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<\/a><\/p>\nAfter successfully including peer celebrations to help students see the value in formative practice, I discovered something even more powerful: <\/span>students need to see their own growth; but they also need to <\/b>use it<\/i><\/b> to help others grow.<\/b><\/p>\n This realization came through a program at my school called Horizons, where my Year 9 Academic Foundations students became \u201cbuddies\u201d to Grade 3 and 4 students from underprivileged public schools. What started as community service became an opportunity for formative learning, self-assessment, and the real-world application of their learning skills.<\/span><\/p>\n When the Horizons program was first introduced to my Year 9 students, their immediate response was filled with skepticism. \u201cWhy do we have to do this?\u201d \u201cHow is this going to help us?\u201d \u201cIsn\u2019t this just babysitting?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n They didn\u2019t see any connection between their learning skills and teaching younger students. They didn\u2019t understand that the very skills they\u2019d been practicing in their formative work, such as breaking down concepts, explaining ideas clearly, adapting to different learners,\u00a0 and self-correcting, were exactly what they needed to be effective mentors.<\/span><\/p>\n So we had a conversation. I asked my students: \u201cWhat do you think it takes to teach someone else how to read? How to write? How to do a craft?\u201d The answers came slowly at first, then with growing clarity: \u201cYou have to know it really well yourself.\u201d \u201cYou have to explain it in a way they understand.\u201d \u201cYou have to be patient and encouraging.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Then I connected the dots: \u201cThat\u2019s exactly what formative learning is. It\u2019s the practice, the feedback, the self-correction. When you\u2019re teaching your buddy, you\u2019re using all of those skills. And you\u2019re going to see, in real time, if your teaching is working. That\u2019s the most powerful feedback you can get.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Over time, the Horizons program wasn\u2019t viewed as babysitting anymore, but as an authentic application of learning skills to serve someone else\u2019s growth.<\/span><\/p>\n One student told me: \u201cI realized that when I was teaching my buddy to write, I had to think about all the steps I take when I write. I never really thought about that before. Now I understand why we do all those writing drafts. It\u2019s because writing is a process, and more than just getting it right the first time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n My students also started monitoring their own teaching in real time. \u201cWait, my buddy didn\u2019t understand that explanation. Let me try again.\u201d \u201cThat craft activity was too hard. Next time I\u2019ll break it into smaller steps.\u201d \u201cMy buddy loved that story. I should find more books like that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n They were doing exactly what we ask students to do in formative learning: notice what\u2019s working, adjust, try again. But now they were doing it because their buddy\u2019s learning depended on it.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019ve been thinking about why this strategy is so powerful, and I think it comes down to three things:<\/span><\/p>\n Formative learning often feels abstract to students. \u201cWhy do I need to revise this draft?\u201d \u201cWhy do I need to practice this skill?\u201d But when you\u2019re teaching someone else, the reason becomes more clear. Your buddy needs you to know this well. Your buddy needs you to explain it clearly. Your buddy\u2019s growth depends on your learning.<\/span><\/p>\n In traditional formative learning, students might not see the connection between their practice and their summative performance until weeks or months later. But when you\u2019re teaching a younger student, you see the impact immediately. Your buddy learns to read better because you practiced reading aloud. Your buddy writes better because you modeled the writing process. The cause and effect is undeniable.<\/span><\/p>\n When formative learning is just for you, it\u2019s easy to coast. But when someone else is counting on you, you show up differently. My Year 9 students took their role as mentors seriously. They wanted to be good at it. They wanted their buddies to learn. That responsibility transformed how they approached their own learning skills.<\/span><\/p>\n I started this journey with peer celebrations\u2014making formative growth visible and valued within the classroom. But \u2018teaching down\u2019 took it further. It showed students that their learning skills weren\u2019t just for their own success. They were tools for helping others.<\/span><\/p>\n The progression went from \u201cI can see my own growth, and my peers celebrate it,\u201d to \u201cI can use my learning skills to help someone else grow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n This is the real goal of formative learning. Not compliance. Not grades. But the development of learners who understand that practice, feedback, and growth are lifelong, and that those processes are most meaningful when they\u2019re in service of something bigger than ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re working on shifting student mindsets about formative learning, I want to challenge you with this: <\/span>Don\u2019t just make formative learning visible. Make it purposeful.<\/b><\/p>\n Find ways for your students to use their learning skills in service of others. Whether that\u2019s peer tutoring, mentoring younger students, teaching a community skill, or creating resources for others to learn from, the key is connecting practice to purpose.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Teaching Down: How Mentoring Younger Students Transformed Formative Learning Into Purpose After successfully including peer celebrations to help students see the value in formative practice, I discovered something even more powerful: students need to see their own growth; but they also need to use it to help others grow. This realization came through a program […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":518,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/victorarhin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/victorarhin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/victorarhin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/victorarhin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/518"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/victorarhin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/victorarhin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":128,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/victorarhin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions\/128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/victorarhin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/victorarhin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/victorarhin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The Challenge: Initial Resistance<\/b><\/h2>\n
The Transformation: What My Students Discovered<\/b><\/h2>\n
Why Teaching Down Works for Formative Learning<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Connecting the Dots<\/b><\/h2>\n
An Invitation to Other Educators<\/b><\/h2>\n