techniques and then choose the one(s) that would work best for them. The class concluded with students creating a study plan tailored to their preferences.
This approach aligns beautifully with the principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL):
📙Firm Goals: Students must pass the test.
📘Flexible Means: Students choose their study methods.
📗Reflection: Students are encouraged to explore methods and choose the one that supports their learning best.
This practice is an excellent way to turn a routine lesson—test review—into a powerful catalyst for ownership and resilience.
Step Four: Get Students Involved in Parent Communication
Novak and Tucker suggest giving students time to create a monthly parent update, and I love this idea. Spending 15 minutes at the end of the day once a month having students craft an update on highlights of the month is a powerful way to shift responsibility for communication.
I recently experienced this as a parent: in preparation for first quarter parent-teacher conferences, my 5th-grade son's teacher had each student identify their own strengths and areas for growth. She shared these in the conference, and it was both informative and fun to hear this in our son’s own words!
This practice fosters self-awareness and helps students own their learning narrative, which is a key part of cultivating joy and community.
Your Next Step
As a leader or teacher, I invite you to consider dipping a toe into the waters of student-led learning. What’s one small way you can try to shift the lift this month?
If any of these approaches make you nervous, lean into that feeling. Discomfort often means there’s an opportunity to learn at hand.
Will new strategies like these go smoothly the first time you try them? Maybe not. If that happens, resist the urge to abandon it. Reflect on your own or with colleagues, and make some tweaks for when you try it again. Give yourself grace, but don’t give up!
You’ve got this, educators. You’re awesome, and I believe in you!
PS If you are a school leader looking for ways to support your teachers as they maintain rigor while cultivating student agency, I’d love to be a thought partner. Just use my scheduler to set up a time to talk.
