Student-directed learning pays off for Naperville students

When Josh Stumpenhorst started teaching sixth-grade language arts and social studies eight years ago at Lincoln Junior High School in Naperville, he’d give out late slips and detentions when students didn’t turn in their homework on time.

He doesn’t do that anymore. Stumpenhorst has become a convert to what he calls student-directed learning.

“Kids aren’t motivated by grades. They’re motivated by learning,” he said. “They’re naturally curious. I think a lot of times schools stifle that.”

Stumpenhorst saw the strength of the student-driven learning approach in March when all of Lincoln’s sixth-graders participated in an Innovation Day.

Borrowing the concept from another teacher, Stumpenhorst said the whole day was devoted to letting each student pursue a self-chosen project. Students did everything from shooting videos to writing a comedy monologue to building a replica of the Willis Tower.

“We had kids composing music. We had kids doing choreography. We had just amazing learning going on,” he said. “We had more positive feedback from parents and kids than from literally any other thing we’d ever done.”

One girl was so into her project that she wanted to return the next day to finish it. When Stumpenhorst pointed out that the next day was Saturday, she responded, “I’d come in for it.”

“When do you have a kid say, ‘I’ll come in on Saturday and do work?’ That never happens. When you hear things like that, you know you’re doing something right,” he said.

Innovation Day received national attention when Stumpenhorst wrote about it on his blog and it was picked up by Daniel H. Pink, author of The New York Times best-seller “Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.”

“It’s not just hang out and have fun. Kids are learning,” Stumpenhorst said. “They feel responsible and they take ownership of what they’re doing.”

That kind of creative approach to learning led to Stumpenhorst being honored as an emerging leader by the International Society of Technology in Education.

Growth as a teacher

Stumpenhorst — who also serves as the school’s athletic director, coach for basketball and track, and a grade team leader — admits he’s come a long way since he started teaching in 2003.

“I’m not even the same person, teacher,” he said. “I wouldn’t recognize myself.”

A native of the small community of Ashton, where he graduated in a class of 22, Stumpenhorst enrolled at North Central College in Naperville with the idea he might go into journalism. But a passion for history and an interest in coaching led him to try education instead.

He observed high school classes and had a good experience, but somehow it didn’t feel right to him. When he did observation and student teaching at Lincoln, he knew he had found his niche.

“These kids are crazy and I love every minute of it,” he said. “It’s a special breed to do junior high.”

When he first started teaching, he followed what those around him were doing and ways he himself had been taught, Stumpenhorst said. He credited former Lincoln Principal Pam George, now Pam Surprenant, with encouraging him to broaden his horizons.

Surprenant, who has moved to another district, called Stumpenhorst an excellent teacher who is always looking for ways to impact kids.

“Students and parents are amazed to see the potential of their sixth-graders under his guidance,” she wrote in an email. “Status quo has no desk or chair in Josh’s classroom.”

The success of Innovation Day led Stumpenhorst to experiment more. In his language arts class, he threw out his syllabus and no longer stood in front of the class assigning books to read and reports to write. He let the students work in groups and meet with him to discuss how they wanted to accomplish learning goals.

“I was like a dentist. They set up appointments with me,” he said. “All the standards were mastered. Every kid was having fun. Every kid was learning at a level I had not seen in my class. It’s definitely something I plan to continue.”

Educators must embrace technology to be more effective, Stumpenhorst said. He connected students in his social studies class with a class in Philadelphia via Skype. Using contacts he’s made over social media, he envisions making those same kind of connections with classes in China, Romania and South Africa.

Stumpenhorst said the connections he’s made with other educators on Facebook, Twitter and his blog have made him a better teacher, and he hopes to start a Facebook page for his class. His classroom already contains 15 laptops, HD camera, green screen and video editing equipment that students use on a regular basis.

“To me, technology is a tool just like anything else that makes our lives easier. How we use it is what’s important,” he said. “Kids live in a world that’s fast-paced. As teachers, we have to be reflective of that.”

Relationships rule

But as useful as technology is in opening new horizons for students, Stumpenhorst said learning is based on relationships. He prides himself on being a good listener — taking time to talk with students before and after school and during lunch, often about topics that have nothing to do with a class assignment.

“I believe in knowing the kid first and the student second,” he said. “I really focus on those quiet kids because I was a quiet kid at school.”

Stumpenhorst concedes some students probably think he’s a little goofy, but he strives to make sure they’re not bored.

“I don’t ever do the same thing twice,” he said. “If you don’t have fun in my class, it’s probably your fault.”

Believing that much learning can occur outside the classroom, Stumpenhorst is not a fan of the idea that schools should be year-round. The Oswego resident has spent much of the summer with his wife, Christie, also a teacher, and young sons, Tanner, 5, and Kaleb, 3, going on outings that would appeal to small boys.

“We researched lightning bugs the other day because they wanted to know,” he said.

Stumpenhorst said he starts the new school year with the same goal he always has.

“My goal every year is just to be better at what I’m doing,” he said.

To read more about Stumpenhorst’s views on learning, see his blog at http://stumpteacher.blogspot.com/. A write-up on Innovation Day is at http://www.danpink.com/archives/2011/05/what-your-business-can-learn-from-a-6th-grade-classroom.