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In the virtual classrooms, setting breakout rooms do help differentiation. Teacher can manually decide the grouping (homogeneous/heterogeneous). For some shy or low social confidence students, opening up 1:1 breakout rooms can encourage and provide them a safe learning/sharing environment.

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I have tried to use "Choice Board" recently, and though the preparation time is long, the outcome is pretty well. The teacher design and allocate different tasks(assessments) in 3X3 boxes, and students can decide which lines should they choose.
Here comes a blog link to know more about it:
https://k12teacherstaffdevelopment.com/tlb/how-to-use-choice-boards-in-the-classroom/

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Choice Boards enhance student motivation and engagement in the classroom while using differentiated instruction to promote learning.
Why use Choice Boards in the Classroom?
It is best to give students plenty of opportunities to practice and master the concepts taught in class. However, structuring such activities is no easy task, as teachers need to take into consideration the need for differentiated instruction and varied learning styles; all while ensuring that it is both interesting and challenging for the students. Use of Choice Boards is a strategy that can help simplify lesson planning and address learning requirements. It is easy and simple to design and implement in the classroom and can help promote learning, as well as stimulate student motivation and engagement.

Here we will learn more about Choice Boards and how they can be used to differentiate instruction.
What are Choice Boards?
Choice boards are graphic organizers that comprise of different amounts of squares. Each square is an activity. The activities help students learn or practice a primary concept, while allowing them a choice. Students can be instructed to choose one or more of these activities to complete. They can progress from one activity to another either in an organized or random order.
Benefits of using Choice Boards
Choice Boards provide students with the power to choose "how" to learn a particular subject or concept. This freedom encourages them to be more responsible, accountable and independent in their learning. It also allows them to work on the activities at their own pace. The boards are useful for teachers as it enables them to identify and use student interests and preferences to stimulate active learning and student engagement.
Designing Choice Boards
The board should revolve around a particular concept or learning goal and each activity is structured to stimulate learning, practice or mastery of that subject. The first step in designing a Choice Board is to identify the core concept or academic goal that the students need to complete. Second, plan the activities so that it provides students with a variety of mediums or methods for learning the concept. To do this, first identify the students' interests, preferences and even levels of readiness. The activities can be different levels of complexity and can be arranged on the board in an increasing order of difficulty. Additional instructions for each task can be included and students are instructed to perform the tasks either as individual activities or in groups. One square can also be a "FREE CHOICE" allowing students to create and perform an activity of their own choice.
Differentiating Instruction through Choice Boards
The following are tips to using Choice Boards for differentiated learning:

1. When creating the boards be sure to have activities that cater to every learning style such as visual, auditory, read-write and kinesthetic.

2. Boards can be created for weekly tasks, homework, projects and even assessments. Detailed instructions and requirements can be given for each task. An extra credit slot can be included to encourage students to better their learning.

3. Tic-Tac-Toe: Encourage students to perform a set of three activities so that it forms a Tic-Tac-Toe. Students can choose these activities horizontally, vertically or diagonally. In this method the "FREE CHOICE" square can be in the middle.

Use of Choice Boards help to improve student motivation, engagement and learning by empowering them to learn to the best of their ability.
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How to Use Choice Boards in the Classroom?

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Teachers need to take into consideration the need for differentiated instruction and varied learning styles; all while ensuring that it is both interesting and challenging for the students. Use of Choice Boards is a strategy that can help simplify lesson planning and address learning requirements.

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Student Centered Approaches/Techniques for Reading:

1. Questioning – Good readers ask purposeful questions before, during, and after reading to determine meaning or further understanding.

2. Imaging (Visualizing) - Readers use a variety of sensory and conceptual processes (mental mapping) to understand texts. They imagine the sights, sounds, smells, see motion, hear dialogue and develop meaningful ways to develop their understanding.

3. Predicting – Predicting involves the use of text clues and the students’ prior knowledge as they make logical forecasts about what will occur next in the text.

4. Inferring - Inferring is a difficult strategy that separates good readers from poor readers. High-level thinking is needed when students use text clues and prior knowledge to draw conclusions about past and present events.

5. Making Connections – Good readers use their schema or prior knowledge to help them understand the text. When reading, they make connections to text, experiences or general world knowledge.

6. Monitoring – Keeping track of comprehension is what monitoring is all about. When students monitor their comprehension, they check to make sure they are visualizing, pay attention to unknown words, and notice when they do not understand text or are even not paying attention to what they are reading.

7. Summarizing – Summarizing is a difficult and complex strategy for many students. They need to separate the important parts of the text from the unimportant details as they tell the text in sequence. Summarizing is also the big picture, author’s message, theme and main idea all rolled into one.

8. Evaluating – Good readers are like little judges, weighing and evaluating before, during, and after reading. They evaluate whether they liked the text or not and how they did as readers.

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1. Focus On Teaching The Skill Of Listening (yes those A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.S do help).

Break the skill into identifiable components for students and then practice, role play, make posters and dramatize scenarios.

Use positive reinforcement to help with this and/or reward students for using the skill appropriately.

2. Model Good Listening For Your Students.

So often we are thinking about our response to a student rather than really listening to them.

Use the 'counselling' skill of rephrasing or restating what students say to enhance your own listening.

Ask students to restate yours or others points of view.

Insist on one person speaking at a time either in whole class discussions, paired or group work.

Demonstrate the skill to the class by drawing their attention to your listening with younger grades, having older grades deconstruct what effective listening looks like, sounds like, feels like.

3. Get To Know Your Students.

Find out about their interests, hobbies, music and sport, families etc. Kids will listen more to teachers they feel are interested in them and know them.

In high school, where you may teach up to 150 students use memory tricks, refer to school photos or take notes so you can use the knowledge in your conversations with students.

See some of our articles on how to build relationships with students.

4. Use Reflective Listening...

to defuse tricky situations.

Saying 'Joey I can see you are upset (disappointed, frustrated, sad) validates a student's feelings, provides the language to describe the feelings and can help to reduce the intensity of the feelings allowing the student to move forward.

Listening to students can give you insight into their state of mind.

5. Give Students A Voice...

...about the issues that impact them, i.e. their learning, their assessment, their classroom, their school values students need to feel heard and understood.

They will more readily accept the status quo if they feel they have been heard. What About Student Voice?

6. Get Everyone's 'Voice In The Room'.

Give students an opportunity to speak at the beginning of class by having a "check in".

You could use this as an orientation to the lesson e.g in Maths, everyone thinks of the highest number they have seen today or as an emotional check in e.g.use a colour to describe how you are feeling.

7. Talk Less.

As a general rule, kids can effectively listen for about half their age in minutes, so for a child of 10 that's about 5 minutes, for a 15 yr old, that's about 7.5 minutes!

Mix up the activities in the classroom so that they are talking, writing, moving and listening in a variety of ways.

Here are more ideas on how to use variety in the classroom.

8. Use 'Cold Calling'.

Have you noticed that it is usually the same 4 or 5 students who answer questions?

Introduce cold calling (no hands up), where any student may be expected to answer a question or explain a concept to the class.

Dylan William has a simple strategy of writing students' names on paddle pop sticks and then randomly drawing out the name of the lucky person who gets to answer.

If you would prefer a more high tech system, find a list of randomize apps here.

To ensure students feel safe to 'have a go', develop a culture of risk-taking in your class by encouraging thinking rather than expecting the 'correct' answer.

Not sure about how to develop a positive class culture? See 6 Ways to build a positive classroom culture.

(Teaching Strategies to Increase Your Student's Listening Skills)

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Student Centered Learning - Question 6 - (Student Centered Reading, Writing, Listening)

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Student Centered Approaches/Techniques for Reading: Questioning - Good readers ask purposeful questions before, during, and after reading to determine meaning or further understanding. Imaging (Visualizing) - Readers use a variety of sensory and conceptual processes (mental mapping) to

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Student-centered approaches that include physical movement are a form of kinesthetic learning that can be very effective, especially when introducing new concepts.  Research has shown that movement creates more oxygen in the blood, which in turn, means that there is more oxygen brought to the brain.  This leads to a significant increase in learning.

Part of the Student-Centered learning is being physically involved in projects that apply towards learning. In the teaching-centered learning approach, teacher dictates knowledge. However, there are a couple of student-centered approach schools that have changed their pedagogy and assessment approaches to become more hands-on assignments giving students the ability to apply these learning concepts into the 21st century; lifelong skills to apply outside of school and into a lifestyle with work and beyond.

There are certain student-centered approaches or techniques that include physical movement that could be used in any subject such as:

Independent projects

Group discussion

Peer mentoring of other students

Debates

Field-trips

Practical/ Rehearsals

Computer learning

Portfolio development

Poster presentations

Mind maps

Role play

Writing newspaper/ blog articles

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Reader's Theater

Reader's theater is a classroom activity that involves students reading parts of a story out loud. Students are given a script and work in small groups. Each student reads for their particular part or character. Reader’s theater can be completed online or the students perform their reader’s theater in front of the class. Props or costumes are not necessary.

Students often learn best through cooperative activities with peers. Reader’s theater encourages students to practice their literacy skills which include reading, speaking, and listening. The beauty of reader's theater is that students enjoy reading their part and working on their accuracy, speed, and expression.

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Student-generated test questions

Provide students with a copy of learning objectives for a particular unit and learning materials. Challenge groups of students to create test questions corresponding to the learning goals and different levels of the taxonomy. Have each group share their test question with the whole class and the rest of the students work on the questions.  This approach helps students consider what they know as well as collaborate with their peers.

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Here is a good website that I found that shows some good strategies to use in the classroom.

The one I personally liked was creating learning experiences or projects that are challenging. This will make the task more engaging, stimulating and multilayered. Having a broader and more open problem to solve (such as global hunger, green energy, or overpopulation issues) could allow for lots of discussion and debating in order to solve a problem together. They would have to work together not only to solve for the problem but also to present their topic to the teacher or their peers.

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Use these five best practices to help your students build a valuable 21st-century skill.

iStock.com/Christopher Futcher

Most of us who teach believe in the power of collaboration and frequently engage our students in collaborative activities. But how many times have we put students in groups only to watch them interact with their laptops instead of each other? Or pursue their own individual goals instead of consult with one another? Or complain about a lazy teammate?

Promoting real collaboration is hard to do well-and it doesn't just happen on its own. If we want real collaboration, we need to intentionally design it as part of our learning activity. These are five strategies to encourage effective collaboration.

Create Learning Activities That Are Complex

Students need a reason to collaborate. If the assignment is too simple, they can more easily do it alone. At most, they may check in with each other or interact in superficial ways. The real reason to collaborate is because the task is complex-it is too difficult and has too many pieces to complete alone.

Complex activities are challenging, engaging, stimulating, and multilayered. Complex activities require "positive interdependence" (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 2008), a situation in which attaining the goal, completing the task, being successful, and getting a good grade require that the team work together and share knowledge.

One way to do this is through rigorous projects that require students to identify a problem (for example, balancing population growth in their city with protection of existing green spaces) and agree-through research, discussion, debate, and time to develop their ideas-on a solution which they must then propose together.

Prepare Students to Be Part of a Team

Help students understand the benefits of collaboration and what successful collaboration looks like.

Guide students through the stages of team building (forming, storming, norming, and performing).

Give students time and opportunities within the activity to develop leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict-management skills.

Establish expectations and norms for working together.

Design, or have students design, protocols for handling conflict disagreement so they can resolve issues within their teams.

Teach students active listening skills.

Collaborative groups can't be assigned-they have to be built and nurtured. Students often need to learn how to work effectively with others and as part of a team. We have to help students understand the what, why, and how of collaboration. We can do this in several ways:

Minimize Opportunities for Free Riding

Create small groups of no more than four or five people. When there is less room to hide, nonparticipation is more difficult.

Ensure a high degree of individual accountability (Johnson, Johnson & Holubec, 2008) by assessing students both individually and as a group. For example, at the end of the day give students an individual quiz based on the intended outcome of their collaborative activity.

Design meaningful team roles that relate to the content and to the task. Roles like time keeper are episodic and don't intellectually engage students in the content, and this can encourage free riding. In contrast, more meaningful roles such as manager, monitor, and leaders for each subtask of the activity give students ownership in the process and allow the teacher to assess students based on successful completion of these roles.

Have students evaluate their own participation and effort and that of each team member and triangulate those assessments with your own

When students complain about collaborative groups, it often has to do with the free riding of one member who lets others do all the work and then benefits from the group grade. We can eliminate free riding in a number of ways:

Build in Many Opportunities for Discussion and Consensus

Many group projects are based on efficiency, dividing labor to create a product in the most effective way possible. This focus on the product means that we often ignore the process of collaboration. Rich discussions that connect students with the experiences of others, that engage them deeply in a shared intellectual experience, and that promote coming to consensus are essential to collaboration.

For instance, students can come to consensus around a solution or decision where they must defend or propose a common vision or develop a set of beliefs or principles. This focus on discussion and consensus builds both academic and social skills-students learn to defend their ideas through evidence and analytical reasoning, to negotiate meaning, and to argue constructively.

Focus on Strengthening and Stretching Expertise

The challenge of designing good collaborative activities is ensuring that all students, even those who struggle, play an important role. Collaboration should not just strengthen students' existing skills but ensure that their interactions stretch existing knowledge and expand one another's expertise. If, for example, a student is much stronger in one skill than her peers in her group, she can teach others and her grade can be contingent upon how much her peers learn.

In collaborative activities, we want to ensure that students don't just occupy the same physical space but that they share an intellectual space-that they learn more, do more, and experience more together than they would alone. As teachers, we can promote real collaboration by shifting our role from instructor to coach-promoting team autonomy, checking in on students and providing instant feedback, and helping them increasingly learn to work together productively to attain a common goal.

Reference:

Johnson, D.W., Johnson, R., & Holubec, E. (2008). Cooperation in the Classroom.

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5 Strategies to Deepen Student Collaboration

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Use these five best practices to help your students build a valuable 21st-century skill.

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Shared or Paired Reading:

I think that pairing up different students with differing reading levels can be very beneficial for both parties. You can do this kind of reading within your classroom, paring up higher leveled reading students with lower ones. You could also do this between grade levels as well. Starting and building a strong reading program helps student development on all levels.

The "big" reader can act as a small teacher or tutor to the "little" one. They can provide explanations for meanings or pronunciation of words. The "little" one can continue to build up their confidence. This kind of reading also allows the teacher to observe and work individually with struggling readers.

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Reading Buddies is a popular program that many schools implement with tremendous success. What exactly is this program and why should teachers use it with their students? Find out buddy reading benefits for big and little readers in this 2 Part Serieson Reading Buddies!

(You may also be interested in tips for implementing a reading buddies program.)

What is Buddy Reading?

You may be wondering what are reading buddies and how does buddy reading work? The reading buddies program pairs up an older student with a younger student for them to take turns reading to one another. It allows for authentic reading practice and a model of fluent reading among many other benefits! Students may also engage in buddy reading with same-aged peers, but in this post the phrase "reading buddies" refers to students of different ages.

Why is Buddy Reading Important?

Implementing a buddy reading program can greatly benefit both the older and younger reading buddies in different ways. Let's further break down these benefits of buddy reading!

Little Buddy Benefits of Reading Buddies

Younger buddies can gain a lot from the program but it may require some training with older students to be extremely successful. (Be sure to read part 2 of the series for reading buddies tips). Younger buddies benefit from buddy reading because they can:

Listen to a Fluent Model

Younger students grow as readers when they hear more experienced readers model fluent reading. The older students can demonstrate how fluent readers read with appropriate phrasing and intonation. Emergent readers also benefit from hearing their buddies read with accuracy and automaticity rather than needing to constantly sound out difficult words.

Observe a Peer Model

The benefits of buddy reading go beyond academics. Younger students can observe their buddy demonstrating positive behavior and valuable social skills. They see their buddy following the rules and remaining focused on the task. They also benefit from their buddy displaying positive character traits such as kindness and patience with them.

Receive One-on-One Support

During buddy reading the younger students essentially have a personal tutor helping them with their reading. Older students provide immediate feedback and offer strategies to help emergent readers decode unknown words. It also builds awareness and increases self-monitoring of comprehension as the older buddy can support the student when the reading no longer makes sense.

Big Buddy Benefits of Reading Buddies

Even though older buddies provide many supports to the younger students, they also gain a lot from the experience. Older buddies benefit from buddy reading because they can:

Build Confidence

Struggling readers and shy students in the upper grades may not feel comfortable reading aloud with their same-aged peers. Reading to a younger student provides them with a chance to feel confident as a reader in a less intimidating environment. It naturally builds confidence when they know someone is looking up to them both academically and socially. The little buddies view their reading buddies as their role models and are in awe of them!

Act as a Mentor

In the same way reading buddies benefit older students who struggle with reading, it also helps students who have difficulty with self-control. They are forced to model positive character traits and set the example for responsible behavior during the designated time. The program naturally rewards them for good behavior by having someone look up to them rather than focusing on any negative behavior.

Practice Leadership Skills

Reading buddies provide older students with an opportunity to practice lifelong skills in authentic ways. They learn leadership, patience, and problem-solving strategies while working with their younger buddies.

Benefits of Buddy Reading for Both Buddies

Even though the students have different roles in the partnership, both buddies gain value from the experience. Big and little buddies benefit from buddy reading because they can:

Practice Authentic Reading

The best way to get better at something is to practice, practice, practice. The same holds true for reading. All students benefit from the opportunity to practice reading to a live audience in an authentic manner.

Practice Reading Fluently

Since students are reading to another person, it naturally motivates them to practice reading fluently. It is the perfect opportunity to practice phrased and expressive reading.

Engage in Meaningful Discussions about the Text

All students need time to discuss the texts they read to deepen comprehension. Talking about texts can also build excitement about reading.

Build a Sense of Community

Typically students only interact with their same-aged peers, but reading buddies provide opportunities to make the school feel more connected. Reading buddies are always excited when they pass by in the hallways or see each other at school-wide events. Teachers can plan fun events for buddies such as popsicle parties, holiday crafts, or stem challenges. Every year our younger buddies write their older buddies notes of encouragement during standardized testing. All of these moments help establish a strong sense of community within our school.

You can start a buddy reading program with your students using the above resources. You'll find bookmarks, reading response sheets, and other activities your reading buddies can complete throughout the school year!

Now that you know the many benefits of reading buddies and are hopefully feeling motivated to start implementing them, you may have a lot of questions about HOW to begin. Be sure to check out Part 2 for Reading Buddies tips for implementing this program with your students!

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Benefits of Implementing a Reading Buddies Program

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Reading Buddies is a popular program that many schools implement with tremendous success. What exactly is this program and why should teachers use it with their students? Find out buddy reading benefits for big and little readers in this 2 Part Serieson Reading Buddies!

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In the physical classroom environment, I would set up the desks so that they are facing each other or in groups to naturally foster collaboration. In my class, the desks are facing the front, like most traditional classrooms, which I feel leads to a lack of collaboration. In the online setting, google docs or other technology that allows for collaboration while allowing students to explore and respond to an inquiry question with some teacher guidance would be helpful. Tools like google docs allow students to collaborate despite being separated by time and space. For better or for worse, I tend to equate collaboration and student centered learning. To guide collaborative learning, I have made profuse use of LoiLo Note to get students to share their thoughts in a way that feels comfortable for them, while using it to my advantage to get students thinking about an inquiry question or just share their prior knowledge. I usually pick a couple thoughts and opinions to share. It helps me better guide student inquiry with idea, information, and quesitons when I know what they do or do not know.

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As an Early Years educator, we work really hard at trying to document our students' learning journey and this has been helped with the use of technology (photos, platforms such as Seesaw and Tapestry). Rather than have summative assessments we can make online portfolios for students and allow parents as well to access and contribute so that the learning can also go beyond the classroom.
At my school we were using https://tapestryjournal.com/ to do this.

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School & District -Subscriptions | Seesaw

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Seesaw is the best interactive learning platform for PreK-5. Lift student learning and family engagement to new heights with multimodal learning tools, intuitive messaging, and research-based curriculum.

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If you have access to JSTOR.org here is a great article on using technology in the Reggio Emilia-Inspired classroom
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40071631

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All young children need to interact with their environments to achieve maximum development and learning. Technology has great potential for supporting the learning needs of all young children in early childhood programs supported by the Reggio Emilia philosophy. This article discusses possible uses of technologies that are appropriate for young children, including assistive technology devices (from low to high tech) for children with special needs. Additional uses of technology for educators and family members are included, such as for documentation, assessment, communication, and training.

Journal Information

Published since 1962, Theory Into Practice (TIP) is a nationally recognized, peer reviewed journal featuring multiple perspectives and scholarly, yet accessible, discussions of important issues in education. TIP publishes articles covering all levels and areas of education, including learning and teaching; counseling; assessment; teacher education and professional development; classroom management; administration and supervision; curriculum; policy; and technology. Each issue of TIP is devoted to a timely theme developed by a Guest Editor who has expertise in the theme area.

Publisher Information

Building on two centuries' experience, Taylor & Francis has grown rapidlyover the last two decades to become a leading international academic publisher.The Group publishes over 800 journals and over 1,800 new books each year, coveringa wide variety of subject areas and incorporating the journal imprints of Routledge,Carfax, Spon Press, Psychology Press, Martin Dunitz, and Taylor & Francis.Taylor & Francis is fully committed to the publication and dissemination of scholarly information of the highest quality, and today this remains the primary goal.

Rights & Usage

This item is part of a JSTOR Collection.
For terms and use, please refer to our Terms and Conditions
Theory Into Practice © 2007 Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

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Using Technology in Reggio Emilia-Inspired Programs on JSTOR

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All young children need to interact with their environments to achieve maximum development and learning. Technology has great potential for supporting the learning needs of all young children in early childhood programs supported by the Reggio Emilia philosophy.

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https://www.classdojo.com/

Here is one of my favorite tools to get collaboration going for students, teachers and parents all together in one place. Also this is nice tool as it incorporates technology easily into your classroom. Allows you to do reward/token based system on behavior and has lots of tools to help with classroom management and parent contact all in one place. In addition, it has built in timer, noise meter etc.

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ClassDojo helps teachers, parents, and students build amazing classroom communities.

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Here are some examples of Student Centered Vs Teacher Centered Approaches

Examples of Teacher-Centered (Not Student-Centered)

1. Being clear about how to do well in your class

2. Admonishing students to ‘think’

3. Helping students master content

4. Helping students continuously practice and revise how they perform on one assessment form

5. Creating curriculum and instruction around standards

6. Handing students a rubric or scoring guide

7. Letting students choose the project’s product

8. Choosing ‘power standards’ in a staff meeting in the middle of a summer PD with the other 4 teachers from your department or grade level

9. Allowing students to choose from two novels that are unlike anything they’ve ever seen or experienced in their lives

10. Worksheets, essays

11. Giving struggling readers a few extra minutes to read a 17-page short story

12. Starting class with a standard and target

13. Giving an on-demand assignment even though you just finished a writing piece or unit

14. Framing learning in terms of letter grades and certificates and completion

15. Grading every assignment and recording those grades (which makes everything a student does a matter of their permanent record)

Examples of Student-Centered (Not Teacher-Centered)

1. Being clear about how you will promote, measure, and celebrate understanding

2. Modeling ‘how to think‘ for students

3. Helping students understand what’s worth understanding

4. Diversifying what you accept as evidence of understanding

5. Creating curriculum and instruction around a need to know

6. Collaborating with students to create the rubric or scoring guide

7. Letting students choose the project’s purpose

8. Choosing ‘power standards’ from your curriculum after meeting with both students, parents, and community members that voice their unique societal and cultural needs

9. Letting students choose their own media form that reflects the purpose of the reading

10. Choice boards

11. Placing struggling readers in a lit circle that gives them an authentic role that they can be successful in, allows them to hear oral fluency and reading speed model and keeps them from feeling ‘broken’

12. Starting class with a story

13. Using the on-demand writing prompt as the summative assessment

14. Framing learning in terms of process and growth and purpose

15. Choosing what’s graded carefully, and considering other work as practice

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Classroomscreen.com is a tool that help the teacher manage the classroom environment smoothly in both physical and online class. It display clear instructions for your lesson and bring more focus instead of distraction to your classroom. This can help student control their own learning and also be clear of classroom objectives when displayed on the classroom screen. This can also work for online class if teacher shares her screen. It has a timer and also random name select. I love the random name selection option because it gives all my students a chance to express and respond in class and also avoids biasness. We had online classes a few months ago and i used this tool alot. This tool also can help a teacher arrange a sitting plan for the physical classroom. I believe that this tool always a student centered classroom.

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https://flip.com/6512a886
This is a fun educational game that helps me assessment my students and helps enhance student-centred learning. This is a bomb game that has all discussion questions/ comprehension questions. Student can work individually or teams. I think it is a fun assessment that also ensures that all student participate regardless of their disabilities. It actually supports all my ELL students and also challenges my high level students. I uploaded this flipgrid link so you can watch my deep explanation about this assessment.

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Flip is where social and emotional learning happens! The leading video discussion platform for millions of PreK to PhD educators, students, and families.

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Student-centered approaches or techniques including physical movement as a central element

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Student-centered approaches or techniques including physical movement as a central element

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Suzanne Coveley
Off the top of my head, I'm thinking DRAMA! Plays! Making the students come up with a script and then acting it out as a class or in small groups!

https://www.pyjamadrama.com/benefits-of-drama-and-play

In summary, drama builds confidence, helps concentration, helps develop language and communication skills, encourages children to cooperate, supports numeracy skills, helps children understand the world around them, develops emotional intelligence, assists physical development, develops creativity and nurtures friendship. Awwwww :)

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Run your own drama business

Every day our teachers witness first-hand the benefits of drama for young children - and you could join them by running your own Pyjama Drama children's franchise. If you're passionate about the benefits of drama and play for children in their early years, why not find out how joining Pyjama Drama could work for you?

OR, book a one-to-one bespoke training session with our founder, Sarah Owen who will work with you to achieve your drama and play gaols. From writing lesson plans to advising on classroom management or helping you develop your own drama skills, Sarah will support you to achieve your objectives, quickly and with ease. Simply email Sarah to find out more.

1. Drama builds confidence
Even the shyest of children take just a few weeks to gently build up their self-esteem and before long they are confident to take a full and active part in sessions. A few weeks is all it takes.

2. Drama helps concentration
In every session, children are encouraged to listen to each other's ideas and thoughts and to take turns. These activities allow children to recognise the value of concentration; a skill that is vital in the world outside their home.

3. Drama helps develop language and communication skills
Learning new songs, playing new games and participating in pretend play (when children must take on the language of the role they are playing), all contribute to a child's developing vocabulary. They are encouraged to express themselves both verbally and through facial expression and body language; the key to making them better communicators.

4. Drama encourages children to cooperate
Every activity in Pyjama Drama, from playing drama games to improvisation to singing together, requires cooperation. Children quickly realise that to get the best out of sessions, cooperation is a much-needed skill!

5. Drama supports numeracy skills
In Pyjama Drama children don't ever guess they are learning. Counting the number of beats in a song, counting the number of stars on a camping trip or working out how many eggs to put in a cake are just a few examples of how being involved in a drama can help to develop essential numeracy skills.

6. Drama helps children to understand the world around them
We explore a range of different themes and introduce children to a variety of real and imaginary situations each week, sparking their interest in the world in which they live and making them more inquisitive (and therefore more interesting!) little people.

7. Drama develops emotional intelligence
By encouraging children to 'act out' a range of emotions in the safe and supportive environment of a Pyjama Drama class, children are better able to understand their feelings and develop empathy for others.

8. Drama assists physical development
In each session, we play simple percussion instruments, create simple movement sequences and play drama games - all designed to help children gain mastery over their growing bodies.

9. Drama develops creativity
Creative people can view things in new ways and from different perspectives. They can think on their feet and generate new ideas. Our child-led approach to improvisation and pretend play encourages the development of creativity as children lead the direction of the drama themselves, come up with solutions to problems in role, and respond imaginatively to a range of pretend situations.

10. Drama nurtures friendships
By its very nature drama can create strong bonds between children as they laugh, learn and grow together week after week after week!

Sarah Owen, the creator and founder of Pyjama Drama, has many years' experience of teaching drama to children. If you are a teacher, nursery, school or LEA looking for advice, support or training on any aspect of drama for young children, please do get in touch.

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Every day our teachers witness first-hand the benefits of drama for young children - and you could join them by running your own Pyjama Drama business. If you're passionate about the benefits of drama for children in their early years, why not find out how joining Pyjama Drama could work for you?

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Formative assessment is key when addressing differentiation. Using these assessments provides real time feedback and when used consistently it isn't seen as an assessment but more as part of the process of learning.

While tech isn't necessary, it is very effective in reaching students and providing real time feedback for the teacher and students.

Examples
https://quizizz.com/
https://nearpod.com/
https://flipgrid.com/

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For me, the essentials are (in the perfect/ideal world):
* A layout that allows for instant collaboration and discussion when needed (tables with groups of 3 or 4). Due to Covid restrictions, I had to do pairs this past year but I am hoping we can change to groups of 4.
* All students with access to a device (own or school-provided) and stable wifi access.
* Teacher has a laptop wirelessly connected to an overhead projector and a sound system (and stable wifi)
* Access to the Google environment or something equivalent.
* Access to good stationary and A3-size whiteboards for each table.

None of this will make sure student-centered learning happens but a good/creative teacher with access to this, can make it happen more easily.

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I think setting up workstations around the classroom with the tools or tasks for students to complete activities can be a good way to help have a student-centered classroom. Ex: Passage to read at one station, tablets to do research at another, supplies for students to make a poster at another.

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Most (if not all) of the good practices in education that involve collaboration are good because they are also student-centered. Effective techniques include:
* Jigsaw - Students are in charge of acquiring and passing on the information.
* Debates - Students are responsible for supporting their points of view while sharing and refuting ideas of others.
* Science investigations - Groups work in the design of experiments and collaborate to collect data, process it and communicate their findings. It is essential that each group designs their own investigation.
* Whole-class or group challenges - Students are given the responsibility of solving an open-ended question or challenge and the class/group collaborates to come up with a solution.

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When assessment tasks are designed or scaffolded in a way that allows students to monitor their own performance and make adjustments independently, they will give the teacher valuable information about the thinking process of the students.
I have used simple modifications to worksheets where rather than just providing the questions and the answers for students to check, I divide the questions into levels and for each question I provide a hint that students have to read when they get stuck in one question. This alone, gave students more tools to progress which increased ownership and made my intervention more effective.

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Some of the tools I like to use with my students include visible thinking routines (compass points, I used to think-Now I think,etc), graffiti boards, mind maps, jigsaws, word walls and questioning.
I haven’t used PWIM (Picture Word Inductive Model) n my lessons but this is a very effective tool to introduce vocabulary by using a particular image of the book/text students are learning.

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* Giving students options to communicate their understanding (oral, written, graphic...) in formative or summative tasks is a good way of creating ownership of their learning process while allowing them to work to their strengths.
* Scientific investigations where students plan their own experiment can be guided so pupils with different levels of ability are given the option to go for a simpler investigation. This differentiates the complexity of the task while keeping the individuality of the investigations.
* Students take notes in different ways when they watch videos or read material. They have different techniques and styles that can be shared in small groups. Exchanging notes on a common topic is something that can uses individual strengths and can give others valuable ideas.

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My favorites here are:
* Experimental work. It allows students not only to move but to manipulate material or equipment. This tactile stimulus for some students is a much more effective way to learn.
* Planning stations (physically spread around the classroom) where students have to complete different tasks is a great way to have students work independently while allowing them to move. If nine stations are planned, students can be asked to complete tic-tac-toe patterns as a challenge.

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One of the models to support language acquisition that places a strong emphasis on student background, context and interests is the SIOP model. It guides teachers to plan and deliver lessons that effectively incorporate language and content objectives in their lessons regardless of the subject area. This is one of the many websites that describes this model.
https://www.janaechevarria.com/?page_id=55

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Reflections on Teaching Multilingual Learners

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SIOP consists of instructional features that cover eight aspects of lesson design and delivery: Lesson Preparation, Building Background, Comprehensible Input, Strategies, Interaction, Practice & Application, Lesson Delivery, and Review & Assessment.

Each SIOP lesson has content and language objectives that are clearly defined, displayed, and orally reviewed with students. These objectives are linked to subject area standards and curricula, and the academic vocabulary and language that students need for success. For teachers, the goal is to help students gain important experience with key grade-level content and skills as they progress toward fluency in academic English. Students know what they are expected to learn and/or be able to do by the end of each lesson. Also within this component, teachers provide supplementary materials (e.g., visuals, multimedia, adapted or bilingual texts, and study guides) because grade-level material may be difficult for many second language learners to comprehend. Adaptations are provided through a number of ways, such as differentiated texts, supportive handouts, and audio selections such as those that may come with texts or are available online. Also, meaningful activities must be planned to provide access to the key concepts and provide opportunities for students to apply their content and language learning.

In SIOP lessons, teachers help students connect new concepts with their personal and cultural experiences and past learning. Teachers sometimes build background knowledge because some immigrant language learners have not attended schools in the new country, or are unfamiliar with the cultural references in texts. At other times, teachers activate students' prior knowledge to tap into what students already know, to identify misinformation, or to discover when it's necessary to fill in gaps. The SIOP Model places emphasis on students building a broad vocabulary base. SIOP teachers increase attention to vocabulary instruction across the curriculum so students become effective readers, writers, speakers, and listeners.

SIOP teachers realize that English learners acquire their new language differently from majority language speakers and their instruction includes a variety of SIOP techniques so students comprehend the lesson's key concepts. Examples of language accommodation techniques include teacher talk that is appropriate to student proficiency levels; restatement; paraphrasing; repetition; written records of key points; and previews and reviews of important information. Additional techniques include demonstrations and modeling of tasks, processes, and routines; gestures, pantomime, and movement to make concepts more clear; opportunities for students to engage in role-plays, improvisation, and simulations; visuals and supplementary materials, such as pictures, real objects, illustrations, charts, adapted texts, audiotapes, CDs or online resources (perhaps in the students' home languages, if available); and hands-on, experiential, and discovery activities. Further, teachers explain the academic tasks they expect students to perform, orally and in writing, with demonstrations, modeling, and sample products as needed.

This SIOP component addresses student learning strategies, teacher-scaffolded instruction, and higher-order thinking skills. Some students aren't familiar with learning strategies and benefit from learning how to use them flexibly and in combination. SIOP teachers frequently scaffold instruction (provide support, as needed) so second language students can be successful with academic tasks. As English learners master a skill or task, teachers remove supports that were provided, and add new ones for higher levels of application. The goal, of course, is the gradual increase of student independence, so that second language learners can achieve independence . SIOP teachers also ask English learners a range of questions, many of which require higher levels of thinking, thus going beyond questions that can be answered with a one- or two-word response. Instead, they ask questions and create projects or tasks that require students to think more critically and apply their language skills in more extended ways. Students' answers may contain few words but the goal is for those words to represent complex thinking.

Students learn both conversational and academic language through interaction with one another and with their teachers. However, it is academic proficiency that is associated with school success. In SIOP classes, oral language practice helps students develop and deepen content knowledge, and it supports their second language listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. In pairs and small groups, second language learners practice new language structures and vocabulary that they have learned, as well as important language functions, such as asking for clarification, confirming interpretations, elaborating on one's own or another's idea, citing evidence in the text to support claims, and evaluating opinions. Opportunities for oral language practice are especially important since oral language proficiency impacts all aspects of educational achievement.

Practice and application of new material is important for all learners because it helps them master newly learned skills. SIOP teachers ensure that lessons include a variety of activities that encourage students to apply both the content and language skills they are learning through hands-on materials, group assignments, partner work, projects, and so forth. For second language learners to learn the target language, it is imperative that every lesson provides opportunities for them to practice and apply content information, as well as literacy and language processes (i.e., reading, writing, listening and speaking).

Throughout SIOP lessons, tasks, activities and teaching practices support the content and language objectives. SIOP teachers routinely ensure that students know a lesson's content and language objectives, so everyone knows what they're to learn and be able to do. SIOP teachers introduce (and revisit) meaningful activities that appeal to students, they provide appropriate wait time so students can process concepts, and the classroom instruction fosters high motivation and engagement.

As part of each SIOP lesson, teachers make time for review and assessment throughout a lesson. In fact, a lesson may begin with a review of previous learning or a check of students' knowledge of a topic. SIOP teachers check on student comprehension frequently to determine whether additional explanations or re-teaching are needed. By doing so, they can also provide feedback on correct and incorrect responses, a practice shown to benefit second language learners. Effective SIOP teachers also review key vocabulary and concepts with students throughout the lesson and as a final wrap-up they review the content and language objectives. The assessment information gleaned throughout the instructional period is then used to plan subsequent lessons.

Based on: Echevarria, J., Vogt, ME. & Short, D. (2017). Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners: The SIOP Model 5e. New York: Pearson.

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SIOP consists of instructional features that cover eight aspects of lesson design and delivery: Lesson Preparation, Building Background, Comprehensible Input, Strategies, Interaction, Practice &amp...

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I like a classroom where students can be placed in groups of 3 or 4 to promote collaboration. Tables should be large enough so that they also have space for individual tasks. Ideally each student should have their own device. The room should have a projector, speakers and a board (smart or traditional) to which all students have visual access. In particular, as I teach Science, I think it is important that the room has tables that are appropriate for experiments (material, size and access to gas and electricity).
For the online environment, platforms such as G.classroom and Moodle have been very useful so far. Students are able to access all the material through them.
I would say that a good tool kit for online learning could be any platform where:
- students are able to collaborate
- students are able to share their work with the teacher in a timely manner (before submitting their final work)
- random groups could be formed
- a timer could be set up for different tasks
- teachers are able to share the material with students
- teachers are able to give feedback in a timely manner

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Some techniques include:
- Project based learning
- Think-pair-share
- Jigsaw
- Grouping strategies where students have a particular role
- Peer assessment tasks
- Science experiments

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I like project based learning as this gives students the opportunity to learn in different ways. When they are assessed on their process as well as on their final outcome, students feel empowered and less anxious. Promoting self and peer review/ peer assessment is great for them to be aware of their process. Using tools such as checklists and rubrics is very useful in helping students assess their work.

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In group activities it is very important to know what the purpose of the activity is so that teachers organize the groups accordingly. When students work in groups of similar abilities and levels, it is easy for the teacher to focus on those who require more support. If there are mixed abilities and levels groups, it is very important to assign roles to each member so that everyone is able to contribute according to their abilities. In these groups, students teach each other by sharing their knowledge.
Another technique I use to address differentiation in by using choice boards or by allowing students to show their understanding based on their preferences. This doesn't have to be done in projects only, but it could also be done in simpler class activities.

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For Science, I can only think about four possible scenarios where intentional physical movement is involved:
1. Practical work- students need to move to the benches that are assigned for experiments and collect data there
2. Fieldtrips
3. Centers/ stations- students are assigned certain time to complete a particular task. They will need to move to the next station once the time is over.
4. Students work in pairs and once they complete their work one of them moves and the other remains in the same place. As students move around the class they share their work/ peer assess/ ask or answer questions, etc.

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Concept-based inquiry is something I have been exploring recently. As an inquiry based approach, it is student centered as the teacher works as a guide for student inquiry. It is not necessarily collaborative but can be made so through the following activities.
- brainstorming
- making and sharing Frayer models on various facts
- sharing and discussing case study analysis
- maping and organizing takeaways to show relationships with other concepts
- debating

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Teachers,

This is not another one of those education "fads." You will not find yourself sitting in a faculty meeting, shoulders slumped, eyes rolling, wondering if this new initiative is actually going to be helpful.

Concept-Based Inquiry does what traditional curricula design cannot - it develops deeper thinking and promotes transferable understanding.

In this blog, we are going to look at the differences between a traditional two-dimensional model of instruction, and the three-dimensional Concept-Based approach (Erickson, Lanning and French, 2017).

What is Concept-Based Inquiry?

For those of you who are new to this idea, Concept-Based Inquiry brings together two distinct pedagogical practices; Inquiry-Based Learning and Concept-Based Learning.

Source: Marschall and French, 2017
Published by Corwin Press

Inquiry-based learning has a focus on the use of active questions to drive learning. Students are invited to take an active role in both posing and answering questions as they construct meaning.

When we pair this with Concept-Based Learning, those questions are designed to focus on transferable understandings that help students to make sense of their learning (Marschall and French, 2018). This approach helps students to see patterns, make connections, and ultimately, are able to apply their learning beyond the context of the unit. This is what we all want for our students at the end of the day!

Concept-Based Inquiry is an approach to teaching and learning that can be applied to any disciplinary or interdisciplinary curriculum K-12. By engaging students as thinkers, we foster student agency, build conceptual understanding, and promote learning transfer.

How is the Concept-Based Inquiry three-dimensional?

Two-Dimensional versus Three-Dimensional Curriculum/Instruction Models

Source: Used with permission H. Lynn Erickson, (2014).

In a traditional two-dimensional classroom, the focus is on the transmission of facts and skills. All too often teachers are doing so much of the thinking for their students!

The vast majority of educators do not even realize the impact their practice is having. More often than not they are simply modelling the way that they were taught when they were a student.

The two-dimensional model rests on a misguided assumption that knowing facts is evidence of deeper understanding. This approach promotes coverage of information and skills rather than transferable, conceptual understanding.

Concept-Based Inquiry honors the importance of fact as skills as a foundation for the third dimension concepts and conceptual relationships (Erickson, Lanning and French, 2017).

Conceptual understandings transfer through time, and across cultures and situations.

What are some other benefits of a Concept-Based Inquiry?

A Concept-Based unit builds conceptual schema in the brain to assist students in relating new knowledge to prior knowledge, and to transfer understanding from one context to another.

Concept-Based Inquiry educators are intentional and teach with clarity around the knowledge, skills and understandings of their unit. They use guiding questions and scaffold student thinking through a constructivist approach.

A Concept-Based teacher is just as concerned with intellectual development as they are with gaining knowledge and skills.

So, why does moving to a Concept-Based model of teaching just make sense?

Here are just a few reasons why:

The importance of building conceptual understanding is supported by research that looks at how the brain processes and learns information (Bransford, 2000 & Medina, 2014)

It creates deeper transferable learning inviting students to make connections to current events helping them see the relevance of their learning (Marschall and French, 2018).

It promotes student agency by inviting learners to construct meaning and articulate their own understanding.

This approach results in higher levels of engagement for both teachers and students.

How can I learn more about Concept-Based Curriculum and Inquiry?

If you're looking to deepen your understanding of Concept-Based Inquiry, and want more than just a snapshot of the reasons why Concept-Based Inquiry is so powerful, you can enrol in our next Concept-Based Curriculum online workshop here.

Rachel French

Concept-Based Consultant and Coach
Best selling Author
Director of Professional Learning International and Co-founder of Connect the Dots International

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ProLearnInt
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/conceptbasedinquiry
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-french-pli/

References

Bransford, J. (2000). How people learn. Washington, DC: National Acad. Press

Erickson, H., Lanning, L., & French, R. (2017) Concept-based curriculum and instruction for the thinking classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Marschall, C., & French, R. (2018) Concept-Based Inquiry in Action.

Medina, J. (2014). Brain Rules. Seattle, WA: Pear Press. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

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Why moving to a Concept-Based Inquiry approach just makes sense

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Teachers, This is not another one of those education "fads." You will not find yourself sitting in a faculty meeting, shoulders slumped, eyes rolling, wondering if this new initiative is actually going to be helpful. Concept-Based Inquiry does what traditional curricula design cannot - it develops deeper thinking and promotes transferable understanding.

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Assessment promotes student-centered learning and growth by providing useful feedback to the students themselves, their teachers, and others about what the students need in order to progress toward the learning target.

Assessments are not just tests nor grades, but also it's a great tool to help teachers to create a student-centered classroom. Assessment can help me learn more about my students, and build relationship with them. With the help of a variety of assessment tools, I can learn more about students' passions and learning styles and then use this information to design the student-centered environment.

While we implement self-assessment and peer-assessment in the classroom, it helps students to identify strengths and weaknesses in their own work and revise accordingly. Students will learn how to use rubrics and criterion to assess their works (or peer's works) and reflect on those experiences. All these skills are complementary to student-centered learning.

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Student-centered approaches or techniques that include physical movement can help students, especially young learners, develop movement and social skills and also help to them stay focused on the learning task in hand. Below are some student-centered approaches or techniques include physical movement as a central element that I use in my classroom:

Learning stations / field trips / role play / diorama projects / puppet show / poster presentations / group work / bake sale