Learner-Centered

I was recently asked to respond to the following post and thought, why not send this out to the ether? Here it is. Feel free to comment.

Student-centered classrooms:  Students and student learning should be the focus of the classroom teaching.  A teacher cannot be both “the sage on the stage and the guide on the side.”

Teaching students the value of ownership—especially ownership of one’s own learning—is the key to a student-centered classroom. When a child feels as though the lessons have been designed with him or her in mind, they are more willing to engage in the process and thus make the lesson a more meaningful experience.

An example is giving students choice throughout the period whenever possible. For example, if there are 3 activities that all equally enforce a current topic of study, students may vote on one activity as a class or divide into 3 groups in order to complete 3 separate activities.

Strategies for enforcing student-centered learning include taking time at the beginning and end of each class to discuss the learning objective, and pushing the students to hold the instructor accountable for driving the lesson forward. I ask my students to (politely and respectfully) question an activity when they cannot understand how it directly leads to his or her learning. While developing the skills to question the instructor in a polite and respectful way takes time at the beginning of the year, it is surprising how driven the students can become to actually learn new material instead of earn high grades.

I disagree, however, that an instructor cannot be both the sage on the stage and the guide on the side. Often with inquiry activities, it is important to reveal information at various stages of “grappling,” and possible to different groups. Although in this case the instructor is literally the guide on the side, he or she also becomes like a sage that distributes valuables throughout the period. I don’t see how wearing both hats does not support student-centered learning. If we are to meet all students’ needs at the same time, this is the best possible model for that. Meeting all students’ needs is clearly student-centered.