Some learners seem to chart their own course—they set goals, track progress, and find ways around obstacles. Others wait for direction, unsure of where to begin or how to recover when they hit a roadblock. The difference isn’t motivation or intelligence—it’s self-regulation: the ability to plan, monitor, and adjust one’s learning over time.

Research shows that these skills don’t develop automatically; they are explicitly taught, modeled, and practiced through well-designed routines. When classrooms make space for goal-setting, feedback, and reflection, learners build both competence and confidence. They begin to see learning as something they can control—and failure as a source of information, not defeat. And as Zaretta Hammond reminds us:

“Our ultimate goal as culturally responsive teachers is to help dependent learners learn how to learn. We want them to have the ability to size up any task, map out a strategy for completing it, and then execute the plan. That’s what independent learners do.”

– Zaretta Hammond 

So how do we design for that? How do we make self-regulation visible, teachable, and integral to daily learning?

In this Zone, you will investigate what self-regulated learning looks like in practice, explore routines and learning strategies that make thinking visible, and analyze examples of classrooms where reflection and feedback fuel agency. You’ll also examine the research behind SRL—and discover how small shifts in design can transform students’ sense of ownership, persistence, and purpose.