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What are some student-centered approaches or techniques for reading?
by Rhea Esposo

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Students are encouraged to read for fun or for information. The student is surrounded by various texts. They can choose whatever they would like to read, but they need to complete a reading report after a given amount of time, they have a student-teacher reading conference, and finally share the book with fellow classmates.

During student teacher conferences the student will be assessed on growth and give the students tips on how he/she can improve in "skills and attitude." (78.01.01: A Language Arts Program With a Student-Centered Approach, 1978)

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Helping students improving in these areas:
Comprehension
Accuracy
Fluency
Expanding Vocabulary

The students should be in charge of their own learning. They can choose the books they want to read in order to spark interests for wanting to read.

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Learner Centered Literacy:  Owning Their Own Reading

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Student Centered Approach to Whole-Class Novels

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Student Centered Approach to Whole-Class Novels

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Engaging Activities that Promote Reading Skills

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Engaging Activities that Promote Reading Skills

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1. Scrabble
This game can help students            improve in their vocabulary. Students are encouraged to use dictionaries to check is words are correctly spelled.
2. Hang-man
This can help student with their spelling. It can encourage student to use new words they've learned.
3. Having students review their books. This helps the students reflect on the books they read. They can give reviews on whether or not other students should read that book and why.
4. Having students discuss the book. This can "enhance student enjoyment of reading and can push them to think more deeply." (Jacobs & Renandya, 2014, p. 104)
5. Reader's Theater
This methods engages readers and non-readers. The student will read a text and read it aloud. Students are encouraged to act it out or perform in a funny or engaging way. Non-readers, "take notes, identify a stronger/weaker argument, identify an inaccuracy, categorize statements, etc." (Classroom Activities: Simple Strategies to Incorporate Student-Centered Activities within Undergraduate Science Lectures, 2012)
6. Minute Papers
The students are given a minute. They write down what they learned or any confusing parts about areas in stories or texts they have read.
7. Think-Pair-Share
The students are given a question/prompt. They have a given time to think about that. After that is done, the student must find a partner and discuss their thoughts. This can be used for discussions about books.

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78.01.01: A Language Arts Program With a Student-Centered Approach. (1978, September 1). Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute. https://teachersinstitute.yale.edu/curriculum/units/1978/1/78.01.01/6

Classroom Activities: Simple Strategies to Incorporate Student-Centered Activities within Undergraduate Science Lectures. (2012). PubMed Central (PMC). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3592730/

George, S. (2018). A Student-Centered Approach to Whole-Class Novels. Heinemann Blog. https://blog.heinemann.com/a-student-centered-approach-to-whole-class-novels

Jacobs, G., & Renandya, W. (2014). MAKING EXTENSIVE READING EVEN MORE STUDENT CENTERED. MAKING EXTENSIVE READING EVEN MORE STUDENT CENTERED, 102–112. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED573765.pdf

Reading Key. (2012, November 9). Powerful Method for Teaching Reading to Classroom of Students. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPsAuf1ihMk

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How could you design the physical environment of the classroom, including technology, to be conducive to student-centered learning? by Matthew Hettel

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How would  you design the learning tool kit of your students’ online learning environment?
by Jeff Austin

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What are some student-centered approaches or techniques that are based on or require collaboration?
by Natalie Saldajeno

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How can you implement assessment so that it enhances student-centered learning?

by Vicky Huang

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What student-centered approaches or techniques can you use to address differentiation?
by Matthew Harger

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One of the most prominent themes in K-12 education right now is student-centered instruction. Brown University Education Alliance defines a student-centered classroom as one where "learning is cooperative, collaborative, and community-oriented. Students are encouraged to direct their learning and to work with other students on research projects and assignments that are both culturally and socially relevant to them. Students become self-confident, self-directed, and proactive," preparing them to be independent problem-solvers and lifelong learners.

Through our professional learning and free resources, BetterLesson has supported thousands of educators as they make the shift to student-centered instruction. We wanted to share the top five strategies educators are using to bring student-centered learning into their schools and classrooms.

Giving students ownership and autonomy in selecting how they learn and demonstrate mastery is an integral part of a student-centered classroom. Choice boards are a go-to strategy for teachers looking to increase student ownership and differentiate instruction. Choice Boards can be used to present students with new information, help student practice skills, and assess student mastery, or as a combination of all three.

A Choice Board is a graphic organizer that allows students to complete a curated group of tasks that help them build mastery of a specific skill or topic. There are multiple permutations of this strategy, but all of them allow students to take ownership of how they with content while moving at their own pace.

For example, in the choice board below, students can demonstrate mastery by completing an activity from each level of the choice board. Students select their activities and assign themselves a deadline for finishing the project.

To read more about a teacher's experience using Choice Boards, check out this blog series .

For students to truly "direct their own learning," they must be able to assess their mastery of a given learning objective. Self-assessment is not innate to most learners and needs to be explicitly taught to build student capacity. Marzano's Self-Assessment Rubric is a rubric with specific criteria that supports students to self-assess on a 1 to 4 scale. The differentiated levels help students more effectively self-assess and allow teachers to see how students feel about the content.

At the beginning of the implementation, it is essential to check the accuracy of a student's self-assessment against data and help them identify discrepancies in their ratings. As students build proficiency in their ability to self-assess, the rubric can be used to help differentiate work and empower students to determine the most appropriate learning activity.

Not to be confused with the example above, this strategic grouping strategy enables educators to build a student-centered classroom by simultaneously differentiating instruction and building student collaboration skills. Mild, Medium, and Spicy strategic grouping provides a systematic approach for grouping students based on data.

First, use formative data, benchmark data, observation data, and student self-assessment to group students into three proficiency levels. Then carefully craft learning activities to address each group's needs. Strategic groupings and differentiated activities enable students to practice their skills at an appropriate level.

Students often enjoy having autonomy and feel more ownership over their work when given choices. Over the course of the year, consider adding multiple activities at each grouping level to provide options for students.

Individual pull-outs are often used to check student proficiency in skills or content acquisitions. The same1:1 time can also provide a forum for students to reflect on their progress and share their needs, much like they will do with their future managers in the workplace.

Self-Assessment conferences allow educators to meet with students individually to reflect on their ownership, participation, and performance in the classroom and receive the support they need to address challenges. Clearly framing the parameters of the conference and building student capacity to self-reflect is essential to maximizing the impact of the shorts conferences. Marzano's Self-Assessment Rubric is a tool that you can build on to ensure students can identify their areas of strength and weakness.

Once students have mastered reflection and self-assessment, they can use the same metacognitive skills to analyze their assessment data. Instead of using tests as a culminating expression of learning, unit exams can provide more data points to help students identify and close gaps in their knowledge.

The Fill in the Gaps strategy allows students to assess their strengths and weaknesses from formative assessment data, then set goals for improvement as part of a personalized work plan. Students break down the assessment by skill and identify areas of strength and areas of growth. Based on this data, they select activities to complete for remediation or extension and document them in a work plan.

Read last week's blog by Vicki Heupel and this interview with Milana Lazareva are great resources for understanding the impact of this strategy in action.

Creating a student-centered learning environment doesn't necessitate a significant overhaul to your instructional practice. The inclusion of a few new strategies can give your students the ownership and autonomy they need to become resourceful, compassionate, and resilient learners.

These are just five of the hundreds of strategies we've curated to help educators make the shift to student-centered instruction. Each strategy includes a description, implementation steps, and resources to help you hit the ground running.

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Top 5 Instructional Strategies for Student-Centered Teaching and Learning

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One of the most prominent themes in K-12 education right now is student-centered instruction. Brown University Education Alliance defines a student-centered classroom as one where "learning is cooperative, collaborative, and community-oriented. Students are encouraged to direct their learning and to work with other students on research projects and assignments that are both culturally and socially relevant to them.

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What student-centered approaches or techniques include physical movement as a central element?
by Jeff Austin

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Carol Tomlinson on Differentiation: Responsive Teaching

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Student centered learning puts students’ individual needs and interests at the forefront of instructors’ teaching practices.  This teaching model gives students more autonomy in their educational experience. These classrooms involve students in the planning, implementation, and assessment phases of an instructional unit. As the term implies, students are placed at the center of their learning rather than on the outskirts, and are given freedom in voicing how, what, and why they are learning certain topics.

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Student centered learning puts students’ individual needs and interests at the forefront of instructors’ teaching practices.  This teaching model gives students more autonomy in their educational experience. These classrooms involve students in the planning, implementation, and assessment phases of an instructional unit. As the term implies, students are placed at the center of their learning rather than on the outskirts, and are given freedom in voicing how, what, and why they are learning certain topics.

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Education in the 21st Century - Student Centered Learning

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Student-centered learning is a long overdue trend in education. You may have heard this phrase a few times if you're active in the realm of education, or at your child's school. The phrase is quickly becoming elevated to buzzword status. But what does it really mean to have learning be student-centered? Here are a few points to help clarify what an educator might mean in any given context, and what to expect from this educational model.

Student-centered learning is based on the constructivist theories of education championed by Swiss clinical psychologist Jean Piaget. Piaget observed that children cognitively construct knowledge and meaning through new experiences and interactions, as opposed to rote memorization. (Did this really come as a surprise to anyone?)

This approach to education is often juxtaposed to the old way of teaching. That is, the teacher imparting all knowledge without regard to, or input from, the student. (Cue flashbacks of Ben Stein in Ferris Bueller's Day Off: "Bueller... Bueller")

Personalized learning is a student specialized approach where the student's interests and culture are taken into consideration and incorporated into their education. While this may certainly engage the student in the learning process, it is just one component of a fully student-centered approach.

Project based learning is yet another engaging strategy that is sometimes equated with student-centered learning. While this encourages students to develop an array of skills that can be applied anytime/ anywhere, this is not a completely student-centered approach. Though, any student-centered program will certainly incorporate the generalization of skills that project based learning promotes.

There are several different ways that an educator can attempt a more student-centered approach. Here are a couple of strategies that are commonly confused with student-centered learning:

1. What they want to learn

2. How they are going to learn it

3. How to track their progress

4. What determines success

Although they are a step in the right direction, both of these approaches may still be firmly rooted in a teacher-centered model if they grant full oversight of the learning process to the educator, undermining the student's ability to identify:

This type of learning is student directed and , meaning the student has a stake in their education alongside parents and educators. True student-centered learning must also be determined by success criteria. The instructor and student need to clearly articulate the criteria of success when given an assignment. This ensures that students can identify, understand, and track the quality of their work with the support of their educational community. This process of formative assessment allows the student to essentially 'grade' themselves and discover exactly what to do to improve their work. .

The most ideal education incorporates the learning needs and interests of the student, while simultaneously enabling the student to track, guide, and have a stake in the process of their education.

There are a myriad of ways that interests can be incorporated. That interest in their favorite video game or cartoon can easily be incorporated into a points sheet, reward system, or other instructional materials. Have a student with a taste for all things Minecraft? You can make Minecraft themed flashcards to review common reading and spelling rules. This helps students buy into their learning process.

Fascinations and interests easily lend themselves to fun projects and reward systems, just as they lend themselves to the development of literacy via an ever-present thirst for knowledge. Educational and research tasks can be centered around topics that a child already holds a high amount of interest in. This is the sort of student specific attention that I have applied in my experience with students for a number of years.

It has become resoundingly clear to me that students have the ability to identify their academic strengths, as well as their weaknesses. When students come to their instructors, many of them know what it is that they want to learn, or what it is that they may struggle with in school. Education should be centered around the process of discovering strategies that are going to help them succeed academically and beyond.

Students can and should track their own learning goals. When they can see that success is within reach, they become more self-motivated. Creating and tracking their own goals provides the student access to a stake in the outcomes of their education.

The problem is that not all educational programs may be offering students this opportunity. If that is what you are looking for, it's important to know what to expect.

Aside from a growing body of research that praises the benefits of putting students at the center of their learning process, we invite you to consider what a paradigm shift this is for a child.

Imagine that you are, say, a third grader who encounters a teacher who wants to sit down one-to-one with you and learn more about you as a person. What if that same teacher who discovered your love of comic books incorporates images of your favorite characters into your learning materials the next day; how would you feel? Now, imagine that your teacher designed a personalized goal tracker, and asks you for input on your learning goals. What would it be like to be able to track and see your own progress visually, without relying primarily on input from your teacher? After some time, your teacher meets with you to review your strategies and success, while also encouraging you to brainstorm new ways to improve. This style of instruction gradually develops independent thinkers, endowed with the tools necessary for lifelong learning.

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What exactly is student-centered learning?

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Student-centered learning is a long overdue trend in education. You may have heard this phrase a few times if you're active in the realm of education, or at your child's school. The phrase is quickly...

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1. What they want to learn

2. How they are going to learn it

3. How to track their progress

4. What determines success

This type of learning is student directed and owned, meaning the student has a stake in their education alongside parents and educators.

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The Power of Potential: Student Centered Learning | Ayla Postelnek | TEDxYeshivaUniversity

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Vygotsky believed that learning is social in nature and that interaction with others advances cognitive development. He gave us the term “Zone of Proximal Development” which we can see displayed  in this visual below. What a child can do with adult or PEER interaction is beyond what they can do alone and so collaborative learning will enhance students’ development.  

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Vygotsky believed that learning is social in nature and that interaction with others advances cognitive development. He gave us the term “Zone of Proximal Development” which we can see displayed  in this visual below. What a child can do with adult or PEER interaction is beyond what they can do alone and so collaborative learning will enhance students’ development.  

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https://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development

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In the Edutopia video linked below it is highlighted that collaborative learning encourages students to use their “neighbor as a resource, test their own theories and from this learn if they are on the right track” (DeVene 2012)

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In the Edutopia video linked below it is highlighted that collaborative learning encourages students to use their “neighbor as a resource, test their own theories and from this learn if they are on the right track” (DeVene 2012)

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Encouraging students to reach out to one another to solve problems not only builds collaboration skills but leads to deeper learning and understanding.

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In the video we see one great student centered approach that requires collaboration and that is a “Harkness Discussion”. This is essentially a round table discussion that is inclusive of all at the table. From the video we learn the physical layout and set up is important; students need to be able to see each other to connect. A table is used in the example but it could be done sitting on the floor or with a circle of chairs. The teacher also highlights that students should first be encouraged to think of values to uphold during the discussion, the teacher may start this off but it is good for students to brainstorm these themselves. In this type of discussion the students have some roles such as notetaker (so focus for participants remains on discussion) , moderator ( to make sure discussion moves at a good speed and that all are involved - “let’s hear another voice”) and a map maker. The map maker keeps a record of the conversation flow like this…. 

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In the video we see one great student centered approach that requires collaboration and that is a “Harkness Discussion”. This is essentially a round table discussion that is inclusive of all at the table. From the video we learn the physical layout and set up is important; students need to be able to see each other to connect. A table is used in the example but it could be done sitting on the floor or with a circle of chairs. The teacher also highlights that students should first be encouraged to think of values to uphold during the discussion, the teacher may start this off but it is good for students to brainstorm these themselves. In this type of discussion the students have some roles such as notetaker (so focus for participants remains on discussion) , moderator ( to make sure discussion moves at a good speed and that all are involved - “let’s hear another voice”) and a map maker. The map maker keeps a record of the conversation flow like this…. 

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At the end of the conversation students can use the map to reflect on how the conversation went and to be more aware of involving everyone. The “map maker” may also organically start to notice other factors such as links between friend groups (Potash 2016) and can bring these observations to have discussions about discussions. This is student based feedback too! As collaborative learning; a Harkness discussion isn’t just about saying what you know but also about learning to listen or how to believe in your own ideas. It can allow students to grow in the area they need. 

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At the end of the conversation students can use the map to reflect on how the conversation went and to be more aware of involving everyone. The “map maker” may also organically start to notice other factors such as links between friend groups (Potash 2016) and can bring these observations to have discussions about discussions. This is student based feedback too! As collaborative learning; a Harkness discussion isn’t just about saying what you know but also about learning to listen or how to believe in your own ideas. It can allow students to grow in the area they need. 

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When students are taking part in these discussions they are constructing meaning instead of just being told and in the article below the author also draws attention to how the method can be very beneficial for English Language Learners. This article gives practical tips on the Harkness method for example -  teacher provides stimulus for discussion (for example a chapter in a book or an event in history); teacher encourages students to generate questions; teacher sits out of the circle and only intervenes only in certain moments such as if the discussion begins to attack a student personally and not their idea (Huynh 2016)

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#7. The Harkness Discussion: Where Everyone Has a Voice at the Table - ELL Strategies | TanKHuynh

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How the Harkness Method works when using ELL teaching strategies. Teaching ELLs to read critically through collaborative discussions.

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SOME OTHER METHODS ROOTED IN COLLABORATION

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SOME OTHER METHODS ROOTED IN COLLABORATION

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JIGSAW METHOD - Essentially each student becomes a puzzle piece within a small group (“home group”) and gather they information in a focused area , then they move to a group with other students researching the same area (“expert group”) and discuss and share ideas together, finally they return to their original small group and share the knowledge they have gathered and other students can ask questions. The other students have all done the same but with different areas of focus and so when they all feedback what they have learned it builds a bigger picture . 

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JIGSAW METHOD - Essentially each student becomes a puzzle piece within a small group (“home group”) and gather they information in a focused area , then they move to a group with other students researching the same area (“expert group”) and discuss and share ideas together, finally they return to their original small group and share the knowledge they have gathered and other students can ask questions. The other students have all done the same but with different areas of focus and so when they all feedback what they have learned it builds a bigger picture . 

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Jigsaw | Classroom Strategy | Reading Rockets

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Jigsaw is a cooperative learning strategy that enables each student of a "home" group to specialize in one aspect of a topic (for example, one group studies habitats of rainforest animals, another group studies predators of rainforest animals).

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USING JAMBOARD for collaboration during online or hybrid classes.  There are many ways to allow students to continue to collaborate even when physically distant. For example, one method called FOUR CORNERS starts from a question with multiple answers or responses and the teacher creates breakout rooms with the different answers or opinions. Students choose which room to join based on their opinion. They join the room and use the board in their room to together create a case for their answer or response. They will later return to the main room to make their case. 

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USING JAMBOARD for collaboration during online or hybrid classes.  There are many ways to allow students to continue to collaborate even when physically distant. For example, one method called FOUR CORNERS starts from a question with multiple answers or responses and the teacher creates breakout rooms with the different answers or opinions. Students choose which room to join based on their opinion. They join the room and use the board in their room to together create a case for their answer or response. They will later return to the main room to make their case. 

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(Lyding 2021)

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6 Ways to Jam on Jamboard: Using the Digital Whiteboard in a Hybrid Classroom

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The popular Google app facilitates meaningful collaboration for both remote and in-class students.

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Cullata. R (2021), Social Development Theory. Retrieved February 13th, 2021, from https://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/social-development

DeVene, M (2020), Collaborative Learning Builds Deeper Understanding. Retrieved February 13th 2021, from https://www.edutopia.org/video/collaborative-learning-builds-deeper-understanding

Hobson, T (2021), The Building Blocks of Dramatic Play. Retrived February 13th 2021 from https://www.edutopia.org/article/building-blocks-dramatic-play

Huynh, T (2016), The Harkness Discussion: Where Everyone Has A Voice at the Table. Retrived on February 13th 2021 from https://www.empoweringells.com/a7-teaching-harkness/

Lyding, L (2021), 6 Ways to Jam on Jamboard. Retrived February 13th 2021 from https://www.edutopia.org/article/6-ways-jam-jamboard-using-digital-whiteboard-hybrid-classroom

Potash, B (2016) , Learning to Share. Retrieved February 13th 2021 from https://www.nais.org/magazine/independent-school/spring-2016/learning-to-share/

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In Pre-K and Early Childhood give students SPACE TO "BICKER".  The linked article discusses the value in stepping back and allowing children to guide their own play. At the Pre-K age this can sometimes lead to independent play or parallel play but often children will begin to converse and suggest an activity ( “let’s make a fairy house….”) and this may then lead to bickering which the author suggests is something we should allow to happen to further ideas and lead to compromise and therefore continued play (Hobson,2021)

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In Pre-K and Early Childhood give students SPACE TO "BICKER".  The linked article discusses the value in stepping back and allowing children to guide their own play. At the Pre-K age this can sometimes lead to independent play or parallel play but often children will begin to converse and suggest an activity ( “let’s make a fairy house….”) and this may then lead to bickering which the author suggests is something we should allow to happen to further ideas and lead to compromise and therefore continued play (Hobson,2021)

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"Let's play tiger babies."

"I want to be a polar bear baby."

"You can't because tiger babies would eat polar bear babies."

"That's not true! Polar bear babies eat tiger babies!"

"That's not true!"

Listening to the two children, I didn't say anything, but stepped closer because it was the sort of preschool argument that could escalate, which is always a risk when "truth" is at stake. And truth is always at stake when children are engaged in dramatic play.

By definition, dramatic play, like all fiction, is about the imagination, a place where truth is, at best, subjective. The children I observed were engaged in a game in which they were asserting something that was objectively not true: that they were animal babies. In such contexts, it seems absurd to be arguing over truth, and adults often respond that way when they feel compelled to intervene, yet games like this are crucial for children seeking to understand their world.

As far as we can tell, we're the only species that regularly engages in counterfactual thinking, the phenomenon of imagining the world in ways contrary to or different from the way it is. We're cursed with the ability to imagine an impossibly perfect world, which too often serves to make it even more difficult to make peace with the real one. On the other hand, counterfactual thinking is always the first step in changing the world from what it is to what it could be.

Building Crucial Skills Through Dramatic Play

Children are learning many things as they engage in counterfactual play. It gives them the opportunity to work on understanding what goes on in other people's minds. It is a safe place in which to engage in higher order thinking and processing things they've been exposed to but don't fully understand. It lays the foundation for literacy. It's a venue for practicing the social necessities of negotiation, compromise, and agreement.

It's easy to dismiss children's dramatic play as silly, as a waste of time even, especially when we hear them intensely bickering over "truth," but what they're doing is exercising their imagination and creativity. They are learning the skills that will make tomorrow.

Two boys were digging a hole in the sand pit. It was a large hole, wide and deep. I made a comment about digging to China, a destination my own playmates and I had aspired to reach lo these many years ago.

"Teacher Tom, we're not digging to China."

"Oh, where are you digging?"

"We're not digging anywhere! This is a trap!"

"No, it's not a trap. It's a hole!"

The boys bickered for several minutes, finally agreeing that it was a "very deep hole-trap."

"We're going to dig it all the way to the molten core."

"We can't dig to the molten core! It's full of lava!"

"No, it's full of magma."

"Well, it'll be too hot. We'll get dead."

They resumed digging in silence for a time, before one of them said, "We'll stop digging when the ground gets hot. Then we'll know we're close to the magma."

"I know! We can dig around it!"

"And then we can go to China."

"I don't want to go to China. Let's go to California. That's where my grandma lives. We can have movie night!"

It didn't end there, and I left them debating the relative virtues of various imaginary destinations. Their self-created dramatic play curriculum was superficially composed of equal parts earth science, engineering, and geography, but the real molten core of their project was the imagination and the bickering.

The Value of Bickering

As adults, we too often underestimate the importance of bickering and react to it as something to control or guide. We worry it will lead to yelling or, worse, violence. But I've found that when children are accustomed to being left to their own devices, they most often use bickering like they do their shovels-as a tool. Bickering is a tool that allows them to create agreement. This isn't always the case, of course, but more often than not they come to recognize that they must dig down and around and around and straight and up until they find their way to a compromise that keeps their game going. Compromise is a skill that's in short supply in our world, and it can't happen without the bickering.

Teachers often ask what they can do to encourage children to engage in dramatic play. They're typically looking for answers that involve costumes or props or playhouses. Maybe they're after techniques that involve reading stories and having students act them out, or even having students create original plays to perform for their classmates.

There's nothing wrong with any of those things, but the best of dramatic play is child-directed. I've found that if young children are given time, space, and other children, and if the adults simply loiter with intent, someone will invariably make a suggestion, beginning with the most perfect word of invitation in the English language, "Let's...":

"Let's pretend we're pirates!"

"Let's build our castle here!"

"Let's be baby tigers!"

"Let's dig a hole to China!"

And then, if we stand back and keep quiet, they'll do what humans have always done: bring a collaborative world of truth and bickering into existence, one that makes tomorrow.

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"Let's play tiger babies." "I want to be a polar bear baby." "You can't because tiger babies would eat polar bear babies." "That's not true! Polar bear babies eat tiger babies!" "That's not true!"

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"One instructional strategy that has reimagined the classroom is the Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-Down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP). SCALE-UP uses studio-style instruction to facilitate student collaboration." (Knaub et al, 2016)

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Overall Environmental Potential Preferences: 

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Overall Environmental Potential Preferences: 

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1. If the opportunity is available, create both well-lit and dimly-lit areas in the classroom.

2. Provide opportunities for students  to move around.

3. Establish informal furniture arrangements. eg plants or bean bags along with a reading corner.

4. Listening stations.

5. Let students notice their own temperature preferences.

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Give Students the choice to design their learning Environment:

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Give Students the choice to design their learning Environment:

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This will facilitate

1. Collaboration by working together in designing the environment.

2. Discussion can be enhanced.

3. Giving students the choice to design any environment increases a sense of belonging.

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Create an environment that allows and focuses on collaboration: 

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Create an environment that allows and focuses on collaboration: 

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1. Allows for teachers to check on students who are struggling with learning the content.

2. Allows students to hone important skills such as collaboration, communication and problem solving.

1. Groups for projects and assignments will only enhance their ability to communicate and solve problems.

3. Transform the lesson into collaborative or interactive learning.

1. Interactive games/software that a teacher can incorporate a students work into the lesson.

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3 Simple ways to Integrate Technology in the classroom

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3 Simple ways to Integrate Technology in the classroom

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PowerPoints, Interactive Games and Internet Homework assignments

PowerPoint Presentations

Graphics and organized information will help visual learners.

Links to videos imbedded in the PowerPoint.

Gamified Educational apps

for example, Kahoot

Can be accessed through any mobile electronic device.

Interactive and creates a competitive but fun environment.

Internet Homework Assignments

Posting homework assignments online (via learning platforms like Blackboard, Brightspace, and Moodle)

Helps the student stay more immersed in their learning. Keeping them more engaged by being able to access and view their progress throughout the class.

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1) Classroom organization: The physical environment. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2021, from https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/classroom-organization-physical-environment/

2) -, A., By, -, & Blogger, A. (2018, June 27). Five elements of a POSITIVE classroom environment for students living with adversity. Retrieved February 16, 2021, from https://inservice.ascd.org/five-elements-of-a-positive-classroom-environment-for-students-living-with-adversity/

3) Jason Meyer is the education product manager for Epson America. (2019, November 21). Design classrooms for student-centered learning. Retrieved February 16, 2021, from https://www.edcircuit.com/designing-classroom-student-centered-learning/

4) Knaub, A. V, Foote, K. T., Henderson, C., Dancy, M., & Beichner, R. J. (2016). Get a room: The role of classroom space in sustained implementation of studio style instruction. International Journal of STEM Education, 3(8), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-016-0042-3.

5) How to integrate technology in the classroom. (n.d.). Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://drexel.edu/soe/resources/student-teaching/advice/how-to-use-technology-in-the-classroom/

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Online classrooms, just like in-person classrooms, should be engaging, challenging, and collaborative. Lessons should be relevant and students should see a connection between the world around them and the material they are learning. Online classrooms have the opportunity to give students more control and personalization over their learning.

It is important to make sure students are given the right tools to help them succeed. Using math programs like Zearn, which includes instructional videos, sample problems, and challenges them with multiple problems with extra support along the way, is a great way for students to engage with math. An online library such as getepic.com offers students a large variety of books with the option of having books read out loud to the learner if they feel they need extra support of just want to hear someone else read them a story.

The best online toolkit should be easy to use while giving students the freedom to explore and the opportunity to take control of their learning.

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Several studies revealed, time and again, that a student-centered approach to learning is far more superior than any other methods of instruction. This booklet published by the Cambridge University Press , for instance, found that such approach helps students cultivate a "can do" attitude. It allows for autonomous, active learning. Autonomy, positive psychologist notes, is key to motivation. It's what makes people wake up in the morning and do the work they love.

The learner, after all, has his/her own unique situation, personality or set of experiences. These personal factors significantly influence how learners retain information, interact with fellow learners, solve problems and apply knowledge. Taking a teacher-centered or a content-centered approach while ignoring students is a surefire recipe for failure. Obviously, information is important and critical to learning. But information is only part of the formula. eLearning courses need to understand learners.

Here's how to make your courses more learner-centered and more learner-driven:

1) Challenge

Challenges, without a doubt, stimulate the brain. They force the learner to think about their previous knowledge, process the new information, reflect, and then make a decision. Learners who face appropiately challenging decisions require them to apply knowledge, not just recall it.

As an eLearning developer your main goal is to engage learners and challenge their understanding at all times. To include this element, focus on the question: "What challenges will students face along the way, and what can they do after completing the course?"

2) Engagement

Forget clicking! Engagement goes beyond clicking a mouse. Genuine engagement happens inside the brain. It's called thinking. You can easily encourage students to think by adding moments of thoughtful reflection in your program. Make them pause for a while and ask them how the content they have just consumed relates to their work. The content has to reach them intellectually and emotionally as well. Only this kind of deep and meaningful engagement allows for lasting change to happen.

There are many ways to engage students. You can drop them into real or imaginary situations where they have to decide using your material. Use case-based learning and scenarios that get the learner to analyze information and put it within a frame of reference. The skill of making sound and reasonable decisions is definitely an outcome of a learner-centric approach.

A learner-centered approach, first and foremost, is personal. It takes into account the real situation of your student, not everyone's ideal student. You may find that learners doing your course prefer reading to listening. Or you may discover that majority of learners who complete your program appreciate on-time feedback through emails.

Students have different learning styles and come from diverse backgrounds. It only makes sense to make your material suitable or fit for their needs than ask them to adapt to your course. Such adaptability has to be part of the design. Package your content in multiple formats for people to learn from - videos, graphs, charts, quizzes, activities and so on. This will help you to reach each type of learner. Get to know your learners before creating the course. Ask them questions about their educational background, interest and goals.

All of the elements mentioned earlier won't work if you don't give students a sense of control and responsibility. You need to empower learners. Learners who can control their own pace and pick what they want to learn are much more effective than learners who passively receive instructions from the teacher. Trust that your students will spend more time on chapters or sections they have not yet mastered.

Learning isn't a solitary activity. Learning is a symbiotic relationship. We learn in a group inside a classroom, with a partner, or from an author. Let students collaborate with each other by giving them opportunities to actively seek and share information, construct meaningful insights, produce a diverse set of ideas and appreciate multiple perspectives. Encourage dialogue and social interaction so that they can take ownership in the learning process.By introducing the element of collaboration you are at the same time encouraging students to learn more from each other.

Relevance has a lot to be with student-material connection. Every course should address a learner's current needs or learning gaps. Will your course resonate among students? Will they find it both useful and meaningful? Make sure they answer yes to these questions before you hit publish. Otherwise, ask them for feedback and modify your course to accommodate their needs. It is the goal of learner-centred eLearning courses to bridge the gap between what is learned and the real world.

Final Takeaway:

The core of eLearning design is centered on the interest of the learner. Learners should be active participants, they should be able to learn at their own pace and use their own learning techniques. As well, learning needs to be more personalized than standardized. But most importantly, problem-solving, critical thinking and reflective thinking are at the core of the learning process.

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Six Key Ingredients of Learner-centered eLearning Courses

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Several studies revealed, time and again, that a student-centered approach to learning is far more superior than any other methods of instruction. This booklet published by the Cambridge University Press , for instance, found that such approach helps students cultivate a "can do" attitude. It allows for autonomous, active learning.

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1.To be considered student-centered, the assessment technique should directly involve students in examining their own cognitive development by having them focus on learning first and the grade second (Pedersen & Liu, 2003).
2.Strategies should be engaging and interactive while incorporating sharing, trusting, team building, reflecting, helping, and coaching (Pitas, 2000).

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Assessment methods to enhance student-centered learning:

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Assessment methods to enhance student-centered learning:

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1.Assessing Student Passions and Learning Styles
All of our students come with powerful experiences that have driven their lives, such as family stories, favorite books, hobbies, and trips. We can use a variety of assessment tools like one-on-one conversations, journals, and graphic organizers to learn more about our students and what drives them to learn.
2.Assessing 21st-Century/Success Skills
We know that some of our students collaborate better than others, just as some students have more global empathy than others. If we assess for these success or 21st-century skills, we can provide experiences and instructions that foster those skills and allow our students to grow in areas that are more than simply content knowledge or skills.
3.Formative Assessment of Content and Skills
Teachers should use low-stakes formative assessments to assess students' content knowledge and skills. This way, we can learn which concepts and skills need to be retaught, and which ones students have mastered. These assessments are not graded. Instead, we can use them to create a learning environment that is more student-centered.
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/assessment-create-student-centered-learning-andrew-miller

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5 Ways to Conduct Formative Assessments Virtually

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1. PDSA by Deming (1982)
Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA), a meta-assessment tool.

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PDCA | PDSA | Deming Cycle | Shewhart Cycle | PDCA cycle | pdsa cycle | continuous improvement

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2.Learning Preferences Cards

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Students need opportunities to practice Global Competencies like Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Innovation, and Influencing across networks. This is why working in teams gives them the opportunities to practice these skills and to get coaching by the teacher and others. Yet one challenge with teams is the fear that some students will dominate, while others will stand aside while the others do all of the work. While supporting teachers at a Project Based Learning school in Michigan, this challenge came to a head when a teacher team wanted to abandon using student teams altogether. "It doesn't work!" They stated with a look of determination that one gets from being an eyewitness to seeing something go wrong in action.

I started to suggest that each student needed a role, like project manager, editor, and-but the team leader cut me off by saying that they already did this, and it did not help. So, I asked them to describe what does a class session look like from the beginning to end. The leader sighed, but decided to indulge me. At the beginning of class the students gather in their teams for the initial instruction. When they start working on their project, one person gathers the necessary materials and brings them to the team.

"Is that a role or responsibility?" I asked.

"It's one of the team roles," was the response. "That's the Logistics person."

"Are the people in this role typically the ones not helping with the project work?" I asked.

The teacher team looked at me with astonishment. The leader asked, "How did you know?"

Once the logistics person brings the materials. Their job is done until the end of class, when they must return the materials. Each team member needs an academic responsibility. This gives them value and purpose throughout the learning and product work within the project.

How do you ensure that every student on a team will be active and contribute to the ongoing work and final outcome?

One part of the equation is to ensure that every student has an academic responsibility, or a qualitative role. Whether the learner is gifted, struggles with the subject matter, or has an IEP for Special Education support, they need to believe that they can contribute. Also within the team, the students have to believe that each person has something academically to contribute.

Learning Preferences Cards ( PDF handout link) is a great strategy for collecting perceptual data about students' strengths in subjects and approaches to learning. Students self-evaluate so that their perspective is recorded about themselves as learners. Once completed, teachers can add annotated information about the students that further informs them on team formations that can lead to success with Global Competencies and learning standards.
Learning Profile Cards

Target Grades: All

Applicable: Differentiated Instruction, Project Based Learning, and Team Formation

Activity Time: 15-20 minutes

Materials: index cards and a pen or pencil (one per student)

Activity Steps

1. After passing out the index cards to each student, have them write on the back of the card their contact information. At a minimum, this would include their name and personal phone number.Figure 1: Back of the Card
Sometimes the phone number the student provides is not the one on file with the school, and is usually a more reliable connection. The purpose of this information is for when student teams need to contact an absent member about work that needs to be submitted. Since it appears that students use email far less, having other means of contact is important within Social Media.Figure 2: Front of the Card

2. The next steps will occur on thefront of the card. In the center, students list 3 to 4 interests that they have outside of school. This could range from recording themselves as they play video games to talking or texting with friends. This information helps for showing context of subject matter to things that matter to students. Also, when designing projects and lessons, I've created learning experiences around the interests of 1-2 students in the class. There are those "Triage Patients" who if we do not make learning meaningful, they will fall further and further behind, until they eventually lose faith in the education system and stop trying.

3. In the top left corner, students list the subjects and skills. For each, rate them from a 4-I'm great at this skill/subject and I love it-to a 1-I'm not very good at this skill/subject and I do not like it. Some teachers use a wider range such as an 8 pt or 10 pt scale. That's fine so long as the range is an even number. Otherwise, students tend to choose the middle number such as 3 out of 5, or 5 out of 9.It's also important to note that the score is far less important than if the student rated themselves in the top half or bottom half. This speaks volumes about their perception of themselves, which we'll see repeated with the other categories to follow. When I learned that some of my students rated themselves low in my content area, that indicated that I would need to mediate their self-perception of their skills if I hoped for them to make a strong effort.Saving the best for last, this information informs on what academic strengths students may have. A student who struggles in Science or Math, but is average to good at writing, becomes the Writing Editor. Their job is not to write the papers or scripts. It is to facilitate the reflection and revision process that each person must do on their own work. Someone who knows social media or video recording becomes the Media Editor. Their job, through facilitation, is to help teammates evaluate how messaging is being effectively done of content to media. As you can see, each role has an academic responsibility. Their role is one of facilitation-monitoring and tracking their team's work using the academic criteria list and/or guidelines (ex. rubric).

4. The other corners are for tracking learning styles and personality inventories. Students use the 4 pt scale to self assess for each category. Teachers can choose any style/inventory that they find to best meet the learning needs of their students. It's important to track at least two. This helps to avoid typecasting students into one learning container. Such as, John is a Visual learner. Well...that probably depends on the situation. More importantly, how would John rate himself. For each learning styles/inventory categories used, the teacher needs to describe them in terms that relates to students. For example, if I asked for directions to the nearest coffee shop, a visual learner would give directions as they saw themselves making the trip.I strongly recommend using the Internal and External reflection styles listed in the bottom right corner. Some people need to process their thinking along before they are ready to share or act. While others need to think aloud their ideas as means to make connections. The team make-up between these two styles can have positive implications when deliberately included in formation decisions.

Once the students complete the cards, the teacher collects them to use for making teams and differentiating lessons and projects. Because the students completed them, teachers may add or update information on the cards based on observations.

For early elementary students, teachers might bring in parents or student buddies from an upper grade level who acts as the younger students' secretaries, and transcribe their answers. Thus saving time.

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Students need opportunities to practice Global Competencies like Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, Innovation, and Influencing across networks. This is why working in teams gives them the opportunities to practice these skills and to get coaching by the teacher and others.

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1.Andrew Miller,

Using Assessment to Create Student-Centered Learning, https://www.edutopia.org/blog/assessment-create-student-centered-learning-andrew-miller

2.Mick LaLopa,

Using Student-Centered Assessment to Enhance Learning, https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/59/vol17no8_student_centered_assessment.html

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True student-centered learning must also be determined by success criteria. The instructor and student need to clearly articulate the criteria of success when given an assignment. This ensures that students can identify, understand, and track the quality of their work with the support of their educational community. This process of formative assessment allows the student to essentially ‘grade’ themselves and discover exactly what to do to improve their work. .

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https://tophat.com/glossary/s/student-centered-learning/

https://mystudentvoices.com/what-exactly-is-student-centered-learning-358f01b37600

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Edutopia is a free source of information, inspiration, and practical strategies for learning and teaching in preK-12 education. We are published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization.

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Student-Centered Learning: It Starts With the Teacher

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Teachers encourage student-centered learning by allowing students to share in decisions, believing in their capacity to lead, and remembering how it feels to learn.

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Scaffolding is a popular differentiation technique that breaks down larger tasks into smaller tasks that are easier for students to understand.  These smaller tasks can then be combined by a group or individual to complete the overall larger task.  This strategy helps students to better focus on individual tasks and reduces the stress of larger more complicated projects.  One of the ways scaffolding can be used in student centered learning is having students explain their part of the task to each other.  Splitting the students into groups then bringing them back together to put all of the smaller tasks together to complete the overall task.

Lewison, Kiera. “What Is Scaffolding In Education? Your Go-To Tips And Tricks.” University of the People, 3 June 2020, www.uopeople.edu/blog/what-is-scaffolding-in-education/.

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Student-Content - Be sure to give your students follow up questions and assignments to get them thinking about and engaged in the topic they are studying.
Student-Student - Make sure your students have time to collaborate with and learn from one another. Depending on your platform of choice make sure students have the opportunity to share ideas and work together.
Student-Teacher - Be sure to be there for your students. Provide tools to help students with their assignments and make yourself available for them to reach you for extra support. Meet with students for check-in by appointment and assessments.

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While online and remote education may not be synonymous, today's new remote educators can benefit from the "lessons learned" by experienced online educators to provide high-quality, engaging learning experiences for their students.

Credit: LOVE YOU / Shutterstock.com © 2020

As faculty have endeavored to get traditional campus-based courses up and running remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic, the immediate needs of sharing course content with students, delivering lectures, and providing access to course materials were likely the top priorities. This approach makes sense, especially in the preparatory period before a class begins or when an instructor is getting ready to shift from on-campus to remote instruction. However, it's important not to stop there. Providing access to content is a great first step, but access on its own does not make for a quality learning experience. Engaging students is essential for promoting a deep understanding of course content. But how can we engage students in remote learning environments?

There has already been discussion in the higher education community about how online education and remote instruction are not synonymous. Online educators, sensitive to skepticism about the efficacy of online education, are concerned that faculty who have negative perceptions of online education will associate problems with emergency remote education with non-emergency online course design and teaching. Higher education professionals have cautioned against equating remote and online delivery methods.

While online and remote education may not be synonymous, today's new remote educators can benefit from the "lessons learned" by experienced online educators who are providing high-quality, engaging learning experiences for their students. The one "lesson learned" I see as the most significant for faculty as they begin to teach from a distance is to consider the new learning environment from a student-centered perspective.

Many online educators have found that a helpful way to think about teaching in a student-centered fashion is to focus on creating three forms of interaction for students in the online environment:

Student-content interaction, where instructors provide active learning experiences for students (meaningful learning activity plus reflection)

Student-student interaction, where instructors structure the learning community and make it clear to students how they should interact with others in the class

Student-instructor interaction, where instructors create a framework for how they will interact with students during the learning experience

These three forms of interaction don't happen spontaneously. They require planning, intention, and instructional design. Furthermore, these three types of interaction aren't prescriptive-they do not require the use of a particular type of learning activity or assessment. Through these interactions, we are reaching for broad goals that can be achieved in many different ways.

Finally, it's important to recognize that the three forms of interaction do not require a specific set of enterprise-wide educational technologies. To put a student-centered approach to teaching into action, educators need to take stock of the tools and technologies they have available and then ask themselves three questions about how to use them.

Three Questions to Consider in Student-Centered Remote Teaching

To take a student-centered approach to remote teaching, consider the tools you have at your disposal, and ask three questions about your course:

1. How will my students interact with the course content? Beyond reading, listening to/viewing lectures, what will students actually DO with the course content? And how can they do so in their homes?

2. How will my students interact with other students? Beyond completing assignments and assessments independently, how will students work together to ensure that they feel like they are part of a learning community and have the opportunity to collaborate, think critically, be intellectually challenged, and make meaning with others? And how can students work with others while they are isolated in their homes?

3. How will my students interact with me, their instructor? Now that you aren't in the classroom with your students, how will students be able to interact with you? How might you guide student learning while also being flexible and trying to accommodate different student needs? What assignment expectations do you need to convey? What information do you need to clarify for students?

Asking these questions can help you see the course from the student's point of view and think about remote instruction in a new way. When preparing a course for remote delivery, sharing course content online can feel overwhelming. It can be helpful to extend your thinking beyond content delivery to these three forms of student interaction.

In online course design, a lot of time and effort is invested in creating an architecture of engagement where these three forms of interaction can take place. The current health crisis has not allowed for the amount of development time any of us would have preferred, but there are some easy-to-implement instructional methods that you can use to help encourage student engagement when delivering courses remotely.

Student-Content Interaction

Student-content interaction is all about having students DO something with the course content or topic. Reading and listening to lectures will be part of many classes, but the passive receipt of information isn't sufficient to help students engage with the course and meet course learning outcomes. Instead, we should create opportunities for active learning, which is when students DO something meaningful related to the course content and then reflect on their learning.

After students complete a course reading, ask them to do a follow-up assignment. Here are a few examples:

Write a summary.

Create an annotated visual on a PowerPoint slide that shows your key take-away from the reading.

List five of your take-aways and one question you have based on the reading.

Identify what you as a reader find to be the clearest point in the reading and the muddiest point

Diagram a process.

Make an infographic.

Write an op-ed based on the content.

After students attend a synchronous lecture via web conference, ask them to complete a follow-up activity:

Participate in a "think-pair-share" activity: The instructor poses a question, asks students to jot some notes down independently to form initial thoughts, distributes students into breakout rooms to discuss, and then pulls the class back together as a group to discuss and synthesize.

Complete a poll to check comprehension.

Illustrate ideas on the web conference whiteboard.

Flip the web conference "lecture" by asking students to come prepared to discuss topics they have already read up on.

Give students the opportunity to lead a discussion.

Other learning activities will vary by discipline and level of study. Consider these examples for inspiration:

Completing kitchen lab experiments and lab reports

Doing backyard or video "field" observations and field reports

Analyzing data sets and creating data visualizations

Preparing and giving multimedia presentations, including Q&As from classmates

Creating infographics, web pages, blog posts, collages, memes, or digital images related to course content

Student-Student Interaction

When students interact with each other, they feel like they are part of a learning community, but this interaction also helps students engage in higher-order thinking that would be more challenging to accomplish if they were studying alone. Through collaboration, students brainstorm, deliberate, disagree, compromise, and achieve consensus-all ways of thinking that are difficult to do singly.

When you are remote teaching, consider employing some of the following strategies to encourage effective student-student interaction:

Discussion forums in a learning management system
Ask students to participate in a role-play or debate activity using online forums or web conference tools.

Peer review activities for writing assignments and projects

Group projects

Group presentations

Think-pair-share

Study groups

Individual projects

Ask students to create a resource guide for future students.

Ask students to design a board game based on course content.
To facilitate this project, you could suggest that students adapt or create a trivia game, board game, etc.).

Students can arrange their own meetings, or they may choose to use other video conference solutions such as Skype. They can collaborate using Google Drive, Box, or other web-based tools.

Student-Instructor Interaction

The third form of interaction is student-instructor interaction, which should involve more than just answering student questions. For fully online classes, the US Department of Education requires that instructors provide regular, substantive, and instructor-led interactions to distinguish online classes from correspondence courses. These guidelines help online instructors provide strong student-instructor interaction. Remote instructors can use these guidelines to help engage students, too.

Some examples of how to facilitate student-instructor interaction when remote teaching follow:

Participate and engage with students about the course content via discussion forums in a learning management system.

Record and post a short video to introduce a major assignment and then hold a Q&A session.

Provide detailed feedback on assignments (written and/or recorded).

Use voice-over screen recordings using tools such as Screencast-O-Matic to provide demonstrations, discussions of diagrams/graphs, slides, and illustrations.

Hold writing conferences to discuss draft assignments.

Hold open or by-appointment office hours by web conference, phone, or text message.

Create a video (with your pets, family, etc.) in your home or a safe outdoor environment to provide social presence.

While remote instruction during an emergency pandemic is not the same as carefully designed online education, remote educators can take some notes from experienced online colleagues about how to bridge the distance. Thinking of the learning experience from a student-centered perspective is one valuable take-away. There are many, many others.

An earlier version of this blog post was published on the OSU CTL blog.

Note

See, for example, A. Sasha Thackaberry, "Remote in a Time of Pandemic: Six Consideration As We Adapt to COVID-19," The Evolution, March 20, 2020; Deb Adair, "Open Letter to the QM Community," March 23, 2020; and Cynthia Golden, "Remote Teaching: The Glass Half-Full," Transforming Higher Ed (blog), EDUCAUSE Review, March 23, 2020. ↩

Note

Thanks to Clare Creighton, Dorothy Loftin, Deborah Mundorff, Meghan Naxer, and Weiwei Zhang for their contributions to this blog post.

Shannon Riggs is the Executive Director of Academic Programs and Learning Innovation at Oregon State University Ecampus.

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student-centered remote teaching: lessons learned from online education

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Student-Centered Remote Teaching: Lessons Learned from Online Education

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While online and remote education may not be synonymous, today's new remote educators can benefit from the "lessons learned" by experienced online edu

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Plan your lessons thoughtfully and thoroughly.

Communicate with students and parents.

Maintain continuity.

Connect with your students and colleagues.

Take care of yourself.

Create a contract as a class for you and your students to follow.

Get your students to connect, reflect, inquire, and discuss.

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Due to the recent school closures, many schools have shifted to online and distance learning.

In these schools, educators are navigating new technologies and ways of teaching during an immensely challenging and uncertain time in our communities, when students' (and teachers' own) social-emotional needs are just as critical as academic goals.

These resources are also available for download as a printer-friendly PDF:

Table of Contents

Facing History and Ourselves is here to support you. Be sure to sign up on our Current Events page to receive our weekly newsletter with resources, strategies, and helpful insights as we navigate through this uncharted territory.
This checklist includes various considerations as you move your teaching online. A Letter to Educators Teaching Online for the First Time also captures the values of connection and community that Facing History shares. We recommend reading this thoughtful piece by two educators as you begin your planning. The questions and suggested resources below can help you create guidelines and routines with your students as you get started teaching remotely and are also helpful to refer back to as your students' needs evolve and change.
Planning

What guidelines, infrastructure, and support are available from your school or district? Will technology be used to support distance learning? What accommodations are available for students who don't have access to a computer, smartphone, or internet at home?

What platform will you use to communicate with students and what is your communication plan? How comfortable are you with this platform? Do you know how to get tech support?

Will your teaching be synchronous, asynchronous, or a combination of both? With small groups of students or a whole class? How will you balance on-screen and off-screen learning time?

How often do you plan to post work-daily, weekly, or at another cadence? Is there a suggested daily schedule for students?

When will you schedule time to prepare materials and assess student work?

What is your contingency plan if you are unable to facilitate online or need to be absent from "school"?

Communication

Will you consider using email, text messages, chat, office hours, or another medium so you can communicate with students 1:1? Do you have up-to-date contact information for your students?

Will you also communicate with parents and caregivers about how they can support students' learning?

Continuity

What elements of your classroom and curriculum do you want to stay the same? Understanding that distance learning is more complex and time-consuming for both teachers and students, what curriculum, content, and skills will you prioritize and what will you let go of?

Suggested Resource:
Powerful Learning is a useful framework for thinking through these questions (Digital Promise)

Connection

What routines, strategies, and tools can help your students feel connected to you and to each other?

What role can video, images, or social media play in helping your class feel connected to each other, to other classes in your school or community, or to schools around the world?

How can you stay connected to colleagues and maintain a professional support system?

Care

How can you practice self-care as you navigate your professional responsibilities?

What boundaries might you set around working hours and communication windows?

What form of stress relief can you schedule into each day: e.g., exercise, outdoor time, journaling, mindfulness, or any activity that helps you feel good?

Rationale

At Facing History and Ourselves, we recommend developing classroom contracts to create inclusive, respectful learning communities, whether they are in-person or online. With schools closing and many classrooms moving to digital spaces, contracting for online learning can mark a transition to a different kind of learning community and can help teachers and students establish new norms to meet the challenges of the moment.

Procedure

This strategy can work in a synchronous setting, when teachers and students are together in real time on a video conferencing platform like Zoom or Google Hangouts. It can also be used asynchronously by sharing some of the prompts below on a class discussion board and inviting students to respond via a tool like Padlet, VoiceThread, or Flipgrid.

1. Define contracting
A contract implies that all parties have a responsibility to uphold the agreement. Students can think about what it means for a classroom to have a contract, and why a new contract might be needed as your class shifts to online learning. If you previously made a class contract, review it with the group before inviting them to think about how you might revise it for your new online learning environment.

2. Students reflect
To prepare students to develop a class contract, ask them to reflect on their expectations of this new learning environment and think about other experiences they may have had with online learning. You might use one or more of these prompts and invite students to reflect in written journals, in an online chat space, or in virtual breakouts:

a. Complete the sentence: When I think about my school closing and shifting to online learning, I feel ________________ because _______________. You might consider asking students to capture their feeling in one word and share it anonymously to a Word Cloud. Viewing the class Word Cloud together gives a powerful sense of the group's mood.

b. Think about other online learning experiences you have had. What were some qualities of positive online learning experiences? How did you feel during those positive experiences? If you had negative online learning experiences, what do you think made them unsuccessful?

c. Share Untitled Poem with Beth Strano with students. Ask them to highlight or share a word or phrase that captures something they would value in a learning community or add their own line.

3. Discuss classroom norms
Facing History teachers have found that useful class contracts typically include several clearly defined rules or expectations, as well as consequences for those who do not fulfill their obligations as members of the classroom community. There are many ways to proceed with developing a classroom contract. View the Word Cloud or simply invite students to share some of the feelings from their initial reflection and then ask, "Given this range of feelings, what do you think we collectively need from our learning community, and what does it need from each of us?"

You can divide students into smaller groups and ask them to draft norms and expectations on a Google Doc or Padlet that can be shared and discussed with the group. Alternatively, you can share a list of suggested norms with students and invite discussion either orally, in a chat space, or by annotating a Google Doc using the "comment" or "suggest" functions. While the process is inclusive of students' input, ultimately it is the teacher's responsibility to ensure that the ideas that make it into the final contract are those that will best nurture a safe learning environment.
Alternatively...

4. Reflect on scenarios
Another way to help students develop a classroom contract is to have them envision what they would like to have happen during certain scenarios. Scenarios could be drawn from students' previous experiences of online learning. They might include situations such as:

When we get frustrated or need help with our tech tools, we can. . .

When we want to feel connected with classmates, we can. . .

When we notice ourselves or a classmate getting distracted during small-group work online, we can. . .

When something is happening at home that makes it hard for us to engage in online learning, we can. . .

When someone says something that might be confusing or offensive in our online discussion, we can. . .

When we need time to talk about topics outside of our normal curriculum, we can. . .

To show appreciation or respect for the ideas of others, we can. . .

5. Initiate the contract
After the class has completed its contract, reaching consensus about rules, norms, and expectations, it is important for each student to signal agreement. Students can do so by adding their names to a Google Doc or Padlet. If possible, add a copy of the contract to the resources available in your online learning space for students to review and revisit.

It can be challenging to create a student-centered learning experience when we're not physically present in the classroom. Yet students facing the challenges of living and learning amid the COVID-19 pandemic can benefit from a relational, supportive approach that offers them connection, community, and agency in their own learning.

This grid offers ideas, strategies, and resources to help you and your students connect, reflect, inquire, and discuss in both synchronous and asynchronous digital spaces. We also suggest offering students opportunities to work offline, away from screens. While there are a plethora of different tools, apps, and platforms to try, we recommend sticking to just a few familiar and easy-to-use tools, reserving more of your time for responding to student work or scheduling 1:1 check-ins.

Connect Choose tools that allow both video and audio. The combination has a humanizing effect and helps participants feel connected.

Synchronous: Virtual Community Meeting with a connection prompt on Zoom or Google Hangouts.

Asynchronous: Students write and share six-word memoirs on Flipgrid.

Offline: 1:1 phone or text check-ins (teacher:student).

Reflect
Allow multiple entry points for student reflection, including words and images. Reflections can be private or shared.

Synchronous: Students share reflections on a Graffiti board in Google Docs or Padlet.

Asynchronous: Students create Color, Symbol, Image documents, then photograph and share to a class social media stream.

Offline: Journaling, daily or weekly, with prompts provided by teacher.

Inquire
Students can engage with a common text, then annotate and interpret collectively. Offline, they can have agency to define their learning goals.

Synchronous: Close Viewing Protocol: Watch a short streaming video together, pausing for discussion either on audio or in the chat.

Asynchronous: Read a shared text and process with a Connect, Extend, Challenge strategy, sharing responses on Padlet.

Offline: Encourage students to create their own learning agenda.

Discuss
Learning is social. Use audio, video, and text tools that help students exchange ideas and extend their thinking.

Synchronous: Use Think, Pair, Share with small groups of students in Zoom breakout rooms.

Asynchronous: Over a defined period (1-2 days), students engage in Big Paper/Silent Conversation using the "comment" feature on Google Docs, responding to a stimulus text and to each other's ideas. Flipgrid or Voicethread allows students to record audio/video comments and build a discussion over time.

Offline: 1:1 phone call with a classmate.

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Taking School Online With a Student-Centered Approach

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Due to the recent school closures, many schools have shifted to online and distance learning. In these schools, educators are navigating new technologies and ways of teaching during an immensely challenging and uncertain time in our communities, when students' (and teachers' own) social-emotional needs are just as critical as academic goals.

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Creating a Student-Centered Learning Environment Online

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Shortly after we created a face-to-face, student-centered, general education classroom at the University of Kentucky, we were asked to create a similar environment online. In this article, we descr...

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Powerful message, it can happen anywhere if people care enough to make it happen.

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How One Principal Transformed His School With Student-Centered Learning

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There are several ways to include physical movement into student-centered learning and even make physical movement a focal point. A teacher may create work stations for students to move around the classroom and either complete different assignments or travel to stations to get extra help in struggling subjects. Developing more group projects and hands on assignments in which students have to create, build, experiment, etc. is a another way to have students up and moving around. Taking field trips or having field trips come to the school is another great way for students to move as they learn. Even creating a classroom environment in which students need to move around the room to gather supplies they need or want for assignments or projects gives them the freedom to move around the room and get materials they choose.
For more information on how to incorporate movement in you student-centered classroom please check out the links below!

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At Athlos Academies, we find it essential that classrooms are active and student-centered. Physical activity enhances the ability to learn, and students who are engaged are more excited to learn and more willing to take ownership of their learning. Creating active, student-centered classrooms is two-fold, meaning a focus on both incorporating movement into the classroom as well as assuring instructional practices place students at the center of learning.

Active, Student-Centered Classrooms

An active, student-centered classroom goes beyond the intentional addition of physical movement and benefits students in a multitude of ways.

"It's not just about movement breaks and free play, it's about creating a classroom environment that produces active learners," said Amy Dolan, education specialist at Athlos Academies. "This is where kids learn how to engage in academic discourse, practice active listening strategies, feel empowered to ask questions, and collaboratively construct understanding. Active learners don't have to be physically active all the time, but their minds are fully engaged."

In a student-centered classroom, everything (the space, the lessons, etc.) is intentionally set up to meet the diverse needs of the students in that room. Active teaching strategies put students at the center of learning.

"It's the students who are doing the most reading, writing, speaking, and listening," Dolan said. "It's not a place where the teacher lectures while kids absorb facts."

Instead, teachers are guides or facilitators for students as they learn together. Teachers plan lessons and activities that will help students to construct their own understanding, making connections to real-world situations and previous learning.

"When kids have questions, they are honored. When kids struggle, teachers think creatively of ways to support them. When the class has a hard time focusing, the teacher knows it's time for a movement break," Dolan said.

The Non Active, Student-Centered Classroom

This differs from classrooms where teachers take a more lecture-focused approach to teaching for the majority of instruction. Lecture can be an effective way to present students with some information, but when used in the majority, students become bored and disengaged from the information being taught.

"In classrooms that are not active and student-centered, it's hard for teachers to gauge who really understands, or the teacher mistakenly assumes that because they said something the students now know it," Dolan said. "Students who learn differently, need more time to process, or are too shy to participate, often get left behind."

The Benefits of Active, Student-Centered Classrooms

At Athlos, our goal is that all students are engaged and challenged throughout the day with active bodies and active minds. When teachers intentionally use strategies to engage all students in a classroom, everyone gets to participate in the learning - not just the brave few who raise their hands. Students practice Performance Character as they take risks together and learn from their mistakes. Each student knows that their voice is important and feels a sense of belonging in the classroom community and ownership over their own learning.

"When kids feel safe and respected, the learning can be more memorable and meaningful," Dolan said. "Kids learn what it means to be active members of a learning community, not just a student in a classroom, which means they are learning skills that will be needed for success later in life - communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and so much more."

More on the Athlos model.

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Student-Centered, Active Classrooms Impact Student Success

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At Athlos Academies, we find it essential that classrooms are active and student-centered. Physical activity enhances the ability to learn, and students who are engaged are more excited to learn and more willing to take ownership of their learning.

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contributed by Kenny McKee

Each day more research confirms the link between movement and learning.

Brain researcher David Sousa claims that physical activity increases the amount of oxygen in our blood, and this oxygen is related to enhanced learning and memory. A Washington Post article suggests that many student behaviors we associate with ADHD may stem from an overall lack of physical movement - both in and out of school. In addition, a phenomenally popular blog post by Alexis Wiggins touched upon how much sitting students actually do every day, and how all that sitting affects energy levels and learning.

However, many secondary teachers struggle to integrate movement into the classroom. I know that as a former English teacher, movement found its way into many of my "special" lessons, but it was often a missing ingredient of daily instruction. For example, when students created commercials, searched for books in the library, or carried out debates, movement was inevitable. However, when the main focus of a lesson was reading and writing (as many are in the English classroom), movement was minimal.

I've included some strategies that teachers of any content area can use to integrate movement into lessons. When you have a lesson that looks "sedentary," integrating one of these strategies will surely increase students' learning and engagement.
1. Gallery Walks/Chalk Talks
In some lessons, students may need to analyze multiple texts. Why not post those texts on the walls, and have students rotate through them in small groups? I have used this strategy with students analyzing primary and secondary documents for DBQ's (document-based questions) in history classes. One colleague has students analyze magazine ads for rhetorical techniques in her English class.

Gallery walks can also feature student-created texts, even digital ones. A colleague who teaches earth science once had student groups create informational Animoto videos on different geographic formations. She then had students participate in a digital gallery walk where they watched the student-created videos on laptops, and took notes on each geographic formation.

Chalk Talks are gallery walks where students are asked to respond to texts. For example, quotes could be posted, and student could post their reactions to them. In a math class, students could solve a problem on chart paper, and explain their process. Other students could then use Post-Its to write comments or critiques of their solution and process.
2. White Board Meetings
White Board Meetings are a strategy I have seen two science teachers use often. Essentially, students will investigate a situation (often using a data set). Students will then make sense of the problem in a group. They will display their findings on a mini-whiteboard. Usually, students are required to show information in graphs, pictures, mathematics, and writing. Once students post their information on whiteboards, they present their findings. Students can then receive feedback and answer questions about their information.
3. North Pole-South Pole/Continuum
This strategy is great for formative assessment or assessing background knowledge. Essentially, one side of the room represents one idea, and the other side of the room represents an opposing idea.

For example, I used the strategy while teaching in a statistics class recently. My "North Pole" was "I feel extremely confident in how well I can comprehend and remember information in the statistics textbook." My "South Pole" was "I feel NO confidence in how well I can comprehend and remember information in the statistics textbook." Students were asked to align themselves with how they felt. If they had a more moderate response, they positioned themselves more closely to the center of the room, showing a continuum of student confidence. Their responses affected how I presented an array of note-taking strategies and which students I worked with more closely during the lesson.
4. Musical Mingle
This strategy works along the same lines as Musical Chairs, but you simply ask students to stand. I often develop a series of questions that I want to ask students before the lesson begins (to assess background knowledge) or after the lesson (to assess learning). I ask all of the students to stand. When I play the music, they will meander around. When the music stops, I announce a question and they will discuss responses with a person close to them. Once students have had the opportunity to talk, we then repeat the process.

One caveat to this strategy is limiting your questions. Generally, any more than three or four questions results in diminished focus. Once the activity is completed, students to share some of their discussion points with the whole class. Most students feel confident sharing in the whole class because they have had an opportunity to clarify their thinking with a partner earlier.
5. Stations
Most educators view stations as a staple of the elementary school classroom, but they are also extremely effective in middle and high schools. Stations can be utilized for differentiation. For example, based upon students' current writing trends, a teacher could place students at stations based upon areas they need to practice. Activities can be on paper, or they can be embedded digitally using QR Codes. Other stations may be rotational, such as short writing prompts, differing math problems, selected poems to analyze, or different activities for new vocabulary or concepts.
Kenneth McKee is a high school literacy coach for Buncombe County Schools in Asheville, NC. His interests include teacher leadership, disciplinary literacies, and partnership approaches to instructional coaching. He is a 2014 ASCD Emerging Leader. Connect with him on his blog (kennycmckee.com) or on Twitter (@kennycmckee); image attribution flickr user flickeringbrad; Too Much Sitting? 5 Movement Strategies That Get Students Thinking

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5 Movement Strategies That Get Students Thinking

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contributed by Kenny McKee Each day more research confirms the link between movement and learning. Brain researcher David Sousa claims that physical activity increases the amount of oxygen in our blood, and this oxygen is related to enhanced learning and memory.

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Student-Centered World: A Student-Centered Learning Resource

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Here at Student-Centered World, we are HUGE promoters in flexible seating. The whole idea behind flexible seating is that a student will put forth their best work if they are in a position that they are the most productive. For some students, this is still at a traditional desk. For others, this could be standing, sitting on the floor, or laying down.

Allowing this movement in the classroom will help a student (no matter what age) determine how they work best.

We are always so concerned about finding learning styles so they know how they LEARN best, but what about how they WORK best? Giving them this autonomy (with guidelines, for sure....certainly not a free-for-all!) allows them to learn more about themselves and how they will perform at their peak.

Even as adults, we do this. My husband, for instance, needs to sit at a table with all his belonging placed accordingly around him. Me? I work best propped up against 105 pillows....neither of us can concentrate well in the other scenario, but why do we require this of our students when it's so easy to, well, NOT?

Movement in the Classroom

Today I came across two amazing articles that explain the science behind why traditional seating isn't the best for our Generation Z students who sit in front of us (or around us in an actual student-centered classroom).

The first article is from Valerie Strauss, with a focus piece from Aleta Margolis, in the Washington Post titled Letting kids move in class isn't a break from learning. It IS learning. I think that title in and of itself is so telling. We have been trained to believe that a student sits quietly until they are given a break.

This is the INDUSTRIAL MODEL, we are no longer an industrial society! We are turning into a hands-on society of entrepreneurs.

Will that be everyone? Of course not....but it will be a bigger majority of our students than before. As a matter of fact, we are preparing today's students for jobs that don't even exist yet.

Seem far-fetched? How many people that you went to high school with wanted to be a social media manager as a job? What about work for Uber? We take jobs for granted now that didn't exist all too long ago.
Chew on that one for a minute.
Ms. Margolis brings up an excellent point in her article. When it comes to student movement in the classroom, she says by having the students physically doing something, it creates more of an understanding of that particular process than if they were just passively learning about it, which makes complete and total sense.

My son just took his training wheels off his bike and even though he mentally knew how to ride, he physically couldn't until he went through the motions enough times that it clicked. ALL learning is like this! My favorite line from the piece is this:

Incorporating movement-based activities can help learners of all ages articulate and internalize new ideas, and this process invites adult participants to leave their comfort zone and reexamine their roles as both teachers and learners. They explore the relief that students feel at being invited to move, as well as the uncertainty and shyness that can arise when something new and unexpected is introduced.

Truer words have never been spoken. Still many people balk at the idea of the normalcy of movement in the classroom because it's not traditional. Why can't kids today sit still long enough to learn...WE did it, why can't they? A few reasons.

Number one, the average attention span has dropped DRASTICALLY since we have become a society of instant gratification. Know how long it was when public education was created? About 20 minutes. Know how long it is now? Approximately 7 SECONDS. SECONDS. #notatypo.

We literally cannot expect the students in front of us to learn the way other generations have. You will be fighting a losing battle if you think you're going to overcome the odds here. Movement in the classroom is now essential to learning.

It's legitimately a vicious cycle.

As a matter of fact, another article from the Washington Post by Mrs. Strauss and Angela Hanscom titled, A therapist goes to middle school and tries to sit still and focus. She can't. Neither can the kids, may just be the most eye-opening article you will ever read about movement in the classroom (seriously...click on that link and read it...I won't be offended if you're taken off track for a few minutes).

The teachers know students should move, but they feel locked into cramming a ton of information into their brains (more than again, you guessed it, previous generations were required) and don't see a choice. With this, students are losing focus, developing sedentary lifestyle habits, and not actually acquiring the learning that the teacher is trying their hardest to accomplish.

Recess is being cut shorter and shorter and the society of fear we have grown into is preventing these kids from running around and playing outside after school (not to mention, there is often homework to "reinforce" what was "learned" that day in a state of unfocused cramming).

To quote her, after 90 minutes of being in the classroom,

I'm mentally exhausted and the day has just begun. I was planning on observing the whole day. I just can't do it. I decide to leave right after lunch.

This is why "traditional" learning without movement in the classroom just isn't the best method of instruction for our students anymore. It's not.

With the requirements to learn more and more and the time to simply "be a kid" becoming less and less, something needs to change. We need to incorporate student movement in the classroom without it being a special treat. The students need to move for not only their physical and mental wellbeing but also so they actually learn.

Plain and simple...where will they learn more: actively trying to solve a problem or actively trying to stay awake?

Friends, incorporating student-centered learning isn't difficult. It's different.

Encouraging student movement in the classroom is not difficult. It's different.

Switching teaching styles just go against the grain of how so many people view what education is supposed to be. But tell me....what is education SUPPOSED to be?

It is supposed to be students going to school and learning. It doesn't HAVE to look like anything in particular, so why can't it be a model that today's students will actually get more out of?

The most intimidating part of student-centered learning is that there really isn't much out there that truly explains HOW to do it. There's a ton of information about how relevant it is and there is data that shows how much it works, but there isn't much that says, "here, try this".

Being afraid of change is no excuse to not give it a try. We teach so we can help our future leaders learn.

Coming up with ideas for movement in the classroom can seem overwhelming, but take a deep breath because it doesn't have to when you're focusing on the right pieces to this puzzle.

Here are some ideas for physical movement in the classroom and ways to encourage students to be more active.

To begin, let's consider age level. The activities will vary depending on what grade or level you teach. Some activities can be used with all ages, so it's always good to have a few in your repertoire that you can pull out when the moment is right.

Preschool and Kindergarten

You can incorporate basic coordination activities such as relay races, obstacle courses, and "Simon Says". The basic rules of those games can be adapted to fit your setting. If children are too young for those games, try something simple like Simon says shadow. Have the children stand in front of a mirror and play Simon Says with their reflection, trying to mimic every movement they see.

One idea for an obstacle course is having balloons taped or tied to different parts of the room that the students have to run to first before coming back through other obstacles, such as by crawling under a table, hopping like a rabbit, or jumping like a frog.

Here's another idea: blow bubbles to the children and have them try to pop as many as they can using different parts of their body, but telling them that they may not use any part of their body more than once.

For this activity, you can blow bubbles on one side of the room for the children to run to one side of the room, pop them with their hands or feet, and run back. You can either do this on both sides of the room, or you can blow the bubbles at random throughout the course so that they don't know where they will be coming from next. Or if they are too young to do the popping, have them punch the bubbles without popping them.

Elementary School

Incorporating movement in the classroom for elementary students can include activities such as :

Bounce a ball with them as they hop on one foot or jump rope. You can also use this for those students who need to maintain movement in the classroom during seatwork such as textbook reading. Have them bounce the ball while they read so that they keep their eyes moving and don't lose interest in sitting still at a desk for long periods of time.

For reading activities, keeping track of how many times the student touches the ball while they are reading can be a way to encourage them to read more often and with purpose. After a certain amount of time has passed, you can have them stop and tally their total for that session. If they reach or exceed their target number, reward them with a prize.

If they don't reach their target, you can either end the session or let them keep going until they meet their goal or exceed it. If this is your objective (to get students reading more) then you will go with one of the latter options. For instance, if reaching five touches while reading motivates them to read more, then they will just need to continue reading until they reach five touches for this session.

This can also encourage students who aren't as motivated about reading because you are offering them an incentive. It may not be a tangible reward such as stickers or candy (you know what age we're talking about), but it could be something like drawing a picture, free time at the end of the day, or maybe even get to go out for recess before anyone else. These are just ideas to get you thinking about how movement in the classroom can be incorporated.

If it is an extra incentive that they need, then this activity will work well too. Have students stand up and move around for a certain amount of time (maybe during language arts or science class), then tell them that they can sit down, but anyone sitting down will be out of the game. If sitting is their choice, let it be; however, you might want to make this an activity worth playing if it's not something everyone does all the time. Competition between teams or with the class as a whole is sometimes what you need to get students motivated.

The game can be played with about four or five players per team, and there are no wrong answers, so you will want to make sure that everyone gets a turn. You could even have extra players on each team who don't participate in the actual activity but just run back and forth to switch teams.

When it's time for the game to begin, you say the number of seconds that they need to stay standing in place once they are tagged or hit by someone else. You can either play this game in a straight line so that there is only one way out, or you can have them move around in a circle so that they can go out any way they want and the game is more challenging.

Middle School

For middle school-aged students, it is a bit trickier since they are in that "too cool for school" phase, but you can still get some movement in the classroom in unique ways. They might be a little more interested in having a dance party with their friends rather than doing activities at the board, but if you offer this as an alternative or make it a requirement - they will participate.

There are many fun and engaging songs that you can play for students to do something different from what they normally would be doing in class. You can even make it a contest to see who can stay in rhythm the longest, and for every correct answer they get, they can move one step forward. But if they break out of the rhythm or stop moving altogether, then you need to start over from where everyone is standing.

This is a great way for students to release some energy when they don't have the time to take a break and play a physical game. You decide the length of the song and how many times it needs to be played before everyone can sit down and get back to business.

You can also incorporate movement in the classroom as a way to transition from one activity to another, such as sitting down or getting ready for a test. If you normally do this with students lined up and walking in quietly, try having them crawl around the room like they're animals instead.

If your students are working on writing an essay, there is no need to sit there the entire time. Give them ten minutes to work on it, then have them stand up and walk around for three minutes while they brainstorm their ideas. Then you can give them another five or ten minutes to write an outline or first draft before they go back to walking again.

You can even use physical responses to help students learn new material or concepts. If you tell them they are going to do a certain activity, such as jumping jacks, they need to stand up and do it with you before everyone sits down. For a math teacher, have the class clap three times when he or she says something that relates to addition, then stop when they say another number word. Make it a race among teams if you have multiple classes in one day, so if they get it wrong, the other class gets to move forward.

This is a great way for students to use their minds and bodies simultaneously, so they get more out of learning than just the facts you are trying to convey. They can even practice test-taking by having them stand up and walk around when you mention certain topics on the exam that will appear later on.

There are many different ways to get your students to embrace movement in the classroom, and you can make it an everyday part of your lesson plan for any grade level. It will help them focus, give them more energy which can boost their academic success, and even get their creative juices flowing since they are thinking outside of the box.

High School and Beyond

High school is also its own unique beast when it comes to appropriate movement in the classroom. For older students, you can use activities that are used for fitness tests in schools, such as sit-ups, squats, jump rope skipping for distance or time, push-ups, etc. The goal is to perform these activities within a certain amount of time. For example, have students do as many sit-ups as they can within a minute. For every ten correct reps, you give them a chance to take a break before starting again at zero.

If PhysEd is not your cup of tea, there are other movement in the classroom activities that could work ranging from permanent flexible seating to actual games that high schoolers would absolutely buy into.

The flexible seating idea is great because students can move any time they feel like it, be it to get more focused, release some energy or even take care of a wiggly body. It also helps them with movement breaks throughout the day for their minds to rest while still getting out some physical activity.

Physical movement in the classroom during teaching time is a great way to get the students more engaged in what they are learning. They can make connections, react to stimuli and practice anything from memorization to problem-solving by playing games. The best part is that no matter what age you teach or how long you've been teaching, there are ways for everyone to get involved and benefit from movement in the classroom.

The idea of using games for academic purposes is not only fun but also something that students are likely to buy into immediately because they enjoy playing games. You can create the game yourself (which usually works best) or there are plenty of online resources to check out for ideas, too (Pinterest is your friend!).

The list of games that can be played to teach academic subjects is practically endless. They are great for review before an assessment, especially if they are timed so students have to move quickly between topics. You can also do a group activity where there are several small games with movement questions per round. It's easy enough to infuse movement in the classroom activities into a normal class period to get students up and moving around. Whether you're a grade-school teacher, a junior high/middle school instructor, or even an adult instructor in higher education, there are ways that everyone can have fun while getting the most out of their classes.

Movement in the Classroom and the 4 Keys

Finding effective ways to allow movement in the classroom isn't difficult, it just needs to ebb and flow with the students and where they are (physically, mentally, and emotionally). Being flexible is the key to making all of this work. The key is engagement. There are four keys to student engagement that I discuss in my video training challenge called "Finding Your Student Engagement Formula" and it walks you through those four keys and how to implement them in the classroom.

If you are interested in registering (it's totally free), visit the Finding Your Student Engagement Formula Challenge registration page and you will be notified the next time the series is available.

After moving from a teacher-dominated classroom to a truly student-centered one, Jenn found herself helping colleagues who wanted to follow her lead. In 2018 she decided to expand outside of her school walls and help those out there who were also trying to figure out this fantastic method of instruction to ignite intrinsic motivation in their students. Read more about her journey with Student-Centered World at studentcenteredworld.com/about

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The Need for Movement in the Classroom | Student-Centered World

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Here at Student-Centered World, we are HUGE promoters in flexible seating . The whole idea behind flexible seating is that a student will put forth their best work if they are in a position that they are the most productive. For some students, this is still at a traditional desk.

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TeachThought Staff (2018, December 18). 5 movement strategies that get students thinking. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.teachthought.com/pedagogy/much-sitting-five-movement-strategies-get-students-thinking/

Bower, T. (2017, August 10). Student-centered, active classrooms impact student success. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://athlosacademies.org/student-centered-classrooms/

Jenn. (2020, March 31). Movement in the classroom isn't a want, it's a need. Retrieved February 18, 2021, from https://www.studentcenteredworld.com/movement-in-the-classroom/

Mrdiegojaque, ~. (2015, April 10). Student-centered techniques. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://mrdiegojaque.wordpress.com/2015/04/10/student-centered-techniques/

# data[].attributes.body
Ellis, W. (2018). Creating a student-centered learning environment online. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10691898.2018.1475205

Gutierrez, K. (2013, July 02). Six key ingredients of LEARNER-CENTERED ELEARNING COURSES. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.shiftelearning.com/blog/bid/301962/Six-Key-Ingredients-of-Learner-centered-eLearning-Courses

Riggs, S. (2020, April 15). Student-centered remote teaching: Lessons learned from online education. Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://er.educause.edu/blogs/2020/4/student-centered-remote-teaching-lessons-learned-from-online-education

Taking school online with a student-centered approach. (2021). Retrieved February 17, 2021, from https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/support-teachers-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak/taking-school-online-student-centered-approach