March celebrates Responsible Decision-Makers
A Little Background
Like Conscientious Worker, Creative Innovator, and Strategic Problem-Solver, Responsible Decision-What’s the difference between a choice and a decision?
Since Responsible Decision-Maker was added we’ve had some good conversations about what types of decisions we’re talking about. Certainly part of that answer is determined by the age of the student, but regardless of age, there is a distinction between a choice and a decision that is worth making.
We (and our students) make choices every day, but very few of them rise to the level of being worthy
I don’t want to oversimplify it, but it helps me to think of choices as something that happen in the moment. Though we often give our choices a lot of thought (I know I certainly think about what I’m going to eat at my next meal A LOT), the choice, once it’s made is relatively inconsequential to the rest of our life. Big decisions are different--they require contemplation, weighing the pros and cons, and the different outcomes are important to the decider and feel like they have consequences beyond the moment.
By way of student non-examples: Selecting which book to read or what topic to write about is a choice. Sure, there are certainly better options than others, and a student may weigh the pros and cons of one option versus the other, but, again, this probably doesn’t rise to the level of responsible decision-making the way we’re talking about it. Nor does opting to wear a coat when it’s cold, opting to obey rather than disregard the classroom or playground rules, etc. These certainly are examples of responsible behavior, but students would be hard pressed if asked to identify which of the success criteria they used for choosing to wear a coat. And, we run the risk of trivializing the work of making important decisions when we praise students for being a responsible decision maker simply for bundling up.
So, then what does age-appropriate responsible decision-making look like in our students? As we’ve been working on answering this question, we’re beginning to think that maybe the earliest we really see regular opportunities for authentic responsible decision-making is middle school. That’s when students start making decisions about social media and their digital footprint, what to save their money for, how to act now in ways that increase their chances for success later. That’s not to say that younger students don’t have any opportunities to make responsible decisions--they’re just more rare.
Should we ignore Responsible Decision-Maker before middle school then? No. We can still point to examples in books and current events to showcase authentic examples of Responsible Decision-Maker. And we certainly should recognize students when they truly are making big, important decisions responsibly. Additionally, (and this is true for all the skills), when we see students exhibiting success criteria for responsible decision-making in other contexts, we should point it out. For instance, although the choice a student is grappling with may not rise to the level of important decision, it can’t hurt to say, “Weighing options is one of the things Responsible Decision-Makers do when they face big, important decisions. Even though you’re simply making a choice for what to write about, the way you’re weighing your options for what event to write your mini-memoir about now is similar to how you’ll weigh options when you make big decisions later. Keep up this practice you’ll become a good Responsible Decision-Maker later.
Learn More
Deepen your own understanding by reading How to Make Decisions and How Good Is Your Decision Making? --Two business articles from Mindtools that outline the basic steps to decision-making and an evaluation tool that could be used with secondary students.
Prompt (required to earn clock hours)
Post your response to the prompt below and earn 2 clock hours each month that you do. Be sure to include your first name and first initial of your last name with your school's initials to make it easier to track your participation (e.g. Toni S. MVMS)
Many, if not most, of the important decisions students will face will be beyond your classroom walls. Nonetheless, we can support their growth by recognizing elements (success criteria, etc.) of Responsible Decision-Making when we see our students display them. How might you use/reinforce the success criteria for Responsible Decision-Making for your grade level to support your students’ growth toward being a Responsible Decision-Maker?
